Small rural schools often struggle to facilitate true professional learning communities (PLCs) when there is one teacher per grade level in the building. The district selected for this study contained four elementary schools with one teacher per grade level and a combined middle and high school to collect perception data. Utilizing a concurrent…

In the ever-shifting world of school choice, what began as a homegrown charter-school network's small experiment in microschooling stands out as unique -- and as a uniquely promising model for replication. Gem Prep, a network of seven brick-and-mortar K-12 charter schools in Idaho, anchored by a longstanding and high-performing online school,…

According to the content found on its website, AVID has conducted studies to evaluate the academic performance of AVID students when compared to their non-AVID peers. A distinct research endeavor was undertaken to evaluate the impact of introducing AVID Elementary within a small rural school district. This study focused on student academic…

Every child deserves the right to attend a school that can best meet his or her individual learning needs. Where the child lives should not be a limiting factor, and no one school is the best fit for every child who just happens to live nearby. Education-choice policies have the potential to expand education options for students in rural areas.…

As arguments for the liberalization of education grow more heated, how are we to approach Japanese schools as a community? This paper clarifies the basic concept of the "small schools" theory typified by the METI "Future Classrooms" (functionalist and individualist reorganizations), and organizes the relevant points of debate.…

The proliferation of settings in which personalized learning platforms have been used during the pandemic offers rich opportunities for describing those use cases and understanding how such platforms might affect students' academic, social, and emotional outcomes. There is relatively little known about which use cases provide the best outcomes for…

Purpose: Drawing from the equitable education fund (EEF) launching 6Qs innovation in the teacher school quality program (TSQP) for small and medium schools, this research aims to analyze the effect size of the ordinary national educational test (O-NET) scores between TSQP schools that implement 6Qs innovation and non-TSQP schools and explain the…

This dissertation study explores the implementation of Project-Based Learning (PBL) in first-grade classrooms and its impact on student engagement. The study emphasizes the importance of collaborative grade-level teams and teacher support in successfully implementing PBL. The study adopts a mixed-methods approach and takes place in a small rural…

Using high quality administrative data on Greece we show that class size has a hump shaped effect on achievement. We do so both nonparametrically and parametrically, while controlling for potential endogeneity and allowing for quantile effects. We then embed our estimates for this relationship in a dynamic structural model with costs of hiring and…

The purpose of this study was to examine how institutional mission is expressed in the physical environment. Theoretical frameworks from institutional identity, campus ecology, and organizational strategy literature inform the paradigm of this inquiry. Content analysis was utilized to examine the mission statements and campus master planning…

Small rural schools in many countries have historically been viewed as less desirable than their larger urban counterparts, being treated less favourably in the policy arena and facing a risk of closure or amalgamation. Within Europe, they have been the focus of a range of research studies and have been defined in different ways, based mostly on…

Opponents of education choice often make two arguments about its effect on rural areas: (1) education choice will not help in rural areas because there are few or no alternatives to the district school system; and (2) education choice will destroy the district school system because so many students will leave for alternative options. These two…

This study explores the impact of professional learning communities on student achievement in a small school setting. Aaron Hansen's book, "How to Develop PLCs for Singletons and Small Schools," offered a guide for arranging vertical, grade-level teams with one teacher per grade level at one private, K-8 school. The faculty engaged in…

The purpose of this qualitative, interpretive phenomenological analysis study was to examine and better understand the impact of that one high school's design and specific elements therein had on the higher education outcomes for his low socioeconomic status Latinx students. This study focused on the impact of the small school model, school…

McCreary School, a rural community school with an average enrolment of 150 students from kindergarten to grade 12, provides a learning environment for a population of diverse students in Turtle River School Division, Manitoba. At the same time, the school incurs significant challenges for creating a school and classroom environment that is…