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Principal leadership is crucial to improving school effectiveness and positively affecting organizational culture in the midst of expectations from education reform mandates. Principals who provide direction and exercise influence can inspire commitment from organizational members to attain shared goals. Rural school principals face unique obstacles and situations as documented in the research and literature. This qualitative research study aimed to provide insight as to the perceived impact of transformational leadership behaviors and characteristics on organizational culture. This study also provided insight as to the transformational leadership behaviors and characteristics perceived to positively affect organizational culture. The protocols, which included interviews, were administered by the researcher to principals and certificated teachers at four rural elementary schools (two elementary schools not in Program Improvement [PI] and two elementary schools in PI) in Fresno County that met specific student demographic criteria. The data from the interviews provided insight regarding increased individual and collective stress in rural elementary schools due to the unprecedented expectations of NCLB. The organizational response to this increased stress was found to be contingent on the behaviors and characteristics by the rural elementary principal. The findings indicated a difference in perceptions between certificated teachers at the rural elementary schools not in PI and in PI. The rural principals in non-PI schools utilized communication to define clear expectation, and a collaborative decision making process to develop a shared vision which cultivated trust among certificated teachers to improve organizational culture and student academic achievement. The rural principals in PI schools were found to have utilized bureaucratic leadership approaches. The bureaucratic leadership approaches led to increased stress and frustration among certificated teachers. Frustration was found to have negatively affected organizational culture and no improvement in student academic achievement. This study validated the need for rural school principals to be aware of effective leadership approaches to positively affect organizational culture.

The purpose of the study was to document and examine the experiences and perspectives of students and staff who were affected by the closure of Mount Rogers Combined School in 2010. Mount Rogers Combined School was established in Grayson County, Virginia, by the concerted efforts of volunteers and community members who valued education and considered schooling a top priority for the area. The original four-room school was built of rocks and housed grades 1 through 11, taught by four teachers, one of whom also served as the principal (Grayson County School Board [GCSB], 1993). In 1990, it was the smallest school in the Commonwealth of Virginia (United States Department of Agriculture, 1990). A review of early education in Virginia and early education in Grayson County is documented to place the study in historical context. A brief history of Grayson County is also included in this paper. The qualitative case study documents the experiences and perspectives of the students and staff who went through the school's closure. Both primary and secondary sources were used to complete the study including interviews of students and staff who worked at or attended the school, reviews of official records and documents found in archives, examination of personal manuscripts, inspection of artifacts, and study of general histories. School divisions close and consolidate schools to improve instructional programs for students, offset student enrollment declines, provide adequate facilities for learning, and for economic savings. Communication, developing relationships, transportation, extracurricular activities and course offerings are variables that should be considered when planning a school closure. While transportation and changes in relationships are particular challenges, the overall benefits for former staff members include better access to more resources and professional development opportunities. Former students tend to adapt better than staff members when schools close due to more course offerings and access to a broader range of extracurricular activities. The findings are aligned with the literature that was reviewed for the study. / Ed. D.

In 1938, the Board of Supervisors of Prince William County, Virginia, appropriated sufficient money to the State Department of Health to provide the county with a full-time health service. This department included the services of a medical health officer, a public health nurse, and a public health engineer. Inasmuch as the inclusion of the services of a graduate engineer in rural health departments in the State was a recent innovation, supplanting that of the field-trained sanitarian, the standardized sanitation program was insufficient. Very shortly, however, it was observed that the improvement of school sanitation would, in addition to the public health value discussed later, involve sufficient engineering problems to show the advantages to be gained by the new resident engineering service. A comprehensive program of this kind would also involve problems of economics and politics, which could be surmounted only by careful technical design and judicious application of the funds available. There is little doubt that the ultimate possibilities have not been revealed, but the completion of the program serves to disclose some of those possibilities. The degree of perfection attained in this specific program may be determined by the reader; but for the purpose of this thesis, it is of little moment, since the conclusions drawn are justified by the facts. A review of literature preceding the main portion of the thesis includes sections on soil and ground-water pollution, water supply, and sewage disposal. Descriptions of the county, the school system, and the health department follow, in an effort to present the implements or factors contributing to the performance of the program. In reviewing the program each project is described and discussed separately so that technical points may best be considered. A report of the conditions existing before the beginning of the work is included, as well as a review and discussion of the results. Suitable conclusions of an economic, political, and technical nature are noted, and the plans and specifications of one project are appended. / Master of Science

The problem of this study is to determine the type of program needed for a rural community school based on the needs of the children, the youth, and the adults, and on the available facilities.

An Analysis of Suspension Days Among Students in Special Education and General Education in A Rural School District, is designed to look at those disciplinary trends that directly affect our most vulnerable population of students, with an emphasis on suspension, expulsions and the rates at which special education students are suspended and/or expelled as compared to their non-disabled peers in a rural district in Mississippi. As the Mississippi State Department of Education cited this district for its high rate of suspension and/or expulsions of students with Individualized Educational Plans, this study is of significant importance in identifying those factors that contribute to the disciplinary outcomes for special education students.

