The purpose of this study was to examine the variables that are apparently affecting the incorporation of computer technology in Northeast Tennessee rural K-12 public schools. Therefore, the present study investigated the relationship between the independent variables--gender, age, and prior experience, and the dependent variables--knowledge about, attitude toward, and use of computer technology among Northeast Tennessee teachers and principals. This study utilized a survey methodology seeking responses from teachers and administrators in Sullivan, Hawkins, Johnson, Washington, Carter, and Unicoi counties. The findings were based on the return of 208 completed surveys which represented a 52% return rate. Based on the findings of the study the following conclusions were reached: First, the overall level of access to computer hardware and software in individual schools is not adequate if computer technology is to become part of the students' learning. Second, schools are providing little or no teacher training in using computer technology for lesson planning, delivery of instruction, research, or to promote hands-on student learning. Third, teachers and administrators believe that computer technology would be extremely helpful in their work now, and in the near future (5 years from now). Fourth, teachers and administrators believe that computer technology will be almost indispensable in the schools of the near future. Fifth, male and female educators report similar attitudes toward, knowledge about, and use of computer technology. Sixth, educators of different ages report similar attitudes toward and use of computer technology. Educators of different ages, however, do not report similar knowledge of computer technology. Seventh, teachers and principals with different levels of prior education experiences report similar attitudes toward, knowledge about, and use of computer technology. Eighth, in planning future training computer training programs, it is probably not necessary to differentiate groups according to personal attributes such as gender, age, and prior experience. Ninth, the potential for the instructional use of computer technology has not yet been realized. The following recommendations were suggested: (1) there should be enough computer technology for teachers and principals to have unrestricted access, (2) there should be sufficient and adequate computer technology training for teachers and principals offered at the local level, (3) there should be adequate support and time for teachers and principals to learn how to use technology and plan for its use in the school setting, (4) this study should be expanded and replicated to include a larger sample size of educators from all across the state of Tennessee, (5) the relationship between age and knowledge of computer technology should be further investigated, (6) teachers and principals who are proficient in computer technology should serve as role models and peer tutors for those who want to learn how to use computer technology, and (7) district and building administrators should provide computer technology training and planning during the school day.

The role of philanthropy in K-12 public education has historically ebbed and flowed in relation to public expenditures. Early K-12 education philanthropy peaked during and after the Civil War when philanthropists supported education for emancipated slaves through initiatives like Freeman’s Bureau, Slater Fund and Rosenwald Schools until state and federal governments assumed responsibility (Bremner, 1988; Finkenbine, 2003; Fleishman, 2009; Mays, 2006; Stephenson, 2012). With sufficient public support, K-12 education philanthropy did not see its next major wave of investments until the 1990s, with significant increases occurring after 2000. From 2000-2010 the number of education related grants from major national philanthropists increased from 1,200 to 2,600, and the amount of total funding, $486 million to $843 million (Reckhow & Snyder, 2014, p.3). The latest wave of education philanthropy occurs at the intersection of two key events: Funding challenges for public education and increasing philanthropic resources particularly among a new generation of philanthropists. While significant philanthropic resources have poured into K-12 public education, they are more likely to support changes in education policy than to provide direct support to the schools (Ferris, Hentschke, & Harmssen, 2008; Greene, 2015). In addition, rural communities receive very little support from national education philanthropy. Vermont is a rural state with a relatively successful K-12 public school system that faces significant funding challenges (Pache, 2017; Valley News, 2015). The questions at the core of this research are what role does philanthropy play in Vermont K-12 public education and what role might it play? To answer these questions, the literature provides a foundation by exploring the history of philanthropy in general, and specifically education philanthropy. Further literature review examines the current trends of using philanthropy to shape national education policy and fund programs that compete with public education. A gap in the research on rural philanthropy and rural K-12 education philanthropy provides the impetus for the focus on the rural schools in Vermont. The study focuses on two geographically defined regions in Vermont that utilize two different models of place-based philanthropy to support their public schools. The two case studies include interviews with 24 participants with backgrounds in and knowledge about education and philanthropy. In addition, document review was used to support and triangulate the findings. The findings, presented for each case and in a cross-case analysis, reveal the effective and unique ways these two rural areas use philanthropy to support its K-12 public schools. One model was regional with a focus on broad program support through use of local nonprofits, while the second model was town specific and provided direct support to the local schools. Both cases demonstrate the challenges and opportunities associated with place-based philanthropy. The conclusion offers further information on how schools and communities might develop their own place-based philanthropy.

