ED 379 116 RC 019 874 AUTHOR Hulick, Chuck, Ed. TITLE ...DOCUMENT RESUME ED 379 116 RC 019 874...

DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 379 116 RC 019 874

AUTHOR Hulick, Chuck, Ed.TITLE Southern Rural Education Association Journal,

1990.

INSTITUTION Southern Rural Education Association.PUB DATE 90NOTE 25p.; Only issue ever published.PUB TYPE Collected Works Serials (022)JOURNAL CIT Southern Rural Education Association Journal; vl ni

Spr 1990

EDRS PRICE MFO1 /PCO1 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS Beginning Teacher Induction; College School

Cooperation; Community Education; *CommunityInvolvement; *Cooperative Programs; *EducationalChange; Educational Technology; Elementary SecondaryEducation; Fine Arts; Higher Education; PersonalNarratives; *Rural Education; Rural Schools; TeacherEvaluation; Teacher Recruitment

IDENTIFIERS United Aates (South)

ABSTRACTThis journal contains the following articles

pertaining to education in rural areas: (1) "The State of theAssociation" (William Peter) reviews the mission and progress of theSouthern Rural Education Association; (2) "Arts Enrichment Programsin Middle Tennessee Rural Schools" (Howard Brahmstedt and PatriciaBrahmstedt) describes how these programs began throughuniversity-school cooperation and grants; (3) "Mandated TeacherEvaluation Does Improve Teaching and Learning" (William Kurtz)discusses benefits of and problems with the new Texas evaluationprocess; (4) "National Award Winning Community-At-School Program"(Casher Choate) describes a model community education program inrural Tennessee; (5) "PAEC: A Pacesetter in Rural Education" (PaulaWaller) explains how resources are shared among nine Florida countiesin an education cooperative; (6) "The Development of TeacherRecruitment Materials for Rural Schools: Three Examples" (DwightHare) compares the differences among recruitment efforts in threeparishes in Louisiana; (7) "Unexpected Benefits for Rural Educationfrom a Beginning Teacher Internship Program" (Chuck Hulick and BobbyMalone) highlights the impact of the program; (8) "Urban Chauvinismand Rural Values" (Keigh Hubel) provides a personal account of rurallife; and (9) "Technology in Rural Schools: The Future Is Now"(Kenneth Brookens) provides examples of telelearning, distancelearning, and satellite communication in rural schools. (KS)

*********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made *

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SOUTHERN RURAL

EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS

MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

,1d-tA I c)c-

TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." rJournal

SREA journal

Volume 1 Number 1

Spring 1990

U.S. OE AAAAA ENT Of EDUCATIONOnce of Educational Research and nnorovnnrEDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION

CENTER (ERIC)

/TnIs document has tio*n rooroctv:ed asreceived from Our parson or otgarnialtonong.nanng .1

C Sim°, changes nava bean made to improvereprochKhOn Quality

Pom11 ofNwO 0011N0n3 Sta"td ,e th,3 flOCthment do not naCeatanly represent othCoalOE RI poSitOn or policy

2 BEST COPY AVAILABLE

SOUTHERN RURAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION

EDITORChuck Hulick

BUSINESS EDITORKen Brookens

OFFICERS 1989-90

President Bill PeterVice President Paula WallerPast President Kathy LewisExecutive Secretary William ClaussProgram Chair Paul DeLargy

BOARD OF DIRECTORS 1989-90

Alabama Larry RaineyArkansas Coy HammonsDelaware James VanScriverFlorida Gail CurryGeorgia Paul DelargyKentucky Bobby MaloneLouisianna Bennie McKayMaryland Bob StephensMississippi Frank HowellMissouri Robert HoffmanNorth Carolina Judith PilchOklahoma Don DaleSouth Carolina Ernest "Nick" NichlosonTennessee Doyle GainesTexas William KurtzVirginia Paul Stapleton

Jack SandersRoy Forbes

West VirginiaMember at Large

PUBLICATIONSBOARD

Bobby MaloneBill Kurtz

Maggie PhelpsDwight Hare

The Southern Rural Education Association Journal is published annually and is the official publication of the SouthernRural Education Association.

The purpose of the SREA Journal is to provide a forunt]br the presentation ql issues and the sharing of knowledge whichwould he of interest to practitioners, policy makers. 6::d researchers involved in education in rural areas.

The viPws expressed in the SREA Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views or policies ofthe Southern Rural Education Association. The publisher cannot accept responsibility for the accuracy of informationprovided by the authors.

The annual sul cription cost to members of the Southern Rural Education Association are included in the annual dues tothe Association. These dues are currently $15 per .year for an individual or $50 per .year for an organization. Single copiesof the SREA Journal are $2.50. Inquiries regarding membership should he sent to Gail Curry, Panhandle AreaEducational Cooperative, 411 West Blvd., Chipley, FL 32464.

Correspondence and questions should be addressed to Dr. Chuck Hulick, Editor, Southern Rural Education AssociationJournal, 337 Wells Hall, Murray State University. Murray, Kentucky 42071.

3

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

The State of the Association 2William G. "Bill" Peter

Arts Enrichment Programs In Middle Tennessee Rural Schools 4Howard Brahmstedt and Patricia Brahmstedt

Mandated Teacher Evaluation Does Improve Teaching and Learning 5William H. Kurtz

National Award Winning Community-At-School Program 8Casher A. Choate

PAEC: A Pacesetter In Rural Educatied 9Paula Waller

The Development of Teacher Recruitment Materials for Rural Schools:Three Examples 10

Dwight Hare

Unexpected Benefits For Rural EducationFrom A Beginning Teacher Internship Program 12

Chuck Hulick and Bobby Malone

Urban Chauvinism and Rural Values 13Keigh Hubei

Technology in Rural Schools: The Future is Now 16Kenneth Brookens

Southern Rural Education Association MINUTES 17

Guidelines for Submission of Articles 19

SREA Journal, Vol. 1, 1990

The State of the Association.Teaching is perhaps the most sophis-

ticated of human endeavors; and inmany of the rural schools in the Southit finds its most difficult challenge. TheSouthern Rural Education Associa-tion (SREA) was founded upon, andoperates from, a resolve to meet thischallenge. It is appropriate in this, thefirst journal of the organization, toreview these conditions, the resultingguiding goals of SREA, and the state ofour association, particularly in regardto progress toward these objectives.

Not only is the art/science of teach-ing as complex as anything imagina-ble, the difficulty of teaching com-pounds as knowledge compounds involume and sophistication. Add to thisthat the American public schools areincreasingly expected to shoulder newresponsibilities in solution of progres-sively burgeoning social problems,that parents are less supportive, thatkids come to school less prepared intel-lectually and attitudinally, and on.Then, to add fuel to these difficulties,resources and financial support stead-ily diminish, bureaucratic command-ments exponentiate, and legal jeopard-ies burgeon.

In rural America, all of these prob-lems are frequently amplified by prob-lems inherent in ruralness itselfproblems with distance, resources,staffing, services, transportation, small-ness, funding, and on. In the ruralSouth these perplexing problems findtheir most perfect (and most unfortu-nate) manifestation.

One of the most prominent prob-lems in the South, one for which theheavily burdened and suffering schoolsare seen as a solution, is a widespreaddegeneration of rural communities.N;any factors contribute to the makingof an enormous "catch twenty-two."As communities decrease in size, re-sources, services, and wealth; theschools consequently decrease in qual-ity, which in turn causes a decline ofthe community, and an. High schoolgraduates immigrate to the cities to"seek their fortunes," causing a drain

2

William G. "Bill" Peter

of talent and youth from rural com-munities, causing the communities tobe less attractive places for talentedyoung people to live and work, an on.The gloomy prognosis in this furtheradds to the despair of southern ruraleducators. It is hoped that the schoolsmay not just abate the erosion but con-tribute significantly to rejuvenation aswell. The miraculous fact is that someare meeting these challenges. It can bedone.

MISSION STATEMENTSREVIEWED

SREA is built upon positive andoptimistic premises, ones which implythe strength of rural people and com-munities, and especially educators, toface the challenges head on. The solu-tion of the often debilitating problemsof rural educators in the South consti-tutes the guiding principles and objec-tives of SREA. In the words of itsbylaws, the general purpose of theSouthern Rural Education Associa-tion is "to establish a regional focus onthe need and concerns unique to ruraleducation in the South and to providea forum for the discussion and resolu-tion of those needs and concerns."

The goals and objectives of SREAare represented by ten statements ofresolve: The membership of SouthernRural Education Association, eachand together, shall:

Identify general and specific educa-tional concerns of Southern ruralareas.Develop criteria to assess the needsand effectiveness of rural educationprograms and innovations.Identify, encourage and reward thereplication of exemplary rural edu-cation programs and innovations.Serve as a source of ideas and en-couragement to assist rural educa-tors to develop and maintain pro-grams unique to rural settings.Promote research and action pro-grams designed to support and im-prove rural education institutions.

5

Encourage teacher education insti-tutions to consider rural educationneeds in teacher training programsand certification.Serve as the catalyst for developingeffective state rural education or-ganizations.Work with the National Rural Edu-cation Association to increase theutilization of national programs insouthern rural schools.Develop an information and dis-semination network among and be-tween rural education associations,legislative bodies, state departmentsof education, centers and institutes,and others interested in promotingquality rural education opportuni-ties in the South.Organize this network into a viablecoalition to develop policy state-ments on rural education in theSouth, and to elicit support frompolicy and decision-making groupsfor the inclusion of rural educationinitiatives into reform movementsand legislative programs.During its brief existence SREA has

indeed addressed these important ob-jectives. It is time, however, for SREAto take another giant step forward. Wehave survived our infancy and adoles-cence. It is now time for SREA topro-actively develop a much strongerand more effective voice. It is timebecause conditions demand it. It is alsotime because SREA has come of age.

PROGRESS REVIEWED

We have convened annually to dis-cuss issues, share ideas, and developstrategies (explicit mostly in our firstthree objectives). These conventionshave indeed been progressively infor-mative, inspirational, and enjoyable.We must continue this tradition. Evenmore importantly, we must maintainthe resolve with which we leave theseconferences.

Regarding objective number three,recognition has been given by theassociation from time to time, but this

has been random, without pain. TheAlvin C. York Award will be present-ed for the first time this year to a practi-tioner in rural education. A task force,under the chairmanship of Bobby Malone,has developed an initial awards andrecognition program this year. ThePresidential Award will be awardedfor the first time next year in Floridato a nationally renowned individual,from outside the rural education sec-tor, who has made a signal contribu-tion to rural education in the south.Please congratulate that committee fortheir work and the many hours spent;and sympathize with the several prob-lems that accompany such new ven-tures. it is appropriate that additionalannual awards also be made by theassociation. The SREA awards andrecognition program is bound to im-prove, grow, and pay dividends inincreased excellence in education forthe children of the rural South.

As per objective four, research hasindeed been stimulated by the annualconferences, and practice improvedthroughout the member states. Thisyear we have seen the institution of aSREA Research Symposiumm, whichwill undoubtedly further our goals inthis area greatly. Recognition mustcertainly go to Sue Raftery, and allwho have worked toward the successof this venture.

This journal, is itself, largely a re-sponse to many of the objectives ofSREA. We can take pride in this, andcongratulate editor Chuck Hulick. It isimperative that we effectively public-ize our activities and achievements.There is no simple road to credibility,but a journal is one of the best.

The representation of teacher prep-aration institutions in SREA is highpercentage-wise. However, to date, noad hoc action has been initiated by theAssociation to encourage the teachereducation programs uniquely designedto prepare teachers for rural schools(objective number six). This needs tobecome a part of our agenda.

Service by SR EA to establish andsupport state rural organizations (as

per objective number seven) has alsoreceived little systematic attention.This is an important objective whichcalls for special attention.

Little has been done to collaboratewith NREA to increase the utilizationof national programs in southern ruralschools. I propose that SREA be anoticeable participant, perhaps a fullpartner with NREA in their scheduledconvention in Mississippi in 1991. (Aninformal invitation to do so has beenforwarded from the NREA office.)More specific initiatives are needed inthe furtherance of objective numbereight.

The essential outlines of a networkas described in the last two objectives(nine and ten) are becoming clearer,but advancement toward these goalshas been painfully slow. These twoobjectives perhaps offer the greatestpromises of powerful and lastingachievement by SREA.

The establishment of the Presiden-tial Award is an effort by the ExecutiveBoard toward affecting legislation andpolicy (implicit in objective numberten). Until SREA can impact favora-ble legislation and policy toward theenabling of its objectives, many of itsefforts will be insufficient, infertile,disappointing. A dynamic legislativecommittee representing a pro-activeattitude is requisite if we are to success-fully proceed toward this objective.

BUILDING ON THESUCCESS TRADITION

The effects of SREA have been pos-itive, but a modicum of its potential. Ifwe are to more fully realize our mis-sion, the Association must continue togrow in strength and effectiveness. Inorder to do this, more time, effort, andresources will have to be contributedto it. We must commit new energies,and find ways to focus (thus make thebest use of) those we have.

Most organizations of our kith focustheir activities through annual resolu-tions immediate objectives whichreflect the stated goals of the organiza-tions. A resolutions committee hasbeen formed, the simple charge of

U


which is to recommend resolutions tothe Executive Committee, and subse-quently to the SREA assembly foradoption.

Organizations such as SREA thrivethrough three energizing forces. Thefirst is that it have one or more individ-uals who are willing and able to con-tribute a good deal of time and atten-tion to it. Second, it is imperative tohave an organized system of communi-cations including a newsletterwhich effectively informs members,stimulates activity, increases credibil-ity, publicizes programs and achieve-ments, recruits advocates, etc.; andthird, it must have a committed andactive executive board. All three areimportant to the future of SREA. Thethird is perhaps the most crucial toSREA at this juncture.

The Board is an essential key to thesuccess of SREA. We must do wha-tever possible to elect/-select thoseindividuals in each state to the Execu-tive Board who have not only the re-quisite talent, but a fervent commit-ment to rural education, and theresources to fulfill the obligations ofmembership on the Board. These indi-viduals must also serve as year-roundagents in their state, as State Execu-tives, as it were of SREA doingwhatever necessary and possible tofurther the goals and welfare of theAssociation. The key to the success orfailure of SREA in better fulfilling itsobjectives lies in the hands of us all.But the Executive Committee plays avery special role in establishing priori-ties and activities; and in keeping thebusiness of the organization movingand on track, not just in an occasionalmeeting of the Board, but regularly intheir separate states.

We have seated six new memberson the board this year, filling ill of thevacancies in the seventeen contiguousStates, but not the Virgin Islands orPuerto Rico. The President has ap-pointed an at-large board member torepresent the latter and WashingtonD.C. (vacated by a move). These toomust be filled.

This year the Executive Committeehad an additional meeting in the fall.

(Continued on Page II)

3

SREA Journal, Vol. I, 1990

ARTS ENRICHMENT PROGRAMS INMIDDLE TENNESSEE RURAL SCHOOLS

Howard Brahmstedt and Patricia Brahmstedt

When funding is limited, educationin the arts seems to be the first tosuffer budget cuts. A creative wayto ensure teaching of the arts isdescribed in this article which hashad a real impact on several middleTennessee schools.

In Tennessee some rural Englishclasses are discussing Shakespeare'slove sonnets while students from arural machine shop class listen to ablack operatic baritone sing Italianopera and German lieder. These activi-ties are not typical of arts programs inmost rural schools. They are, though,activities found in arts classes in theschools of Middle Tennessee who aremembers of the Tennessee Technolog-ical University Rural Education Con-sortium. Funding arts programs, likethose mentioned above in ruralschools where money is scarce andwhere children have limited backgrounds, can be a challenge. The TTURural Education Consortium is find-ways to meet this challenge.

"Since the arts were notconsidered essential subjects

for the curriculum,these programs were eliminated

when money was scarce."

The Tech Rural Education Consor-tium is an organization within Tennes-see Tech University which promotesresearch and service between the uni-versity and member schools from afourteen county area in Middle Ten-nessee known as the Upper Cumber-land area. Until the consortium wasformed, most schools in this area hadminimal instruction in the arts. Likemost rural schools, they had very smallbudgets. Since the arts were not consi-dered essential subjeTt for the cirricu-lum, these prograts wen.. -liminatedwhen money v as scarce. At the initial

4

meeting of the TTU Rural EducationConsortium, one of the biggest re-quests submitted to the university bythe rural schools was for help in start-ing programs in the arts. Money tofund such programs was obtained byusing the funds set aside by the uni-versity-supplemented with donationsfrom other sources such as matchingfunds for state and federal grants. Mostof the grant money for the arts pro-grams came from the Tennessee AitsCommission. One program receivedmoney as a Drop-out Prevention Pro-gram. Much of the planning for thesearts enrichment programs was done byfaculty members from the universitywho felt that involvement in the artswas a necessary part of a school cur-riculum. These faculty members sawthat many rural schools had veryinadequate arts, programs, so theyhelped organize special arts projects tomake the students and the general pub-lic more aware of the importance ofarts education.

The arts projects which have beenimplemented have covered a wide var-iety of ideas. Movement ballet classesare being taught in one small school asa i esult of an Arts-in Education Grantfrom the Tennessee Arts Commission.Visual art classes and some musicclasses are being taught in some ele-mentary schools as field experiencesfor college students in art and musiceducation classes. The teachersin charge of the university music andart education classes teach the elemen-tary school classes themselves; then,each college student in the classteaches a lesson on a different day.

The most successful program in thearts started by the TTU Consortiumhad been the band and general musicprogram in Gainesboro, Tennessee. Inthe first year of funding from the uni-versity, a part-time music teacher washired to teach in K-3 grades and tosupervise student teachers in the upper

1

elementary grades. The second year theprogram was expanded with grantmoney by adding general music andband instruction in the high school.Two grants added money to this pro-gram: a Drop-out Prevention Pro-gram Grant from the AppalachianRegional Commission and an Artists in

"There is a changing attitudetowards the value of arts in a

school curriculum in theUpper Cumberland area of

Middle Tennessee."

Residency Grant from the TennesseeArts Commission. By the third year theprogram was so well received by thecommunity that the local school boardvoted to fund a music teacher.

Another music program, whichused professional musicians who pres-ented a series of concerts in severaldesignated schools, was funded by aGrants-in-Aid Tennessee Arts Com-mission Grant. The series. entitled"Learning by Listening," presentedsoloists from the woodwind, brass,string, and vocal areas, and a wood-wind quintet and a brass quintet. Eachconcert followed a format constructedto display, through music and com-ments, the concepts of melody,rhythm, harmony, form, and tonecolor in the music. Prior to each con-cert, students received instructionabout the concepts to be covered in theconcerts. Where possible, video tapesof live performers were left for follow-up activities.

During the second year of this grantprogram, one of the performers in theseries had to cancel a concert. This ledto an expansion of the program intothe area of theatre. The TTU TheatreEnsemble was substituted on the serieswith a presentation entitled, "Love,my name is Will." The presentationconsisted of Shakespeare's sonnets group-ed into dramatic scenes integrated with

(Continued on Page 7)


MANDATED TEACHER EVALUATION DOESIMPROVE TEACHING AND LEARNING

Reform in education which mayinitially seem likely to cause prob-lems can often turn out to be benefi-cial with the cooperation of allthose involved. This report from theState of Texas describes examplesof mandated reforms and the impor-tant processes which resulted ineventual benefits to schools andstudents.

Educational reform is sweeping thecountry. The State of Texas is noexception to this "new reform" pro-cess. In many ways, t.e reform inTexas and those changes attributed toit are more wide ranging and severethan in most other states. The pressuresand frustrations that have accompan-ied the changes have been equallywide ranging and in some cases severe.As schools and school personnel havebegun to make the changes, some posi-tive effects have started to emerge.Most interesting is the emerging per-ception that teachers are paying muchmore attention to the art and science ofteaching and that stuckInts, who havebought into the process, are showingevidence that they are learning more.

Serious reform began in Texas in1982 with the passage of a bill thatrequired that "essential elements" beidentified for each course that was beto taught in the schools. In addition,teachers were required to keep dailylesson plans that would show wheneach essential element was taught andin what context. State accreditationteams now check to see that this pro-cess is being carried out. Before thismandated reform could be fully im-plemented, Ross Perot forced the pas-sage of the widely publicized HouseBill 72. This legislation had the infam-ous "no pass-no play" requirementsfor athletes in addition to several moresignificant sets of requirements thataffected teaching and learning. These

William H. Kurtz

requirements were:To set passing at a score of 70 on ascale of 100To create a system that, in essence,withheld credit in a course due toexcessive absences while at thesame time provided wide rangingopportunities to make up workunder most other adverse condi-tions. (suspension, home bound,alternative schools, etc.)

To raise graduation requirementsTo create a mandated teacher evalu-ation system

To create a career ladder forteachers.

In addition, several funding changesand other budgeting requirementscaused about 20 per cent of the statetax effort to be transferred to localdistricts. This has proven to be dis-astrous for a number of districts, a fewof which have become financiallyinsolvent.

The mandated teacher evaluationsystem that was created was called theTexas Teacher Appraisal System,(TTAS). The system had several basicrequirements:

1. An evaluation form was creat-ed to meet the requirements ofthe legislation.

2. Administrators and others whowere to evaluate teachers hadto successfully complete train-ing sessions in instructionalleadership and in the proper useof the TTAS scoring sheet.

3. All teachers were to be evalu-ated each year through a seriesof announced and unannounc-ed visits.

4. All teachers who were found tobe below expectations were tohave a personal improvementplan developed and monitored.

5. All districts would provideteachers an opportunity tolearn about the system throughinservice activities.

6. The formal evaluation of theteacher was to be presented tothe teacher through a post eva-luation conference.

7. Each teacher was to be evalu-ated by a primary evaluatorand one other evaluator.

During the implementation of theTTAS, several problems arose andmuch confusion and discussion en-sued. Teachers were basically suspi-cious of the entire undertaking, andmany became actively involved in try-ing to influence the final product. Theywere moderately successful, especiallywhen revisions were made after thefirst year of operation. A serious prob-lem arose when the state agency,through its service centers, attemptedto train those who would train evalua-tors. The major issue was how tocreate a series of teams of "Trainers ofTrainers" that could be highly consist-ent in teaching others to make com-mon judgments when viewing instruc-tion. This may not seem as difficult asit was, but in retrospect, it may havebeen the most difficult part of installingthis system. A second dilemma wasfinding enough personnel to do theevaluations. In the first years of thesystem, many districts added adminis-trative personnel in order to be able tomeet the requirement for each of theevaluators to visit each teacher severaltimes. The result was that a largenumber of minimally prepared evalua-tors were pressed into service. Coupledwith the fact that only a few adminis-trators were experienced at formal eva-luation, the resulting evaluation forcewas essentially beginning anew.

To monitor the process, a longitudi-nal study of 200 teachers and apprais-ers in ten selected school districts was

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conducted by Kurtz and Weitman atSouthwest Texas State University(1988). The study measured attitudesand perceptions of these groups. Datafrom the study provided some insightinto the problems these groups hadover the first few years of the evalua-tion process and highlighted positiveand negative aspects of the system.

Data from the study showed muchmore agreement between teachers andappraisers than the researchers pre-dicted. In only two areas was there aclear debate between these twogroups. The most crucial argumentwas whether or not the items on theevaluation instrument actually reflect-ed the significant aspects of teaching.Teachers did not feel that the domainsevaluated reflected the teaching pro-cess as they knew it. Appraisers tendedto believe that it did. Part of this dis-agreement seems due to the speed ofimplementation of the system. Ap-praisers had more time to study theareas covered on the evaluation sheetand consequently were more comfor-table with it. Teachers had no morethan a short inservice on the process,and it took several years for them tounderstand the meaning of the do-mains. One major problem for teach-ers was the fact that the appraiser wasto be able to see evidence of all thedomains on the scoring sheet in a classsession. In the normal process of teach-ing in one hour blocks, it is not unusualfor a single lesson to last more than oneday. In a laboratory course, it may takeseveral days to be involved in all thedomains. In the areas such as music,physical education, and art there was adifferent problem. The instrument wasgenerally designed to match lecture/discussion types of teaching strategies,so in the activity classes, it was difficultto evaluate instruction unless the teach-er developed a lecture discussion ses-sion for the elms. The debate as towhat the significant aspects of teachingare is continuing and has spread toother facets of the states requirements.The effect of the debate is to causeteachers, administrators, appraisersand agency officials to closely examinethe teaching process.

6

The second disagreement was theinconsistent scoring found on the scor-ing sheets. As teachers began to com-pare the scores of the two appraisersthat visited them, many noticed thatthe two evaluators did not alwaysagree as to the level of competency ofthe teacher. Several documented casesof wide disagreement in interpretingwhat was required to score at highlevel confirmed the teachers concerns.In many districts, the average scoresgiven to teachers varied greatly fromcampus to campus within the district.Discussions that followed caused bothteachers and appraisers to carefullyexamine what constituted good teach-ing and what acts demonstrated that ateacher was performing well.

Other discussions are being held as aresult of other problems. When it waslearned that some teachers were pre-paring special sessions just for theannounced evaluation visit, "walk-through" evaluation visits have be-come more prevalent. The ensuingdebate has led most teachers andappraisers to support the walk-throughvisits or unannounced full period visitsas an integral part of the evaluationprocess. In some cases, teachers werefound to be less willing to share newand/or different teaching strategies.They seemed to be saving somethingfor the evaluation process that wouldhelp insure that they would get a highenough score so as to be placed on thecareer ladder. (The career ladder is adevice to promote and pay teacherswithout taking them out of the class-room). These tactics had a negativeeffect on improvement of instructionfor some, yet because of the effects ofthe personal improvement plans writ-ten for many teachers, the instructionalimprovement process seems to be tak-ing place at a higher level than beforethe advent of TTAS. Finally, there isever increasing discussion of whetheror not the six domains are equallyimportant and of the negative effect ofthe sixth domain that allows local stip-ulations to he added to the document.Teachers believe that it is easier toscore in some domains if you teachcertain subjects. While evaluators

(agree, they believe that they are mak-ing adjustments in the way they score -evaluations that will solve this prob-lem. Both teachers and appraisers areconcerned at the significance placedon the locally created domain. Super-intendents, and especially boards oftrustees, put great weight on thisdomain when considering whether ornot to retain personnel. There is littleevidence to indicate that the instru-ment is being used strictly to terminateteachers so this concern may not bewell founded. Data from the studyindicates that both teachers and ap-praisers agree that terminations are notbeing carried out as a result of TTAS.

Several positive teacher and admin-istrator behaviors were also identifiedby the study. Both teachers and ap-praisers indicated that the number ofteacher-administrator conferences hadincreased dramatically. Teachers andadministrators were having continueddiscussions about teaching and learn-ing. These discussions usually beganduring the post conference that theprimary evaluators conducted after theevaluation visit and continued throughthe school year.

