Policies and Professional Development: An Oil Boom’s Effect on Rural Schools and Teachers

Abstract

In 2008, Western North Dakota experienced an extraordinary energy boom, creating waves of new residents seeking employment in the lucrative oil fields. Resultantly, many communities in the area, which were almost exclusively isolated and rural, dramatically changed. The purpose of this qualitative single-case study was to investigate the experiences of school staff in two rural schools within the North Dakota oil boom region. Data were teacher and administrator interviews with 15 participants and classroom observations. The findings indicated that teachers faced three key challenges in their classrooms as a result of the population influx, including: changing educational space, student academic proficiency, and a lack of cultural competence and pedagogical knowledge to effectively educate new, diverse students. Implications for policies and teacher professional development in rural boomtown areas are discussed.

Governing Unconventional Oil and Gas Extraction: The Case of Pennsylvania

“…These advances in hydraulic fracturing technologies appear to be paying economic dividends, with more economic growth and job creation in regions with unconventional oil and gas extraction (UOGE) than similar regions without UOGE (Maniloff & Mastromonaco, ; Weber, ). However, UOGE also poses many serious risks, including risks to public health (Adgate, Goldstein, & McKenzie, ), the environment (Jackson et al, ), and community integrity—including disruptions to local housing markets (Balthrop & Hawley, ) and school systems (Genareo, ; Genareo & Filteau, ), along with increased sex trade and increased crime rates (Caraher & Conway, ). Externalized costs offset some of the economic benefits generated by UOGE.…”

Great expectations : a qualitative study of selection, school preparation, and implementation of a professional development program

“…Research indicated that sometimes teachers want to or need to learn information related to a variety of things. Perhaps a new population of students has moved to an area (Genareo, 2016), new strategies in instruction are desired (Burton, Brown, & Johnson, 2013), or information is not readily available through other sources (Allison, 2013;Sears, Edgington, & Hynes, 2014).…”