A CYFS team has released a new working paper titled “Studying Educational Effectiveness in Rural Settings: A Guide for Researchers.”
The guide draws from experience gained while conducting research through CYFS’ National Center for Research on Rural Education, which was funded from 2009 to 2014 by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences.
According to the guide’s authors, educational effectiveness studies present challenges because they encompass a wide range of possible research questions and approaches—something that is compounded in rural areas, with larger distances between schools and smaller populations for recruitment.
The guide shares suggestions for researchers conducting educational effectiveness research in rural areas, organized around four main topics:
- Study design
- Recruitment of participants
- Supporting and monitoring the intervention’s implementation
- Data collection
The authors conclude that “the potential gain for improving rural schools… makes it worthwhile to seek ways to make these studies more feasible.”
The guide’s authors are Susan Sheridan, Mark Dynarkski (Pemberton Research), James Bovaird, Leslie Hawley, Amanda Witte, Shannon Holmes, Mike Coutts and Ann Arthur.