Teachers are seeking new strategiesto help them with teaching. Inserviceand university training has becomemore popular, especially when it re-lated to new or different concepts ofteaching in their subject area. In addi-tion, school departments are workingtogether to determine what should betaught and when it should be taught. Inmany cases, this interest in articulationof the curriculum has been shown forthe first time in many years.

Administrators are watching theinstructional process much closer thanbefore. They are looking at the dailylesson plans of teachers, a process thathas caused all concerned to seriouslyconsider what is being taught. Ad-ministrators seem to be assuming therole of instructional leader. There isevidence that they are using the in-structional data to help teachers ratherthan using the data against teachers.Positive instructional gains are nowappearing. Administrators are also de-vising ways to increase collaboration

between teachers, supervisors and de-partment chairperson. These groupsare being encouraged to collectivelyset goals and parameters for growthand to work together to improve theinstructional process.

The most exciting evidence comesfrom the student population. After afew short years of treatment, scores onstandardized tests are increasing. Thegains are not huge, but they are clearlythere. The per cent of the populationthat is passing the standardized examsin also increasing. Teachers are indi-cating that students are taking theirstudies more seriously. More home-work is being completed, and morestudents are handing in assigned work.The only negative is the dropout rate.In spite of what the schools have done,the dropout rate is not declining and, insome cases, has risen slightly.

"It must be emphasized thatthe gains are not a directfunction of the mandates

but the result of the reactionof the professionals in thefield to the mandates."

In summary, the effects of reformand especially mandated teacher eva-luation are for the most part positive.Dialogue has begun and is producingserious study of the instructional pro-cess. This new atmosphere of colla-borative discussion of the merits ofeverything from instructional strate-gies to curriculum articulation hascaused an awakening among profes-sional educators that is refreshing andsignificant. Educators are becomingmore of a force in determining thedirection the educational process willtake and are giving a sense of reason toa sometimes questionable political so-lution to an educational problem.

Teachers who are using new strate-gies are making the process of teachingand learning much more effective.They are seeking new methods andstudying the art and science of teachingmore intensely than before. The op-portunity to be involved in collabora-tive discussions and to participate in

the decision making process is begin-ning to relieve some of the stresscaused when they were totally left outof the legislative process to create thereforms. The fact that most of them arescoring well on their evaluations alsoshows that they are good teachers cap-able of turning out a better product.Satisfaction is beginning to return tomany teachers. If the process continuesto be refined and improved, some posi-tive gains will result. It must be em-phasized that the gains are not a directfunction of the mandates but the resultof the reaction of the professionals inthe field to the mandates.

Students are working harder andgaining more. If the improvement con-tinues, it is quite possible that thenumber of students that graduate withsatisfactory basic skills will reach amuch higher level. They are the bene-factors of a professional, dedicatedresponse to the legislative mandates.

The process of reform and man-dated teacher evaluation is showingsigns of working. It is the result ofmany hours of work by dedicatedadministrators, teachers and other edu-cational professionals. As the processmatures and the players get better attheir doing their jobs, more positiveresults will undoubtedly be obtained.Students are the immediate benefac-tors and society in general will be thebenefactors over time. It is truly asituation where everyone can win.

References:Kurtz, William H. and Weitman,Catheryn J., "Texas Teacher Apprai-sal SystemAn Appraisal," TexasStudy of Sefcondary Education Re-search Journal," Texas Associationof Secondary Principals, Austin,Texas, Number 43, Fall 1988.

William H. Kurtz, ProfessorEducational Administration andPsychological ServicesSouthwest Texas State University4034 Education BuildingSan Marcos, Texas 78666

1


Arts Enrichment(Continued from Page 5)

late Renaissance vocal and instrumen-tal music. Each presentation was pre-ceded and followed with discussionsessions about the presentaion. A studyguide was circulated to make the stu-dents even mare aware of the essenceof the poetry and music. Additionalfunding for this projest was obtainedfrom the Tennessee Humanities Coun-cil.

This year the TTU Consortium hasreceived its largest Tennessee ArtsCommission Grant yet. An Artists inResidency Grant gives four schools afive week, one day per week residencyfrom each of four artists. The residencywill consist of direct instruction toselected students in grades kinder-arten through twelve, one or moreworkshops for teachers, and a publicperformance or display to concludethe residency. The arts include music,visual arts, theatre, and movement/ -ballet or folk dance. The schools arecontributing money themselvestowards this program.

The success of the TTU Consortiumwith starting arts programs is anexample of people with a common tieworking to make an idea grow. Whatare the benefits? There is a changingattitude towards the value of arts in aschool curriculum in the Upper Cum-berland area of Middle Tennessee.There are also many school childrenwith improved self-esteem who havelearned how to express themselvescreatively, both verbally and nonver-bally. Furthermore, they have learned!tow to look at or hear ii work of artand say, "That's beautiful. It makes mefeel great."

For more information :Howard and Patricia Brahmstedt aremembers of the Music and Art Facultyof Tennessee Technological Univer-sity, Box 5045 Cookeville, Tennessee38505.


NATIONAL AWARD WINNINGCOMMUNITY-AT-SCHOOL PROGRAM

How can rural schools work withtheir communities to upgrade theeducation level and the values foreducation in those communities?This article describes one modelwhich has been successful

In the not too distant past, ruralschools were the hub of their commun-ity. Recreational events, communitymeetii s, agricultural training, andeven church services were just a few ofthe activities that happened at theschool in addition to the educationalprograms for boys and girls. With theconsolidation movement, many ofthese programs were forgotten, and theschool ceased to be the hub of thecommunity. Over a period of time,citizens' attitudes toward educationchanged. One reason for this changehas been a decrease of citizen involve-ment in the schools.

In an attempt to improve the qualityof education for the county's citizensand alter their attitudes toward educa-tion. Alvin C. York Institute, a smalltown rural high school, convinced alocal bank to contribute $20,000. toinitiate a community education pro-gram at the school.

The community education programat York Institute began the 1985-86school year in an effort to provideincreased educational opportunitiesand services for citizens of all age lev-els. The Union Bank has continuedfinancial support of the program rec-ognizing the need for helping people toupgrade skills, for raising the literacylevel, and for having an establishedprogram of learning which will enableall persons to fulfill their unmet learn-ing needs on a lifetime basis.

Two thirds of the citizens in thecounty lack a high school education.One third never went past the eighthgrade, and many lack any formaleducation.

With York Institute serving the areaas the center of learning and recrea-

8

Casher A. Choatetion, programs are provided to en-hance the lives of the citizens in social,cultural, and recreational areas. Inaddition, adults pursue programs todevelop new skills through both voca-tional and ar,demic courses. As aresult of the community educationprogram, people of the community arehelped to realize their own potentialfor solving their problems. Academiccourses offered range from volunteersteaching literacy in the adult educationprograms to people meeting require-ments for advanced degrees.

As people experience a change inthe value they place on education, theyestablish a self-confidence that preparesthem to cope with the impact of rapidchanges in our highly technical society.Many people are upgrading their skillsto qualify for new jobs or for improv-ing the skills for the jobs they nowhold. As positive attitudes toward learn-ing are created and people gain upwardsocial mobility, the economy of thecommunity is improved.

The goals of the community educa-tion program at York Institute are asfollows:

1. To attack the literacy problem.2. To improve the skills of the dis-

advantaged adult population.3. To attempt to meet the cultural and

recreational needs of the isolatedrural area.

4. To help the people to replaceresignation with hope.

5. To help those in poverty cir-cumstances to gain upward socialand economic mobility.

6. To create, implement, and directa program of learning which willenable all persons to fulfill theirunmet learning needs on a lifetimebasis.

In order to meet the goals of theprogram, many different classes, activ-ities, programs, and seminars havebeen provided. Classes have includedbasic computers, advanced computers,typing, creative writing, karate, bridge,

guitar, accounting, aerobics, art, smallengine repair, flower arranging, dietand exercise, home landscaping, oilpainting, machine shop math, photo-graphy, first aid and CPR, interior dec-orating, hunter safety, squire dancing,clogging, real estate appraisal, DaleCarnegie courses, 55-Alive, calli-graphy, and woodworking. There havebeen picnics for senior citizens, rooktournaments, health fairs, basic traumalife support clinics, volleyball tourna-ments, horseshoe pitching, and ban-quets for organizations. Seminars haveincluded "Food for Your Heart,""Child Abuse," "Insurance," "DrugAwareness," "Teen Pregnancy,""Income Tax Preparation," and"Wills." College and university levelcourses are offered from freshmanthrough the master's level. Throughthe program, this school was estab-lished as a General Educational Devel-opment (GED) testing center; andtutoring adults in reading, adult basiceducation classes, and GED testingpreparation are ongoing.

"As people experience a changein the value they place oneducation, they establish a

self-confidence that preparesthem to cope with the

impact of rapid changes inour highly technical society."In addition to the bank's annual

financial contribution, other businessesprovide personnel and materials forsome classes. Public agencies, parents,volunteers, and other interested per-sons contribute time and talents to theclasses and activities. Professionals intheir fields provide seminars withoutcost. The Chamber of Commerce andother civic organizations provide pro-grams and services. Regular facultymembers come back at night to pro-vide instruction. The local news mediaprovide free publicity and advertisingThe community education directorrecruits professionals and agency represent-

11

atives to conduct volunteer seminarsand programs that are beneficial topeople of all ages.

