The COVID-19 pandemic upended American education, throwing schools first into an impromptu version of distance learning in the spring of 2020 followed by a summer beset by uncertainty then delayed and uneven reopenings in the fall. Parents faced tough decisions about their children's education during the pandemic. In July 2020, a poll found that…

A unique program in California involved the community and senior citizens in reconstructing the early history of the school district and setting up a permanent historic exhibit. (MD)

An Old Order Mennonite one-room school in Pennsylvania was selected for this case study, which describes the building, curriculum, methods of instruction in reading, students and teacher. The study conducted interviews of school and community members together with modification of Flander's (1974) interaction analysis to collect quantitative verbal…

Traces the history of the one-room school in West Virginia from the 1750s to the 1970s. Describes teachers, buildings, curriculum, pupil and teacher rules of conduct, size advantages/disadvantages, length of school year, salaries, changes in school district size, evolution of transportation networks, and current status. (NEC)

Examined data on rural, public, one-teacher schools. Surveys of one-room school teachers and information from national databases indicated that existing schools were amply staffed with qualified, experienced teachers. Community support was high. Students did well, with few discipline problems. There was a significant drop in numbers of schools…

Cites results from a March 1983 inquiry sent to provincial archives and museums in the 10 provinces and two territories to learn the extent to which Canadian archives and museums have preserved memorabilia and records relating to elementary and secondary schools. Notes creditable efforts but sees room for improvement. (BRR)

Within the last 4 years, four one-room school houses have been restored for use as educational museum facilities. These include the Pleasant Valley School in Stillwater, Oklahoma; the Rose Hill School at Perry, Oklahoma; the old school located on the grounds of the Harn Homestead Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and the Old Roll School, located…

This book compiles black and white photographs of 49 one-room (and occasionally two-room) schoolhouses in Arkansas. The book aims to share the vision of these special buildings that were so important in shaping the educational system, communities, and lives. An introduction describes the pinhole cameras that were used and how the different effects…

Traces decline of one-room schools from 24,000 in 1959 to about 840 today. Reports findings from 1984 survey of 643 surviving one-room schools in Nebraska, Montana, South Dakota, California, and Wyoming. Includes data on enrollments, teacher qualifications and responsibilities, student achievement, and school facilities/equipment. (NEC)

The Clarke Historical Library at Central Michigan University has a rich collection of textbooks that would have been used in one-room schools. The bibliography of this collection contains approximately 700 entries, divided into the following subject areas: language arts; social sciences; sciences; health; art; music; and historical books about…

This publication is the complete transcript of a weekly radio program devoted to contemporary issues in American education. This particular program is the first of two that focus on the topic of school consolidation. In separate segments of the program, a teacher and students drill in a one-room school in Indiana; a long-time rural school teacher…

Part of a larger investigation of cross-age interaction in one-room schools, this study focused on the extent and characteristics of peer tutoring in contemporary one-room schools. Since Nebraska had more one-teacher schools (626 in 1971-72) than any other state, all one-teacher schools with an enrollment of 10 or more students in grades 1-6 or 8…

This presentation examines the history of women teachers in the rural United States. The earliest classrooms in America were a male environment modeled after European schools. But in the mid-19th century, the Civil War and westward expansion depleted the number of male teachers and brought rural women teachers to the helm of American education.…

This study was designed to better understand teachers as users of personal knowledge, examining teachers in inclusive one-teacher, Seventh Day Adventist schools. The study examined teachers' beliefs about teaching and learning, teachers' personal practical knowledge, teachers' professional identity, contextual factors that enabled or constrained…

Briefly describes the experiences of three persons who attended and taught in one-room schools primarily in Ashland County (Ohio) from approximately 1900 to the 1920s. Discusses the close interrelationships among home, school, and community, and the rural protests against consolidation of one-room schools in 1939. (SV)