Thesis (M.Ed.) --University of Limpopo, 2013 / The Constitution, Act 108(1996:14) states that “everyone has the right to basic education”. This means that all the children of South Africa will be given education at primary level which will be funded by the state. The success, therefore, of both the nation and the state will depend on its education system.Historically, South African education is characterised by two eras of education systems, namely, apartheid education and democratic education. Apartheid education which was racially grounded resulted in poverty, degradation and imbalanced funding in black rural schools. The democratic principles in the new education system have created a space for the redress of inequality in South African schools. This is evidenced in the establishment of the school governing body (SGB) as the legitimate body to take the issue of “redress” forward(SASA, Act 84 of 1996). According to Section 36 of SASA, the state acknowledges its failure to provide sufficient funding to public schools, and mandated the SGB to obtain additional resources in order to improve the quality of education. The money allocated by the state to schools is clearly not enough.Many principals and SGBs are placed under tremendous pressure to manage and raise funds for their schools, because they are unable to work out practical solutions to financial problems, on account of their lack of financial knowledge, skills and expertise (Mestry, 2006:8). This study investigated the effectiveness of fundraising in the rural schools of Groot Letaba Circuit in Limpopo in order to find out whether fundraising is being done, different strategies employed and problems encountered in raising funds in unique rural public schoolsettings. The literature revealed that there are various fundraising strategies that may be used to raise money for schools to improve the quality of education. The study also focused on Potterton et al’s(2002)theory of formulation for successful fundraising. The theory discusses how school fundraising can be done through the partnerships of the following stakeholders: school community, members of the broader community and the business community. The methodology used in this study was a qualitative approach. Phenomenological research design was adopted; and in terms of the data collection tool, semi-structured (open-ended) interviewschedules for both the primary and secondary principals, SGB chairpersons and SGB treasurers.The findings of this study revealed that fundraising in the rural schools of Groot Letaba Circuit in Limpopo Province was not successfully done to cater for the needs of the schools. Recommendations and guidelines were given with the intention of eliminatingor minimising fundraising problems so that schools can function to their maximum potential.

The purposes of this study were: (1) to study the conditions that influenced the construction of early rural schoolhouses in Indiana, (2) to examine how emerging concerns for sanitation and student health surfaced from the construction of early rural schoolhouses, and (3) to provide a data base for individuals who desire to do further research on school buildings and their historic preservation. The research concentrated on the period of 1875 to .1915. Special attention was given to conditions that led to the passage of the Sanitary Schoolhouse Act of 1911.Results revealed that early schoolhouses often were constructed as little more than shelters. Virtually no consideration was given to either educational processes or the health and safety of occupants. As a result, water and other design and care of water and sewage systems resulted insanitary factors became major concerns. The inadequate serious health concerns for students and teachers. These concerns contributed to the passage of laws that eventually led to: (1) the abandonment of early rural schoolhouses, and (2) the construction of more sophisticated structures often designed by professional architects.This study also revealed that some of those early schoolhouses that survived have been converted to residential, business, or civic purposes. Photographs of such buildings in Boone, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Henry, Madison, and Tipton counties in Indiana are included in the thesis. They provide evidence that preservation is a means with which these buildings can continue to serve a useful existence.There is historical value in understanding conditions that led to the rise and fall of early rural school buildings. Collectively, data about the construction and sanitary conditions provide insights into rural culture, expand an appreciation of the uniqueness of design for these buildings, and enhance the importance and desirability of preserving these structures. The net product of this thesis is to provide a view of the construction of buildings in central Indiana of this period. / Department of Architecture

Thesis (M. Ed. (Education))--Rhodes University, 2006. / In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters in Education (Educational Leadership Management).

The 1820 Foundation INSET Farm School Project is described in order to set the context in which this illuminative evaluation of a Teacher Development course took place. The concepts of training, education and development are discussed and it is suggested that the term 'education' encompasses a training-development continuum. The design and implementation of the Teacher Development course, which attempts to promote both personal and professional development, are presented, and the facilitator discusses i) her attempt to encourage teacher control of the course and, ii) the factors which mitigate against teacher control. The decision to use the illuminative evaluation method is placed in the context of interpretive research methodologies, and the methods of data collection are discussed. A wide range of data sources is used, but primary importance is attached to i) a questionnaire administered to the five teachers involved and ii) a group interview and individual interviews with the teachers. Factors which emerge in the illumination of the data indicate that teacher control of development courses in farm schools in the Eastern Cape is problematic, that the teachers' preference is for professional development, and that development seems to take place through implementation of training strategies.