York Institute's community educa-tion program involves many parentswho were school dropouts. The educa-tional programs allow them to becomefamiliar with the schools which theirchildren attend. The involvementshould help them to change the valuethey place on education.

Community education is people help-ing people for community improve-ment, group improvement, and self-improvement. Since this community isan isolated rural area with a high illi-teracy rate and a lower socio-economic population, the communityeducation program at York Instituteprovides hope to the local citizens for abrighter future. The program is work-ing. The community is reaping the

SREA Journal, Vol. 1, 199'0

benefits. The future of the communityis much brighter because of it.

For further information contact:Dr. Doug Young, SuperintendentAlvin C. York Institute

Mr. Casher A. ChoateDirector, Community EducationAlvin C. York InstituteP.O. Box 70Jamestown, TN 38556

PAEC:A PACESETTER IN RURAL EDUCATION

Rural school districts often lackadequate funding to provide all ofthe services which are needed. Byjoining together in a cooperativeventure, resources can be shared byrural schools. One such a programis described from the rural part ofnorthern Florida.

Located over five hundred milesfrom posh Miami Beach and overthree hundred miles from Orlando'sWalt Disney \ orld, the PanhandleArea Educational Cooperative dis-tricts have much more in commonwith their rural neighbors to the north,Alabama and Georgia, than they dowith the Gold Coast of South Florida.The few palm trees that occasionallydot the landscape are blighted andstumpy because they don't belonghere. West Forida lands are gamefilled piney woods with clay roadsspidering into colorful rural communi-ties named Two Egg. Sweet GumHead and Prosperity. More like coun-try cousins than sisters to the rich,urban, highly populated districts ofDade, Duval and Broward, the coun-ties of the PAEC have to creativelycombat problems associated with ruralpoverty. A tribute to this spirit ofcooperation is the Panhandle AreaEducation Cooperative - aPAECSETTER in rural education forover twenty years.

Historically, this consortium grew

Paula Waller

from an early recognition by the super-intendents in the area of the advan-tages of pooling their resources andsharing programs. These superintend-ents for years had practiced roomingclose together at state meetings so thatthey could discuss common problems,offer advice to each other and seekways to cooperate in areas of mutualinterest. The first formal sharing was in1959 when a NDEA, Title V grantestablished the Chipola Area Educa-tional Project (CAEP) to improve test-ing, evaluation and guidance servicesfor seven regional counties.

The cooperative efforts of theCAEP were so beneficial that in 1967plans were put into motion to extendthe programs of the CAEP as well as toinvite two new districts, to participate.It was at this meeting that the plan wasformulated for what would becomethe Panhandle Area Educational Coopera-tive. The nine counties joined togetherand wrote a proposal for fundingunder ESEA, Title III. In July 1967the proposal was approved, a grantwas awarded, and the formal compo-nents of the consortium were put intoplace.

From its inception the consortiumdefined its role as educational enhance-ment and began to implement innova-tive programs designed to meetmember districts' needs. One of thefirst innovations involved all nine dis-tricts adopting the same school calendar

1'

to make possible a consortium wideprogram of inservice training for teachers.This especially benefitted teachers inareas such as humanities, physicaleducation, special education, businesssubjects, foreign language, and mediawhere small numbers prevented thedistrict from providing inservice inthose subject areas. Common inserviceactivities permitted teachers to meettheir counterparts from neighboringdistricts and share best practices aswell as problems.

To meet the everpresent problem ofproviding rural classrooms with fullyqualified, well-trained teachers, thenew consortium implemented projectsINSTEP, COP, and LIFT. INSTEPprovided a program for persons whowanted to teach but did not graduatefrom a teacher education program.Upon completion of a nine weekcourse designed by UWF plus oneyear of supervised teaching, the partici-pant was declared fully certified ineducation by the Department of Educa-tion. Career Opportunites Program(COP) provided assistance forteachers to work on advanced degreesand Lattice for Improved FutureTeachers (LIFT) provided trainingfor teacher aides as well as financialassistance to use on a teacher certification.

Over the past twenty-two years,PAEC has established its positionas an organization on the cutting

9


edge of educational enhancement inthe state.Proving year after yearthrough cooperation and pooling re-sources small rural districts can enjoyan array of programs and services asvaried and rich as those found in Dadeand Broward, our rich sisters to thesouth. Our smallest district consisitingof three schools with sixty-four teach-ers can still boast of educational pro-grams that include instructional tech-nology, preschool, instructional tele-vision, middle school staff develop-ment, risk management, Florida Diag-nostic and Learning Resources

System, migrant education, comprehensivehealth/dropout prevention, educationalleadership training, Teacher EducationCenter activities, and many more educa-tional services that would be availableonly through consortium membership.

In 1967 five consortia were fundedthroughout Florida and in 1989 thePanhandle Area Educational Coopera-tive is the only lne that survived. Thekey to success has been that it is anintegral part of the districts' schools. Itprovides enhancement that could onlybe maintained through cooperation.PAEC working with universities, corn-

munity colleges, the State Departmentof Education, state and local agencies,school and community organizationshave become PAEC-Setters in ruraleducation working toward the goal ofenriching the educational expressionsfor rural teachers and students through-out the panhandle area of Florida.

Paula Waller DirectorPanhandle Area EducationalCooperative411 West BoulevardChipley, FL 32428

The Development of Teacher RecruitmentMaterials for Rural Schools:

Three Examples

Small, rural school systems con-tinually struggle to ensure an ade-quate supply of certified teachers.Teacher recruitment materials areeffective only if they reflect localteacher labor market conditions.

Small rural school systems havetraditionally struggled to ensure anadequate supply of teachers. Neverhaving achieved financial equity, theyare now expected to demonstrate edu-cational excellence (Hare, 1986). Topolicy makers, concerns over teachersupply and demand are labor marketconcerns, and useful research enablesthe control and adjustment of themarket.

Barnett Berry (1984) notes whilepolicy research cannot "remedy allconvoluting factors affecting theteacher labor market ... it must accountfor them if policies are to be regionallysensitive and consequently, effectiveand efficient ... resonable and possible(p. 74). Berry identified factors impor-tant in policy analysis,and developedrecommendations for consideration bypolicy makers. Of particular interest isthat school systems should becomesensitive to labor market forces indi-genous to their locale. He notes thatrural school systems can promote the10

Dwight Hare

bene,.ts of rural living much as industrydoes in attracting college graduates totheir rural sites. Based on these factors,a collaborative effort was undertakenbetween the Louisiana Center forRural or Small Schools (LaCROSS)and three rural school systems in northLouisiana to develop materials forrecruiting teachers. These materialsreflected local context and local mar-ket forces. Following is a descriptionof the three parish school systems andan explanation of the development ofrecruitment materials.

Parish AParish A has 17,300 residents with

the largest town about 5000 residents.Parish A's economic base is the localpulpwood and paper making opera-tion which employs nearly one-fifth ofthe parish population. This explainsthe parish's 5-6% unemployment rate ina region averaging 13% and a stateaveraging 9%.

Parish A's ten schools, all air condi-tioned and recently renovated, educate3400 students and employ 230teachers and administrators. Sixty per-cent of the teachers have degrees be-yond a Master's. Teachers receive alocal annual supplement of some$3000, making their salaries nearly25% higher than the state base pay.

While many teachers in Parish Ateach and live there, others commute.It is important to note that these com-muters are not those typically asso-ciated with rural schools. They are notfrom urban areas waiting for a job`back home,' and they see teaching inParish A as permanent employment.

A secondary supervisor, responsiblefor recruitment, attends teacher jobfairs sponsored by area universities.Recruitment materials for Parish Aemphasizes proximity to urban areas.Teachers can pursue advanced degreesat area universities, enjoy the quality ofschools and life in Parish A, and earncompetitive salaries.

The recruitment packet includes amap detailing accessibility to the par-ish, a letter from the superintendentemphasiz:ng specific points about theschools, and a description of life inParish A. Slides and a 15 minute videohighlight the community and schoolsat recruiting fairs. Because of accessi-bility and economic-financial stability,Parish A utilizes a "soft-sell" attitude.Parish B

Parish B has an agricultural econ-omy based primarily in cotton andtotals 24,000 residents. Attempts todiversify the economy have resulted inthe establishment of several catfish

13

farming, operations and contingentbusinesses in production and process-ing. Unemployment is around 14%.The parish seat has 6000 residents andis approximately 40 miles from North-east Louisiana University, the closestuniversity.

Parish B has 5400 students in 12schools. The majority of its 310 educa-tors graduated from N.L.U., and manyare spouses of those engaged in agricul-tural operations. The local teachersupplement is approximately $1250yearly, but, because of the decliningagricultural economy and competitionwith the mall in Monroe, sales taxrevenue has been adversely affected.Parish B's local tax contribution foreducation is approximately two-thirdsof the state average. Most teachers livewithin the parish, and those living out-side of the parish do not tend to remainwith Parish B's schools.

Parish B recruits teachers from areauniversities, but has typically employ-ed mostly those from this or surround-ing parishes. The recruiting packetcontained three descriptive pages anda letter from the superintendent em-phasizing advantages of living andteaching in Parish B. A video andslides, projecting the parish seat as anurban, progressive, diverse economiccenter rather than a small farm-economy town, were created to attractteachers at job fairs.

Parish CParish C, in the Mississippi Delta, has

a cotton and soybean farm economy.

The State of the Association(Continued from .'age 3)

An enormous amount of business wastransacted in a very short period oftime. This meeting was costly in timeand money for those board memberswho attended. However, if the organi-zation is to flourish, such meetingsof the Executive Committee shouldoccur on a regular basis: once duringthe NREA convention in the fall, againin the winter (for pre-planning theconvention, etc.), again in the spring atthe SREA convention, and perhapseven another meeting in the summer.

Its 8000 residents live mostly in thethree parish towns. Employment isseasonal, and one-third of the familieslive below the poverty level.

Parish C has 1650 students and 109teachers and administrators in threeelementary and three high schools.The teacher pay supplement, based onsales tax, has declined over the pastfew years and totals about $900yearly.

Usually Parish C teachers are parishnatives. Some drive from Mississippibecause they began teaching at thetime teacher pay was higher in Louisi-ana. Teachers who neither live withinthe parish nor drive from Mississippiare typically of three types: 1) certifiedand simply comfortable in their ParishC school, 2) certified, but awaiting aposition to teach 'back home.' or 3)not certified (usually due to NTEscores) awaiting a position 'backhome' once they are certified.

The superintendent does not attendjob fairs because Parish C cannotcompete with area systems; thus, no recruit-ment packet was developed. However,a brochure listing the demographics ofthe parish and emphasizing the advan-tages of the rural system (17-1 student-teacher ratio), was developed for initial-ly contacting prospective teachers. In-tead of utilizing job fairs, the superinten-dent "keeps in touch" with studentsfrom "Parish .C" enrolled in teachereducation. He even reads the news-papers of area parishes and contactscollege graduates. He reports he has

The goals and objectives of SREAsimply will not respond in any signifi-cant degree to an occasional meetingof its executive body. Nor, will thegoals and objectives of SREA submitto superficial commitment by mem-bers of this body. Thankfully, theBoard has historically been composedof highly dedicated and energetic peo-ple. Were this not so, the organizationwould have collapsed long ago.

We have moved with increasingeffectiveness and pace toward realizingour objectives. To continue this prb-


occasionally found an employableindividual in a secondary subject areawho may be employed as a classroomteacher while becoming certified. How-ever, the superintendent's efforts donot mitigate the inherent conditions inParish C.

Summary

"School systems should becomemore knowledgeable of labor marketforces indigenous to their locale," ac-cording to Berry (1984, p76). Thisarticle describes the use of research bylocal school systems to address theirteacher labor market. The importanceof this article is to illustrate the practiceof local schools solving local problemsand the involvement of area universi-ties in helping solve these problems.What is of concern for policy makers isthe acceptance of the necessity foreducational policy to effectively reflectregional teacher labor market forcesindigenous to local school systems.

ReferencesBerry, B. (1984). A case study of the

teacher labor market in the south-east. Research Triangle Park, N. C.:Southeastern Regional Council for Ed-cational Improvement.

Hare, D. (1986, March). Local schoolfinances in Louisiana: Dispartities,discrepancies, and disgrace. Paperpresented at the annual meeting ofthe Mid South Educational Research Association, Memphis, TN.

gress calls for increasing commitmentand time by us all. In many respects,.SREA is the most potent agent ofexcellence on the rural education scenein the South. Support it as you can.Stimulate membership. Keep yourExecutive Committee members on hisor her toes in respect to our objectives.Let him or her know your concerns,needs, and ideas. Let us all work for thefurther effectiveness and excellence ofSREA, and its mission of equitableand excellent educatkin for all of thechildren of the rural South.

11


Unexpected Benefits For Rural Education FromA Beginning Teacher Internship Program

Beginning teacher induction pro-grams have increased in recent years.There is evidence that these pro-grams help the new teachers, butthis article suggests that in additionthere may be benefits to ruraleducation.

Introduction

The legislature in the state of Ken-underwent some revision in 1989

..cucky Department of Education,1989). The internship program wasestablished as part of the movement toreform education in this country andwas specifically intended to providesupport and assistance for beginningteachers which would make the firstyear of teaching a better experience. Itwas hoped that a good beginningmight also help keep more of thesenew professionals in the teachingprofession. In a number of instanceswhere the first year is especially diffi-cult, teachers decide to leave the fieldand to seek employment in some otherline of work.

The Teacher Internship Program

A committee is formed to providesupport and supervision for the teacherintern. The members of the committeeinclude the school principal, a resourceteacher from the school, and an exter-nal person who is frequently a teachereducator from a nearby college. Theresource teacher makes him/herselfavailable to the intern prior to thebeginning of school and during theschool year to assist in any way. Theresource teacher serves in many waysas a mentor to the intern.

The teacher educators are consi-dered to be knowledgeable in the mostrecent literature on education and fam-ilar with the training the intern re-ceived in college. The teacher educa-

12

Chuck Hulick and Bobby Malone

tors are also able to use their experi-ences in the schools with the intern toenrich the courses they teach in theteacher training program.

The internship committee follows atimetable in order to observe the internteaching classes a minimum of threeduring the academic year. After eachobseri,ation the committee meets withand gives feedback to the intern re-garding the teaching they haveobserved.

Feedback on the Internship ProramResearch conducted on the inter-

ship program has found that a vastmajority of the interns report that theinternship program has been veryhelpful to them. They note that it takessome time during their very busy sche-dule to meet their internship responsi-bilities, but that it is helpful. Internshave made statements such as the fol-lowing about the internship:

"Because of my specific committee,I found the internship program veryhelpful. It was a great success and Iam very proud of my accomplish-ments as a teacher."

"The internship mentor provided alot of information, support, andsuggestions. Even the observationshelped to increase my effectivenessand self-esteem."

"The help given was greatly appre-ciated, and I think helping (me) notjudging (me) was why my intern-ship was successful."

"It provided the encouragement anew teacher needs."

The feedback has also helped toidentify skills in which the interns feltthat they were not adequately pre-pared. One of these skill areas was thatof dealing effectively with classroomdiscipline. This is consistently one ofthe realms in which new teachersreport feeling less self-confident. An-

other realm which was identified byinterns as a weakness was that of hav-ing skills to deal effectively with par-ents. From this knowledge the teachereducators have begun to examine theteacher training program to determinehow these skills are being taught. Theconclusion has been that very little inthe teacher education curriculumaddresses the skills necessary to dealwith parents. Changes have alreadybeen implimented to more adequatelyaddress these skills in the future.

Additional Impacts

The evidence cited above seems toindicate that the internship is provid-ing the support and feedback for thenew teaching professionals as it wasintended to do. However, additionalbenefits seem to have occurred as aresult of the internship program.

As a part of the internship programall of the committee members mustparticipate in training. The initial train-ing received by the committeemembers lasts 4 days. Each year afterthe first year the committee receivesupdate training which lasts two days.Thetraining program includes training inthe research knowledge base uponwhich effective teaching is based aswell as training in an observation sys-tem for the committee to use in observ-ing the teacher intern.

Principals and resource teachers re-port that the training they received forthe internship program was one of itsmost valuable benefits. It brings themin contact with research literature withwhich they are often not familiar.Teachers and principals are very busyin their jobs and are often unable tokeep up with all of the new researchfindings which are being published.They report that the knowledge notonly has helped them to do a good jobof helping the intern, but it has alsobeen very beneficial to them personally.

The observation system in which

15

they are trained identifies specific be-haviors which teachers can perform inorder to enhance the learning andachievement of their students. Re-source teachers indicate that they be-gin using these behaviors in their ownteaching. Principals report that theobservation system and the knowledgebase enables them to better performthe instructional supervision requiredof them.

While these benefits seem to accrueto all the principals and resourceteachers who are trained as a part ofthe internship program, those fromrural school districts may benefit evenmore. Rural districts often have fewerspecialized personnel whose responsi-bility it is to be knowledgeable in thecurrent research. The district may belocated farther from colleges and otherresources who might normally providethis information. The training has re-duced the feelings of professional isola-tion which some of the rural schoolsreport.

The internship program has hadanother somewhat unexpected benefitfor rural education. The teacher educa-tors who travel to the schools :o workwith the intern and the internshipcommittee are traveling to many ruralschools where they have never beenpreviously. College professors do nothave a particular reason to be in manyof the small rural schools or manyother schools for that matter. Goingto these rural schools and workingwith the school personnel several timesduring the academic year brings theminto contact with the settings andthe contexts of rural education. Manyprofessors have expressed the opinionthat they have become more familiarwith teaching in rural schools and per-

haps feel better prepared to incorpo-rate these ideas and examples into neirteaching.

Schoeder (1989) found in a study ofuniversity faculty who had partici-pated in the internship program thatmost of the faculty members said thatparticipation in the program had madea difference in their own teaching.They also reported that the experien-ces had made a difference in theirthinking about the training of teachers,and that they had used the learningwhich resulted from their experiencesto attempt to make changes in theteacher education program.

