Jerry Johnson

Kansas State University | KSU

The Essential Three (e3) is a professional learning series that focuses on supporting rural school districts and school leaders as they engage in the important work of prioritizing and determining areas of instructional focus. As educators transition to new rigorous state and national standards and face the challenges of learning newly adopted inst...

In this descriptive and comparative study, we present results highlighting the complexity and scope of the challenges facing rural districts as they navigate the changing demographics of the students and families they serve. Rapid increases in the number and concentration of racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse students in rural areas m...

Perceived shortage of principals, increased accountability demands, the changing role of principals, and the growing influence of the state over school administration have created a set of challenges for principal certification and licensure that have propelled a renewed need for analysis of certification and licensure processes. Recent calls to ho...

Although there is limited research related to the effectiveness of educational courses delivered using an online format in the American prison system, there is evidence that indicates providing education to prisoners reduces recidivism. Reductions in state funding and the need for cost-effective programs to reduce recidivism support the use of tech...

The creation–-through both new construction and reconfiguration of enrollments in existing facilities–-of schools with broader grade spans is increasing in Florida and elsewhere in the United States. The extant literature reports increased fiscal efficiency resulting from the approach, but the potential influence on student outcomes is largely unex...

This article focuses on contemporary federal education policy as it manifests in rural schools. Rural schools differ appreciably from nonrural schools in terms of organizational systems, structures, and culture. Federal policies that drive school improvement initiatives (e.g., those regulating the functioning of schools and those managing the distr...

This study analyzes average rates of college enrollment and first- to second-year college persistence among rural and nonrural regular public high schools in Pennsylvania for the 2009/10 and 2010/11 high school graduation cohorts. It describes the association of student-, school-, and college-level factors with enrollment and persistence outcomes....

Education Leadership Review of Doctoral Research | The purpose of this study was to investigate the ethical leadership perspectives of Ohio public school superintendents. Secondly, this study examined to what extent ethical leadership perspectives of Ohio public school superintendents vary according to school district characteristics. Furthermore,...

We studied the efforts of rural math teachers to make community connections, a comparatively rare field for placed-based education. Subjects included educators, parents, non-parent community members, and students in Alabama, Kentucky, Maine, Nebraska, Ohio, Vermont, and Washington. We used a multiple case-study design, based on verbatim transcripts...

Almost all of the extant research examining aggressive activity uses data from student populations. In this study, we extend that literature by examining teacher perceptions of parental aggression in public schools in Kentucky. Using data from a sample of 5,971 public school teachers, we determine that parental aggression directed at public school...

"Why Rural Matters" is the fourth in a series of biennial reports analyzing the importance of rural education in each of the 50 states and calling attention to the urgency with which policymakers in each state should address rural education issues. The researchers framed this report around five gauges measuring: (1) the importance of rural educatio...

In an effort to explore whether resources matter in Mississippi, this study investigates the relationship between: (1) student achievement; and (2) human and fiscal resources among school districts. In considering these relationships, it is important to recognize that the cost of providing an adequate education may vary with the socioeconomic chara...

Researchers, policymakers, taxpayers, and others have wondered whether "money matters" in the academic achievement of public school students--in other words, do the schools and districts that receive the most (in terms of financial resources) produce the most (in terms of measurable student achievement)? This issue is particularly pressing at the d...

Reviews essays by Raymond Williams, which explain how, within the context of a 150-year literary history, rural stereotypes have been constructed and imbedded within a collective consciousness by a form of cultural colonization. Suggests that Williams' insights can help rural education researchers think outside the conventional wisdom that confines...

The Rural School and Community Trust New Research Findings New research shows that Nebraska's smaller school systems reduce the harmful effects of poverty on student achievement.