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It is the purpose of this study to show the bus transportation set up in the schools of Donley County, Texas and to show how it can be made more effective. The following factors will be considered in studying this problem: 1. Number of pupils transported, 2. Number of buses used, 3. Comfort of pupils en route to and from the school, 5. Length of bus routes, 6. Amount of time pupils spend on the bus, 7. Cost of transportation, 8. Type of equipment used, 9. Condition of roads, 10. Cooperation of home and school,11. Improvement of the above factors. Each of the above factors will be considered carefully in studying this problem.

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine educator perceptions of teaching art and implementing literacy and interdisciplinary strategies in rural northeast Tennessee school districts. This study explored interdisciplinary connections and opportunities to expand access to literacy acquisition in the art room. Participants included twelve educators who served as art instructors, literacy specialists, and district supervisors in rural public-school systems in Tennessee's First Congressional District. Data were collected through virtual interviews using a semi-structured format. To qualify for the study participants held positions as elementary or secondary art teachers, literacy specialists, or district supervisors in rural northeast Tennessee school districts. The analysis of the data was based on the frameworks of the Art of Education University’s K-12 Art Educator Framework (2023) and Balanced Literacy (1990). The results revealed the following as emergent themes: (a) interdisciplinary instruction and literacy acquisition, (b) art advocacy, (c) creativity and art in rural settings, and (d) leveraging teacher expertise.

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Thesis advisor: Heather T. Rowan-Kenyon / Rural undergraduates lag behind urban and suburban undergraduates across many measures of college success, even though they graduate from high school at a higher rate. While a small but growing body of research literature addresses the challenges and barriers rural students face during the college process, few, if any, studies have focused specifically on the experience of rural undergraduates who withdraw from college before completing a degree.This qualitative phenomenological study examines the experiences of rural, low-income, first-in-family undergraduates who stop out of college. Study participants (n=13) attended high school in different rural communities and geographic regions across the United States. After participating in an Upward Bound program during high school, they each enrolled in a two- or four-year, undergraduate degree program at an accredited, non-profit college or university and then withdrew prior to completing a degree. Following in the tradition of Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) and using the framework provided by Clark Moustakas (1994), I engaged study participants in open ended, semi-structured interviews. After those conversations, participants submitted independently recorded voice memos about their experience stopping out of college. The rural backgrounds of study participants manifested in many aspects of how and what they experienced when they withdrew from college. The phenomenon was described as an intense and devastating period of time, characterized by feelings of failure, shame, confusion, and disappointment. The distinct influence of rural families, communities, and schools shaped participants’ decisions before, during, and after their time at college. While the reasons students withdrew varied widely and may be similar to those of non-rural students, all participants perceived their rural background as deeply implicated in the stop-out experience. This study offers a new orientation on the topic of college stop-out among rural undergraduates and presents a working persistence model for this underserved student group. The three theoretical perspectives presented in this study – transcendental phenomenology, ecological systems theory, and community cultural wealth – expose broader meaning about both the objective and subjective qualities of the stop-out experience, adding a depth to findings that has broad implications for scholars and practitioners. This study concludes with practical insights for educators, policymakers, and institutions that serve rural undergraduates. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to employ a sociocultural, anti-deficit, and dialogic rural theoretical framework to examine the ways teachers seek to support the lived experiences of rural adolescent students in the secondary English language arts classroom as students make meaning with the content of the curriculum. This study worked with the social constructs of rurality (Azano, 2011; Azano and Biddle, 2019; Corbett, 2007; Gruenewald, 2008), critical literacy (Freire, 1990, 2018; Gee, 1990), and learning-centered pedagogy (Fecho et al., 2021) to develop insights into ways that teachers navigate opportunities and challenges in contemporary rural schools. The study focused on secondary English language arts teachers teaching in rural school districts. The participant selection criteria included being employed fulltime as an English language arts teacher at a secondary rural high school, having taught for at least three years, and identifying as teaching from a learning-centered pedagogical stance. All three participants taught at rural North Carolina high schools. The method used was adapted from the three-phase interview approach (Seidman, 1990), with an intake interview, a midpoint interview, and a final interview. The midpoint interview was adapted to consist of three separate post-classroom observation interviews. The post-classroom observation interviews were preceded each round by a co-planning lesson and a classroom observation. There were three stages of data generation, spanning from February 2021 to May 2021. To learn about participants' experiences supporting rural student voices, triangulation (Guba and Lincoln, 1981) was used through multiple data sources: teacher interviews, collaborative lesson planning, classroom observations, post-observation conferences, field notes, memos, and email correspondences. Thematic analysis (Maxwell, 2013) was used to analyze and code the data. From the data analysis, three understandings were generated about the ways in which rural English language arts teachers support students in the classroom. Participants were (1) supporting student voice through instructional design, (2) attending to biases and seeking to dialogue within the classroom, and (3) utilizing lived experiences and literacies. The implications of the study include that rural students can face stereotypes due to the deficit mindset of rurality (Azano et al., 2021a, 2021b, Azano and Biddle, 2019; Theobald and Wood, 2010) and that the utilization of bringing their lived experiences into the classroom can serve as a means to help them make meaning with the content of the classroom. The English language arts classroom can be a space for students to be supported through the use of a learning-centered stance that seeks to collapse traditional hierarchies in the classroom (Fecho et al., 2021). / Doctor of Philosophy / The purpose of this study was to use a sociocultural, anti-deficit, and dialogic rural theoretical framework to examine ways teachers can draw on the lived experiences of rural adolescent students in secondary English language arts classrooms as students make meaning with curriculum content. This study worked with the social constructs of rurality (Azano, 2011; Azano and Biddle, 2019; Corbett, 2007; Gruenewald, 2008), critical literacy (Freire, 1990, 2018; Gee, 1990), and learning-centered pedagogy (Fecho et al., 2021) to develop insights into ways that teachers navigate opportunities and challenges in contemporary rural schools. Participant criteria included being employed fulltime as an English language arts teacher at a rural secondary school, having taught for at least three years, and The study's three participants were rural North Carolina secondary English language arts teachers. Utilizing an adapted three-phase interview process, the study had three stages for each participant: (1) an intake interview, (2) three rounds per participant of co-planning, classroom observations, and post-observation conferences, and (3) a final interview. Thematic analysis (Maxwell, 2013) was used to analyze and code the data. Understandings were that participants, in their success and challenges of supporting rural student voices (1) supported student voice through instructional design, (2) attended to biases and seeking to dialogue within the classroom, and (3) utilized the lived experiences and literacies.

Social institutions in rural communities tend to be highly interrelated and social ties tend to be dense and multiplex. Human ecological theoretical models posit that all institutions in which an individual is embedded interact in complex ways. As such, this dissertation examines the influences of school, faith, family, and risk contexts on the grade point averages of students who attended school in nonmetropolitan counties in Appalachian Kentucky. Using data disaggregated by gender from nearly 5,000 adolescents, I identified risk and protective factors on grade point averages by attraction type (exclusively opposite-sex attracted, same-sex attracted, and unsure of attraction), identified differences in grade point averages between attraction types, and identified mediators and moderators of the relationship between attraction type and grade point average. School belonging positively influenced the grade point averages of unsure males and religious belief negatively influenced the grade point averages of same-sex attracted males. In general, sexual minority students reported lower grade point averages than their exclusively opposite-sex attracted peers. Among same-sex attracted males and females, this disparity in grade point average was mediated by school belonging. Among unsure males the variation in grade point average was largely explained by engagement in risk behaviors. The relationship between sexual attraction and grade point average was moderated by religiosity, marijuana use, and labor market optimism.