Preliminary Analysis and Recommendations regarding the Closing of Select Rural Schools in West Virginia. An Initial Report Provided to the Randolph County Rural Board of Education.

Autor/inn/en	Thompson, David C.; und weitere
Institution	University Council for Educational Administration.
Titel	Preliminary Analysis and Recommendations regarding the Closing of Select Rural Schools in West Virginia. An Initial Report Provided to the Randolph County Rural Board of Education.
Quelle	(1990), (23 Seiten) PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Monographie
Schlagwörter	Stellungnahme; Consolidated Schools; Economic Factors; Educational Responsibility; Efficiency; Elementary Secondary Education; Rural Education; Rural Schools; School Closing; Small Schools; State Aid; State School District Relationship + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Consolidated school; Mittelpunktschule; Zentralschule; Ökonomischer Faktor; Erziehungsverantwortung; Effectiveness; Effektivität; Wirkungsgrad; Ländliche Erwachsenenbildung; Rural area; Rural areas; School; Schools; Ländlicher Raum; Schule; Schulen; School closings; Schließung; Schließung (von Schulen); Staatliches Schulamt
Abstract	This position paper presents arguments countering the proposed closing of select small schools--particularly one geographically isolated school--in Randolph County, West Virginia. The first section briefly summarizes the county board of education's plan and rationale for school consolidation and the concerns of residents opposed to the school closings. The second section draws on a representative sampling of the literature on the effectiveness of small and rural schools to rebut the county's argument that academic achievement will improve as a result of consolidation. The third section outlines conditions imposed on the school district by the state: (1) increased educational standards in response to the mandates of the Recht decision; (2) a state aid formula that increasingly reduces staff positions, but does not contain weighting factors that address ruralness or population sparsity; and (3) large amounts of incentive aid for new educational facilities to districts that enact higher educational standards and qualify under the staffing ratio. The effect of these conditions is to force consolidation as a local choice where, in fact, no choice exists. The fourth section discusses the right of children to a quality education and the responsibility of the state to deliver educational services to children without worsening their present condition. This report concludes that the opponents to the school closings are appropriately seeking to dissuade school authorities from proceeding with consolidation, and recommends legislative, legal, and educational options. (SV)
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC