Stretching to Survive: District Autonomy in an Age of Dwindling Resources

Autor/inn/en	Howley, Aimee; Howley, Marged; Hendrickson, Katie; Belcher, Johnny; Howley, Craig
Titel	Stretching to Survive: District Autonomy in an Age of Dwindling Resources
Quelle	In: Journal of Research in Rural Education, 27 (2012) 3, (18 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1551-0670
Schlagwörter	Rural Schools; Qualitative Research; Consolidated Schools; Distance Education; Shared Resources and Services; Institutional Survival; School District Autonomy; Educational Resources; Case Studies; Interviews; Change Strategies; Administrator Attitudes; Parent Attitudes; Student Attitudes; Teacher Attitudes; Population Trends; Sustainable Development; Sustainability; Educational Administration + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Rural area; Rural areas; School; Schools; Ländlicher Raum; Schule; Schulen; Qualitative Forschung; Consolidated school; Mittelpunktschule; Zentralschule; Distance study; Distance learning; Fernunterricht; Gemeinwirtschaft; School district; School districts; Autonomy; School autonomy; Schulautonomie; Bildungsmittel; Case study; Fallstudie; Case Study; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; Lösungsstrategie; Elternverhalten; Schülerverhalten; Lehrerverhalten; Bevölkerungsprognose; Nachhaltige Entwicklung; Nachhaltigkeit; Bildungsverwaltung; Schuladministration; Schulverwaltung
Abstract	This case study focuses on a four-district collaborative that shared services for more than 15 years in an effort to retain rural schools and thereby to preserve community identity. With population losses in the four districts and suburbanization in the largest, the collaborative made extensive use of distance education in addition to itinerant teachers and shared administrators. Data concerning dynamics in the collaborative came from interviews with administrators, teachers, students, and parents. Qualitative data analysis surfaced two themes relating to shared services: tenacity in the face of decline, and strategies with limited sustainability. Findings also pointed to a disjuncture between the way administrators and parents, on the one hand and teachers and students, on the other viewed the success of shared services and the probable future of the collaborative. A review of changes in the written plans of the collaborative over a several-year period revealed that sharing of buildings through school consolidation was the inevitable next step. This finding fits with research showing that shared services in rural locales--a strategy initially used to forestall reorganization--often leads to consolidation. (Contains 2 tables and 1 footnote.) (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Penn State University College of Education, Center on Rural Education and Communities. 310B Rackley Building, University Park, PA 16802. Tel: 814-863-2031; Web site: http://www.jrre.psu.edu/
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10