Conclusion

The Kentucky Teacher InternshipProgram has been successful in provid-ing support for and in assisting newteachers. These were the primary goalsof the nrngram when it was initiated. Itappears these have been additionalbenefits for rural education which maynot have been envisioned when theinternship program was begun.

Teachers and principals in ruralschools have had access to training inthe most current research literature oneffective teaching strategies. They havealso been trained in a teaching observa-tion system which can benefit themdirectly in observing and helping .theteacher intern and also help them intheir own work. Tnis training is fairlyextensive and is provided free to theschool distrir-. Mere is also evidencethat when hese two individuals goback to the scriooio and begin talkingabout the new information, otherteachers have asked to be provided

SREA Journal, Vol. I, 1990

with more information on both theknowledge base and the observationsystem.

Finally, college and universityfaculty who particiapte in the intern-ship program as a part of the intern'scommittee have had reason to be inmany rural schools on a regular basis.The faculty report that their thinkingabout these schools has changed as aresult of these experiences. They havealso incorporated some of this newawareness into their teaching. By usingexamples from small and rural schoolsin their teaching and routinely talkingabout their experiences in theseschools, their students will becomemore aware of rural schools and theirspecial characteristics. Hopefully,some of the stereotypical ideas regard-ing rural schools will be challengedand more prospective teachers willregard teaching in a rural setting as apostitive experience.

References

Kentucky State Department of Edu-cation (1989). Kentucky TeacherInternship Program Handbook forTeacher Interns and Teacher Intern-ship Committees. Frankfort, K y.

Schroeder, G. (1989). Higher Edu-cation Participation in the Ken-tucky Beginning Teacher InternshipProgram: A Springboard for Col-laboration with the Public Schools.Paper presented at the meeting ofthe American Association of Col-leges of Teacher Education,Anheim, CA.

URBAN CHAUVINISM AND RURAL VALUES

Many people have very stereotypedideas regarding the nature of life ina "rural" area. These assumptionswhich often exist at almost anunconscious level are identified

Keigh Hubel

through the personal experience ofthe author.

I was born and raised in a smallMinnesota community of less than

1G

500--graduated in 1950 in a class of16. In my home town I knew all of thedogs by first name and they waggedtheir tails when I greeted thein. In thirdgrade I also knew all of the local heroes

13


and they knew me. For fun we pulledsome pranks like anyone with energyand ideas might .

Maynard (my hometown) is undergo-ing economic distress just like mostrural areas. For the past few years itseems like the major cash crop hasbeen scrap iron and the major industryjury duty. But we're coming back, wehave resolve. We seem to be able toput things in proper perspective. Theweather is one of those things.

I realized that life in Maynard wasdifferent than life in the city, but whenI went to boot camp at Fort Riley itcame home to me loud and clear. I wasmaking one of those love driven tripshome to see Arlene and I had let mymother know, but I also wanted Orvaland Leona to know so I could see themif possible. I had worked on their farmfor four years, and they were kin also. Istopped in Kansas and placed a longdistance call as follows:

Me: "I would like to place a collectcall to anyone who answers at theOrval Peterson residence."Operator: "What is their number?"Me: "Two longs and a short."

Operator: "You smart alecs tie up alot of our time..."Me: "Please just try to get MaynardCentral."

After some effort on her part she didher job and...

Gusty: "Maynard Central."Operator: "I have a collect call foranyone at the Orval Peterson resi-dence from Keigh Hubei."

Gusty: (Maynard Central) "That'stwo longs and a short, but they're nothome. They're at the basketball gameand Leona is serving bars later. Whereare you Keigh?"

Me: "I'm in Kansas City on myway...

Operator: "You can't..Who's goingto pay for this?"

Gusty: "Orvil will."Me: "Will, you let Orval and Leonaknow I'll be home this weekend."

19

Gusty: "Sure."

At that point I knew the differencebetween caring and anonymity.

Life in Maynard was easy for mealthough I realize now that we werepoor. When I was growing up therewere no labels of rich or poor. Peopleknew that labels might drive peopleapart so they didn't use them. Somepeople has swell things or were re-ferred to as "well to do." Others had"modest means." All along I got toknow what it is to be kind. We alllearned how to develop enduring relation-ships, sometimes with people whomade that task difficult.

Maynard is still less than 500 andpeopled with stable, steadfast, honestcitizens, who still believe in the Ameri-can dream. When I am with them, aswith other rural folks they show methe meaning of decency.

All of the preceding is but anintroduction to my reaction to thenotion of urban chauvinism. I wonderabout devotion only to things urban.The concept of chauvinism originatedfrom the actions of Nicholas Chauvin,a soldier in Napoleon's army whomaintained an unreasoned attachmentto the lost empirical cause. Since thattime militant, boastful, condescending,fanatical devotion to one's own race,country, sex are also referred to aschauvinistic. Urban biases whichwould relegate everything rural tosecond class status also deserve a care-ful examination under the chauvinistlabel. Male-chauvinism is an attemptby males to treat females as secondclass citizens. This has resulted fromignorance and cultural traditions. Tosome extent urban chauvinism is muchlike male-chauvinism--based on ignor-ance and the obvious urban culturalbiases, but it is real. Consider thefollowing examples.

Bill Stagg in the FFA magazine wrotethe following: "When you first meetRick Maier, you come away impress-ed. He dresses well, understands theworld around him and seems to befollowing a carefully crafted life plan.

He has all the articulation and urbanityof someone born and bred in the city.Only he wasn't."

Whether from ignorance or urbanmyopias this message is mainlined intoall of those rural youth who faithfullyread their FFA journal. They have to

somewhat deprived or secondclass in nature, guilty about where theyhave been geographically planted.

Rural teachers in a FOXFIRE pro-gram in Georgia were told by big cityteachers "You are simple, but interesting." The open, honest, direct approachthe desire to communicate in sincereand friendly ways is often interest-ing to city people. Rural folks tend notto play games or manipulate othersand have fewer hidden agendas. Some-where in the deep reaches of this urbanmind rural areas can be seen as a vastzoo where the genuineness fInd decencyof the people become oddities andqualities worthy of recreationalviewing.

"This has resulted fromignorance and cultural

traditions. To some extenturban chauvinism is much likemale chauvinism based on

ignorance and the obvious urbancultural biases, but it is real."

Larry Gavin is a teacher of Englishto teens. He has chosen to live in asmall town where his neighbors havealso asked him to serve as mayor. Thiscommunity of 300 was awarded asewer project grant and hired a bonds-man from Boston to help raise theadditional funds needed. At their firstmeeting Larry noticed the man talkedslowly and loudly as if all of those inattendance were retarded. Larry wasand is erudite, urbane, and graciousenough to let his apparent condescend-ing attitude pass without comment.The Bostonian sees anyone living out-side of an "arena of action" (city) as abucolic boob. Larry's patience wastested as the pre-town council chattermoved to the October stock marketcrash and the Boston chauvinist ex-

17

claimed, "You heard about that outhere?"

At a legislative committee meetingin Marshall, MN a state representativefor St. Paul exhorted "Sure WendellBerry is a farmer, but he is an intelli-gent one." The list of what a farmer hasto be stretches from agronomist tozoologist. Many a mathematician andmechanic have been awed by the wayfarmers figure and fix.

A review of the movie "Country"exclaimed, "The movie was wellacted, well written, gripping with it'smessage, but unrealistic becauseJessica Lange was too beautiful to bea farm wife." One thing I know forsure is that beauty is more than anexternal quality and that's one factrural, people live out. It also shows thatthe reviewer is making judgementsbased on some isolated stereotypingshe has done.

Many of these images come fromthe likes of Larry, Darrel and Darreland Pee Wee Herman. The latest is aBeek who supposedly has his roots in arural setting. Inferences also tie Larry,Darrel and Darrel trio to the farm ,especially the A&W Rootbeer ads thatshow Larry with his friends (farmanimals).

Bob Leenerts from Illinios was pair-ed with a roomate who had never beenout of Chicago in the freshman dormat the University of Chicago. For atleast a week the Chicago biased boyeyed Bob with obvious wonder andamazement. Somehow he was lookingfor Bob to act as he thought he should

his view of a farm boy. One morn-ing he said to Bob, "Do you really haveroosters to wake you up in the morn-ing?" Other examples:

"Do you have computers?"--a ques-tion to a rural teacher in Iowa.

"Do you have a place to sit?"--aquestion posed by football fans whowere preparing to travel to a rural areato watch a game.

"I couldn't tell he was from thecountry until someone told me. He

seemed almost normal."--a commentat a recent education conference.

"Some of them are real ambitious andget good jobs in the city."a residentof a small town in SW Minnesota.

"I knew a good one once. You can'tlump them together."

"They say a fella moved from the cityto the country and raised the I. Q. ofboth areas."--a "joke" told at an urbandevelopment conference.

"Clod," "hick," "sorghum Lapper,""hayseed," and "bumpkin" are allnames rural people, especially farmers,are called.