This study investigates the beliefs of Aboriginal children, their parents, Aboriginal educators and non-Aboriginal teachers towards the learning and teaching of mathematics in years 5 and 6 in a rural community in New South Wales. Areas explored include the beliefs expressed by the students, their parents and educators about mathematics education, how these sets of beliefs compare and contrast, and what the pedagogical consequences are for mathematics education based on these beliefs. The study was conducted in a rural school following trials in other sites. Conversational interviews were conducted and from the transcript sixteen core categories of beliefs across all participant groups were identified. The belief statements demonstrate the complex nature of the social, cultural, economic, historical and political contexts in which the learning of mathematics takes place. A number of actions intended to enhance Aboriginal children's learning of mathematics are proposed. Non-Aboriginal teachers need to share their beliefs with the Aboriginal community, and conversations need to occur between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people about mathematics education. Teachers require pedagogical strategies that address Aboriginal children's learning of mathematics, and educational systems need to include an Aboriginal perspective in mathematics curricula. Future collaborative research in mathematics education has to be based on the premise of researchers working in close co-operation with Aboriginal people / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The focus of this study was to describe rural and urban education from the perspective of teachers. Participant teachers reflected upon their rural and urban teaching experiences and described, through narratives and personal examples, various aspects of rural and urban education. Through this process, participants answered the research question: What are the experiences and perspectives of teachers with respect to teaching in rural and urban environments? Data were collected via semi-structured interviews which were used to help understand the lived experiences of the participants. <p>Based on this qualitative study, numerous characteristics of rural and urban education were highlighted. The participants indicated that rural schools were often closely linked to their community. As a result, many of these teachers could more easily individualize their instruction because they were familiar with the personal lives of their students. Within the rural schools highlighted in this study, lower enrolments and a smaller staff posed challenges, and a limited range of academic programs were offered. Student participation in extracurricular activities was more prominent in this studys rural schools, and the expectations for teachers involvement in extracurricular activities and supervision were high. <p>As with rural education, when the participants described urban education, they emphasized the importance of building strong school-community relationships. Also, this research showed that the larger enrollments of the urban schools highlighted in this study meant these schools were responsible for a greater variety of student needs, both academically and socially. Classroom management was more of an issue for the urban teachers of this study, and the parents of their urban students were often less directly involved within the school. Participants indicated, as urban teachers, they had more opportunities to specialize in their subject area and enjoyed easier access to professional development opportunities. The participants of this study described the academic abilities of urban students to be similar to those of rural students; however, the participants noted urban students to be open to a greater variety of future career choices.<p>There are similar issues surrounding education, whether rural or urban. This study highlighted this point in a number of ways. First this research reflected that close ties between school and community enhanced the pertinence of curriculum content. This indicates that schools need to take advantage of the academic, personal, and cultural resources provided within the community. Another central issue of this study indicated that a teachers background and experience, as well as his or her knowledge of the students and communitys culture affected the way a teacher acts and handles various teaching situations. A final aspect of this study showed that the roles and responsibilities of teachers are diverse. A teacher assumes such roles as educator, counselor, social worker, consultant, coach, role model, and active community member.

