Document Type
Section III Article
Abstract
What do we know about effective rural schools? The litmus test for determining effective rural schools is the same test used to identify those larger urban schools that are best at maximizing student learning. Whether a student hails from a less populous region or lives in the heart of the largest city, effective schools research has shown the factors of good schools are all the same.
Schools that possess teachers having high expectations of student learning, that implement mastery learning techniques, that conduct classrooms that are warm, convivial and safe places to be, and that challenge students of all ability levels are effective schools. Schools having building administrators that are highly visible, that spend the greatest proportion of their time on supervising and improving instruction and curriculum, and that establish reward systems for students and staff are effective. Schools having a clear, concise mission statement, long and short range goals in which everyone feels they have had input in developing, and everyone from students to school board have an understanding of unified purpose are also effective schools. None of these factors has a relationship to the number of students or where they live. The difference between effective rural and urban schools is that the good things done by rural schools involve fewer people.
Journal Title
Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series
Volume
1
Issue
1
First Page
49
Last Page
51
Publisher
Institute for Educational Leadership, University of Northern Iowa
City
Cedar Falls, IA
Copyright
©1990 North Central Regional Educational Laboratory and the University of Northern Iowa
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Westerberg, Steve
(1990)
"Section III: Effective Rural Schools: What We Know, What We Need to Know [Westerberg],"
Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series: Vol. 1:
No.
1, Article 20.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/iel_monographs/vol1/iss1/20