Of course, there are exceptions, butthe vast majority of American educa-tion today is permeated by an orienta-tion towards things urban, and con-scious or subconscious prejudiceagainst things rural. Textbooks as wellas curriculum designs reflect urbanbiases. Career education prepares ourbrightest youths to leave their home-towns for jobs in the cities of the world.They are directing them away fromtheir own communities. Studies showthat such biases alienate young peoplefrom their heritage. What is oftenignored is local history, arts, leisurepursuits, memories, stories, politics,wisdom and collective community experi-ences. We imagine the future out of thenotions we develop about our past.

Significant research has shown thatone of the best ways to promotegrowth, build community pride andretain young people is to study thelocal community. To study somethingis to make it legitimate for young lifereflected in the curriculum, our youthare being told that it is not significantor maybe not'even an option for themto follow. Today, teachers across thenation have accepted a standardized,urbanized curriculum that largely ig-nores the rural influence.

When I was in high school people ingeneral prepared me to leave May-nard. A local state senator took an

n


interst in me because our family was of"modest means" and all of his mes-sages led me to believe that all roads ofopportunity led away from Maynard.None of the careers we studied in ninthgrade civics existed in Maynard. Thepopular notion was that "anyone withany get up and go, got up and went."

"Of course, there are exceptions,but the vast majority of

American education today ispermeated by an orientationtowards things urban, and aconscious or subconscious

prejudice against things ruraL"

I listened to the radio and built amythology about life in the city. Ilooked at magazines with pictures oflife in the cities - exciting. I heardstories about life in the cities fromthose who lived there and now visitedon special occasions-dazzling. I stud-ied textbooks that exalted urbanheroes like Henry Ford and John D.Rockefeller-archetypal.

The subtle messages from all of thesources allowed me to look at myneighbors with anticipatory pity as Iwaited for my liberation. I didn't knowwhy then but some graduates who liveright in Maynard didn't attend theclass reunion. They felt guilty aboutnot ever being liberated from thisdismal existence.

If the way rural people love, laughand live is outmoded I wanted to beconsidered passe. I also hope that ruralpeople will see fit to call for theinclusion of local people, places andthings in their school curriculum. Thedevelopment of pride in who we are isa matter of believing that the way welive is O.K. A first step in the process ofdeveloping local and personal pride isto recognize that we don't have toaccept the condescending and patroniz-ing attitude of the urban majority.I like who I am and where I live!

15


Technology in Rural Schools: The Future is Now

Being educated in a rural school hasled to the notion by some that one'seducation is second rate. If this were afact, then nearly 60% of all school dis-tricts in this nation with three-fourthsof their students living in towns withless than 2,500 population would bereceiving a second rate education. Inmany instances this is just not true.Rural schools have particularly beenchallenged with tight budgets whichlimit the money available for teachers,textbooks, advanced courses, and tech-nology coupled with isolation andeconomic decline. However, a ruraleducation is a mixture of the good andbad. Student-teacher ratios are lowand students receive more individualattention. Schools are a central part ofthe rural community. Change is occur-ring in rural schools. Rural educatorsacross the country are using the uniquecharacteristics and strengths of theircommunity coupled with today's tech-nology to provide quality and up-to-date education for rural America thatrivals large city and urban schools.

For rural education the future isnow. Education is at the beginning of avery fundamental shift from a text-based education system to a media-based system. Powerful media havebeen around for some time: pictures,slides, motion pictures, video tapes,transparencies, and television havebeen used to enhance learning. Oftenlag time between the development oftechnology and its adoption and inte-gration into education varies with thetechnology, but estimates vary be-tween five and twenty years. Forexample we have known about thecomputer for 30 years and that compu-ter assisted instruction (CAI) is a pow-erful tool. To date few places can boastof CAI being integrated into the cur-

16

Kenneth Brookens

riculum. Th..: microcomputer has beenon the market for 15 years, yet it hasnot found its way into general adop-tion in the classroom. These mediaforms have all been used to enhancelearning. But what is new is the en-hanced computer capabilities thatfacilitate the use of mixed media.What is now available is the integra-tion, the management, and the inter-activity of all these things with a singlesystem that created a multi-med'alearning system.

With the availability of new tech-nologies for the rural schools, change isoccurring in the educational environ-ment. The following examples des-cribe some rural education programsthat are helping schools and communi-ties to meet the challenges of enhanc-ing the learning environment in spiteof isolation and economic decline byinstituting aggressive and progressivechange in their educational programs.

Telelearning: Teaching Out to theGifted in Rural School

Providing academically challengingprograms for the gifted in rural schoolshas always been difficult. One solutionis the Telelearning Project housedat the Louisiana School for Math,Science, and the Arts. The programprovides low cost, highly interactivecourses through the linkage of com-puters to a phone line network of ruralstudents in Louisiana. Since 1988 theprogram has served 14 schoolsthroughout the state providing the fol-lowing courses: calculus, precalculus/trigonometry, survey of the arts,French 1, and western civilization. Themost obvious and most importantbenefit is that advanced coursework is

brought to rural isolated students whowould not otherwise have access to it.Plans for 1990 include expansion to 20locations so that some one-third of thestate's parishes can be served. Formore information contact Gail Lewis,EdD, or Martha S. Talbert, Co-Directors, Telelearning Project, Loui-siana School for Math, Science, andthe Arts, Natchitoches, LA 71457.

Rural Schools Cluster toOffer Distance Learning

The North Dakota State Depart-ment of Public Instruction with theassistance of the Mid-continent Re-gional Educational Laboratory(McREL) implemented a technologyplan for rural school dsitricts. Fiveschools in the western part of the state,linked by fiber optic cable and inter-active video systems, are clustered touse a mutually agreed-upon curricu-lum broadcast throughout the schoolday to all the others from one school.This project proved that shared deci-sion making can take place by bringingtogether schools with similar intereststo solve common problems and alsc tostretch the technology dollars with noperceived loss of local control.Another project, the Prairie SchoolTelevision consortium uses technologyto establish a vick.o library service soschools can develop individual librar-ies of course materials. Contact ToniHaas, Director, Regional Programs orPaul Nachtigal, Director, McRELRural Institute for further informationat 12500 E. Iliff Ave., Suite 201,Aurora, CO 80014.

10

Education Satellite Network

The Education Satellite Network(ESN) is a network hub that providesa combination of classroom-orientedservices that allow the teacher to teachrather than to search for resources.Specifically, it shares ideas and adapta-tions of ideas. In addition to thesebrokerage services, ESN produces andtransmits original programming initiat-ed internally and externally includinga monthly newsmagazine program onec acation related issues and events.

iithin the very near future combina-tions of technologies will allow in-creasingly complicated tasks to be per-

formed such as touch-key pads orother devices that will enable learnersto respond to questions or ask ques-tions, and have near-instantaneousfeedback via terrestrially-based and/orsatellite-based systems. Additional in-formation can be obtained by contact-ing Hal Gardner, Director of SatelliteCommunications, Missouri SchoolBoards Association, 2100 1-70 DriveS.W., Columbia, MO 65203.

The Future is Now

The examples above suggest thatmedia rich learning environments canprovide a level of understanding that


would not be possible by text alone.Whether we like it or not, technologyis a major source of our culture. Thechallenge of the 1990's is to ensure thattechnology becomes a constructiveforce in students' lives in public educa-tion. The mission of education is toharness the technology and to redirectits energy into the most dynamic andinteractive system ever developed.Rural schools can now compete withcity and urban schools. The technol-ogy is now available for rural schoolsto become the leaders for the trans-mission of culture and learning in oursociety.

Southern Rural Education AssociationMINUTES

The Board of Directors for theSouthern Rural Education Associa-tion met at the Terrace Garden Inn inAtlanta, Georgia on October 14, 1989.

Those attending were:Bill Peter MissouriDon Dale OklahomaPaul Stapleton VirginiaBobby Malone KentuckyChuck Hulick KentuckyJack Sanders West VirginiaWilliam Kurtz TexasPaula Waller FloridaGail Curry FloridaRobert Hoffman MissouriKen Brookens MissouriPaul DeLargy GeorgiaErnest Nicholson South Carolina

SREA President, Dr. Bill Peter call-ed the meeting to order and presidedduring the session. Introductions weremade and the agenda was reviewed.

Minutes of the last meeting in Nash-ville, Tennessee were read and ap-proved by concensus.

The Executive Secretary's reportand summary of the Nashville Con-ference were deferred due to theabsence of William Clauss and KathyLewis. Pertinent information regard-ing these areas will be discussed at thenext meeting.

Paul DeLargy, Program Chair forthe 1990 SREA Fifth Annual Confer-ence, discussed several aspects of theconvention. The Conference is sche-duled for April 18-20, 1990 at theTerrace Garden Inn in Atlanta. Boardmembers were given a tour of the facil-ity in order to conduct planning activi-ties for the meeting. A tentative con-ference agenda as well as a projectedbudget summary were shared. Esti-mated expenses for the conferencetotaled $21,450 with an estimatedincome of $21,450.

These data were calculated basedon an attendance of 200 persons. Theregistration fee for an SREA memberwas set at $70.00 with an additional$25.00 late registration fee. A non-SREA member would pay $85.00 reg-

istration with an additional $25.00 forlate registration. DeLargy also pres-ented plans for presentation proposals,mailouts, recr

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