Constructing and Reconstructing the “Rural School Problem”

Abstract

This chapter examines 100 years of rural education research in the context of the demographic, migratory, economic, and social changes that have affected rural America in the past century. The authors conducted a systematic review of the literature on rural teacher recruitment, retention, and training as a case study to examine the constancy and change in the construction of the “rural school problem,” a concept drawn from early work by urban education reformers. They found that attention to rurality as a factor affecting education boomed in the first half of the 20th century thanks to a commitment to achieving a kind of modernity, an emphasis that waned in the second half of that century when modernity was believed to have been more or less achieved. Neoliberal economic policies and the precariousness of rural economies revived interest in the resilience and adaptability of rural America in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, however, leading to a renaissance in rural education research but one largely restricted to a few subfield journals. The authors discuss the implications of these trends for the future of rural education research, including the use of place as a lens for considering education.

Teacher Staffing Challenges in California: Examining the Uniqueness of Rural School Districts

“…This research commonly ignores, or mentions only in passing, the unique labor market challenges inherent in rural school systems. 3 Rural teacher labor markets have long been identified as an important area for research (Arnold et al, 2005;Harmon et al 2003; Programs for the Improvement of Practice, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, 1991;Stephens, 1985); there is some research evidence that rural schools have for decades faced particular challenges in adequately staffing classrooms (Azano et al, 2019;Biddle & Azano, 2016). Yet our understanding of rural school teacher labor markets is limited, which has led some to suggest that "to understand how appropriate and effective these or other [recruitment and retention] policies may prove to be, we must first develop a fuller understanding of the workings of rural teacher labor markets" (Miller, 2012a, p. 1).…”

Learning in rural schools

“…For online courses, some estimates suggest that dropout may be 10% to 20% higher than in traditional face-to-face settings (de la Varre et al, 2014 [158]). Studies also highlight that educational benefits differ depending on students' characteristics, such as motivation, age and preparation (Ares Abalde, 2014 [1]; Bettinger and Loeb, 2017 [159]).…”

Flipping Narratives in New Spaces:

“…Recent literature reviews of rural education research seek to change the narrative surrounding deficit perspectives of rural spaces and people. Biddle and Azano's (2016) historical review of rural teacher recruitment, retention, and training found that waves of education reform begat research that sought to solve the rural school problem. They contended that the construction of the rural school problem would be better supported by positioning research to seek out equity for rural spaces rather than pointing out rural problems and, thus, deficiencies.…”

“…Beyond the rural theme, this issue is special for two related reasons. First, the articles that comprise this issue situate their studies within known gaps in the literature noted by recently published and forthcoming systematic literature reviews (Biddle & Azano, 2016;Burton, Brown, & Johnson, 2013;Their, Longhurst, Grant, & Hocking, 2019). Second, these articles present research that rejects deficit narratives of rural teaching.…”