The problem of illiteracy has been the object of many studies during recent decades. In Ethiopia, a country which reports one of the lowest literacy rates in Africa, the Yemissrach Dimts Literacy Campaign (YDLC) was started in 1962. Its activities were concentrated to rural areas and directed primarily towards adults. The present study is an evaluation of the Campaign. The investigation was conducted between 1974-1976 with the purpose of describing and analysing Campaign activities, focussing on student achievement, the teaching process, and benefits experienced by participants of the Campaign. Another important objective was to consider the role of the Campaign within a wider socio-economic and political context. The main sample consisted of 466 literacy students in eight different schools from the regions of Wollo, Wollega, Shoa and Gamu Gofa. An additional group of 66 adult villagers also took part in the interview studies. In addition to the interviews, researchers' methodology included achievement testing and classroom observations. The results of our study indicate that students became literate after one to two years at the literacy school. However, individual participants stated that they had not experienced substantial benefits arising from their literacy skills. When students were taught to read in Amharic campaign teachers used a combination of synthetic and analytic methods. The influence of traditional reading methods was clearly visible. Motivation for sending children to school appeared fairly strong, but adults declared that it was seldom possible for themselves to attend school; Contrary to what one might expect traditional values did not seem to be the reason for this. In the case of women and girls, however, tradition was probably a major obstacle. YDLC as an educative phenomenon is also discussed in an overall development perspective. A critical appraisal of evaluative strategies for development programmes in included. / digitalisering@umu

The focus of this study was to describe rural and urban education from the perspective of teachers. Participant teachers reflected upon their rural and urban teaching experiences and described, through narratives and personal examples, various aspects of rural and urban education. Through this process, participants answered the research question: What are the experiences and perspectives of teachers with respect to teaching in rural and urban environments? Data were collected via semi-structured interviews which were used to help understand the lived experiences of the participants. <p>Based on this qualitative study, numerous characteristics of rural and urban education were highlighted. The participants indicated that rural schools were often closely linked to their community. As a result, many of these teachers could more easily individualize their instruction because they were familiar with the personal lives of their students. Within the rural schools highlighted in this study, lower enrolments and a smaller staff posed challenges, and a limited range of academic programs were offered. Student participation in extracurricular activities was more prominent in this studys rural schools, and the expectations for teachers involvement in extracurricular activities and supervision were high. <p>As with rural education, when the participants described urban education, they emphasized the importance of building strong school-community relationships. Also, this research showed that the larger enrollments of the urban schools highlighted in this study meant these schools were responsible for a greater variety of student needs, both academically and socially. Classroom management was more of an issue for the urban teachers of this study, and the parents of their urban students were often less directly involved within the school. Participants indicated, as urban teachers, they had more opportunities to specialize in their subject area and enjoyed easier access to professional development opportunities. The participants of this study described the academic abilities of urban students to be similar to those of rural students; however, the participants noted urban students to be open to a greater variety of future career choices.<p>There are similar issues surrounding education, whether rural or urban. This study highlighted this point in a number of ways. First this research reflected that close ties between school and community enhanced the pertinence of curriculum content. This indicates that schools need to take advantage of the academic, personal, and cultural resources provided within the community. Another central issue of this study indicated that a teachers background and experience, as well as his or her knowledge of the students and communitys culture affected the way a teacher acts and handles various teaching situations. A final aspect of this study showed that the roles and responsibilities of teachers are diverse. A teacher assumes such roles as educator, counselor, social worker, consultant, coach, role model, and active community member.

This dissertation focuses on how rural community college students make decisions regarding their post-secondary plans. To understand these decision processes, I interviewed students, faculty and administrators at Southeast Community and Technical College in Harlan County, Kentucky. The literature informing my research reflects on rural college going patterns. Most studies connect place and post-secondary plans. Central Appalachia has among the lowest population percentages with Bachelor degrees in the country. Studies argue this is because of limited application for such degrees in the region. Matching their education and training to local job market requirements, people hesitate to complete advanced degrees when little if any local application requires such additional education. This study discusses how place informs and shapes students’ decisions around college and degree selection. Unlike those who connect advanced education with outmigration patterns, my research highlights students who pursue post-secondary training in hopes of applying these degrees locally to build their communities and families’ quality of life in a rural place. From the twenty-eight student and fifteen faculty and administrator interviews conducted, rationales regarding the purpose of post-secondary degrees and training surfaced. Through selected follow up oral histories, students further described the application of their degrees towards terminal, transfer and/or transformative ends. Their articulated positions regarding the purpose and application of higher education in Central Appalachia adds to the continuing studies on how advanced degrees informs students’ decisions to stay or leave rural areas. From the Southeast interview data, I provide a critique of policy directives related to advanced education and economic development. Given many of the urban assumptions embedded in development theory, my study was interested in how these rural students, in a place considered underdeveloped partly because of low college attendance rates, attain and then apply their degrees and the rationale they articulate in doing so. As US policy makers continue to require advanced education for more and more of their citizens, my research shows the complications and complexities such rhetoric evokes when people, committed to rural places and ways of life, apply them in their local contexts.

