Frontier Schools in Montana: Challenges and Sustainability Practices. A Research Report

Autor/inn/en	Harmon, Hobart L.; Morton, Claudette
Institution	Montana Small Schools Alliance
Titel	Frontier Schools in Montana: Challenges and Sustainability Practices. A Research Report
Quelle	(2010), (79 Seiten) PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Monographie
Schlagwörter	Rural Schools; Focus Groups; School Districts; Educational Practices; Research Reports; Sustainability; Barriers; Performance Factors; Administrator Attitudes; Community Attitudes; Teacher Attitudes; Enrollment Trends; Financial Support; Financial Problems; Educational Finance; Expectation; Federal Regulation; Learner Engagement; Mixed Age Grouping; Administrator Characteristics; Individual Characteristics; Institutional Characteristics; Student Characteristics; School Demography; Educational Research; Montana + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Rural area; Rural areas; School; Schools; Ländlicher Raum; Schule; Schulen; School district; Schulbezirk; Bildungspraxis; Research report; Forschungsbericht; Nachhaltigkeit; Leistungsindikator; Lehrerverhalten; Finanzielle Förderung; Bildungsfonds; Expectancy; Erwartung; Bundeskompetenz; Jahrgangsübergreifende Gruppe; Personality characteristic; Personality traits; Persönlichkeitsmerkmal; Schulbesuchsrate; Bildungsforschung; Pädagogische Forschung
Abstract	This study reveals the challenges confronting small, rural "frontier" schools in Montana and the practices that contribute to their sustainability. A Montana frontier school is defined as a school district with 200 or fewer students and its attendant community in a county with five or fewer people per square mile. The researcher surveyed teachers, administrators, school board chairs and held six focus groups of community members to identify challenges and sustainability practices. The top five "most important" challenges noted by school district personnel were low student enrollment, inadequate financial resources, unrealistic federal expectations, unmotivated students academically, and mixed grade levels of students in the classroom. Frontier school districts operate mixed age or multi-grade classrooms and use school facilities to serve critical community functions as key general practices that contribute to school sustainability. Lay citizens, compared to persons employed by the school district, are more likely to see the school as a vital necessity for maintaining a way of life associated with agriculture and related enterprises. (Contains 20 tables and 22 figures.) [This publication was produced by the Montana Small Schools Alliance and was funded by the Oro y Plata Foundation.] (As Provided).
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10