Thesis (M. Ed. (Education))--Rhodes University, 2004. / In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters in Education (Educational Leadership and Management).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1999. / Bibliography: leaves 67-69.

In a time when the peoples of the field redefine the countryside of São Gabriel, a geographic look at the analysis of the MST territorialization in the constitution of the State Elementary School Ataliba Rodrigues das Chagas, located in the District of Batovi in the Municipality São Gabriel, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, it should be released. The problem of the research lies in the study of how was the process of MST territorialization at the School Ataliba Rodrigues das Chagas, school that serves children from 7 MST settlements created in rural areas of San Gabriel, from the year 2008. Facing this question we can trace the general objective to grasp how was the process of reconfiguration of the State School Ataliba Rodrigues das Chagas, from the creation of settlements in São Gabriel, in 2008. Therefore it was necessary to: 1. conduct a historical review of the agrarian question in Brazil in order to understand the agrarian territorial development in San Gabriel, 2. compare the evolution of concepts of property and education in the various brasilians Constitutions, 3. address the struggle of the MST for land and especially the struggle of the MST for education in the municipality of São Gabriel, 4. understand how it was created the Educational Field legislation and how MST design education, 5. characterize the school studied and 6. understand what transformations of Ataliba School from the creation of settlements in São Gabriel, in the year 2008. To meet the goals formulated conducted a qualitative survey of bibliographic and documentary survey, questionnaires and interviews, and informal dialogues and making essays with school students. The process of the MST territorialization in the constitution of the State Elementary School Ataliba Rodrigues das Chagas began with the conquest of the land but needs to be constantly reflected and renewed for all segments that are part of the school community, as the people of the country no longer ag ree more to receive a school that does not effectively meet their interests. / Em um momento em que os povos do campo redefinem o espaço rural do município de São Gabriel, um olhar geográfico para a análise da territorialização do MST na constituição da Escola Estadual de Ensino Fundamental Ataliba Rodrigues das Chagas, situada no Distrito do Batovi, no Município de São Gabriel, no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, cabe ser lançado. O problema da pesquisa situa-se no estudo de como ocorreu o processo de territorialização do MST na Escola Ataliba Rodrigues das Chagas, escola que atende crianças provenientes de 7 assentamentos do MST criados no espaço rural de São Gabriel, a partir do ano de 2008. Diante dessa questão podemos traçar como objetivo geral apreender como se deu o processo de reconfiguração da Escola Estadual Ataliba Rodrigues das Chagas, a partir da criação dos assentamentos em São Gabriel, em 2008. Para tanto se fez necessário: 1. realizar uma revisão histórica da questão agrária no Brasil com a finalidade de compreender a evolução territorial agrária em São Gabriel, 2. comparar a evolução dos conceitos de propriedade e educação nas diversas Constituições Brasileiras, 3. abordar a luta do MST pela conquista da terra e em especial a luta do MST pela educação, no município de São Gabriel, 4. entender como foi construída a legislação para a Educação do Campo e qual a concepção do MST em educação, 5. caracterizar a escola estudada e 6. compreender quais as transformações da Escola Ataliba a partir da criação dos assentamentos em São Gabriel, no ano de 2008. Para cumprir com os objetivos formulados empreendeu-se pesquisa qualitativa com levantamento bibliográfica e documental, questionários e entrevistas, além de diálogos informais e confecção de redações com os alunos da escola estudada. O processo de territorialização do MST na constituição da Escola Estadual de Ensino Fundamental Ataliba Rodrigues das Chagas iniciou com a conquista da terra mas precisa ser constantemente refletido e renovado por todos os segmentos que fazem parte da comunidade escolar, pois os povos do campo já não concordam mais em receber uma escola que não atenda efetivamente seus interesses.