Teacher Support in Rural V. Urban: An Original Study (Yes, It's Mine)

Teaching is a difficult profession, one that demands time, energy, collaboration, and resources to master. With new national curriculum standards with which to comply, more rigorous, high-stakes tests for which to prepare students, and limited resources with which to budget, teachers can use all of the support they can get to perform effectively in the classroom.  Research shows that classroom instruction improves when teachers experience on-going, job-embedded professional development and instructional coaching.  Such job support is even proven to contribute to teacher satisfaction, particularly that of beginning teachers.  Since larger, urban districts typically have more financial and human resources to provide such support to educators, the researcher hypothesized that teachers from those districts have much higher job satisfaction when compared to teachers of rural districts without as many supportive financial and human resources.  This idea could have far-reaching effects for rural districts regarding teacher retention, requiring smaller, rural districts to find new, creative approaches to resource allocation and instructional support for teachers. 

Review of Literature

Many aspects of teaching in smaller, rural schools versus teaching in larger, urban schools have been researched for more than 30 years.  Most of the publications regarding this topic mostly focus on student performance and community involvement in each setting while only briefly discussing teacher satisfaction.  One study published by Bruce O. Barker (2008) concludes that Americans are in fact rediscovering the small school since the largeness of many of schools in the United States may be one factor contributing to declines in test scores and increases in violence among students.  Compiling research from the 1960s, he iterates an idea that is beginning to reemerge in public education: the inside-out paradox: “Over 20 years ago, Barker and Gump (1964) proposed the ‘inside-outside perceptual paradox’ which stated that even though larger schools were more impressive on the outside, upon closer scrutiny, the small school provided a better quality of education.  The small school can offer benefits in several areas: personal relationships, students, teachers, administration, and curriculum and instruction” (Barker, 2008, p. 2).  Barker mildly focuses on personal relationships and curriculum and instruction by concluding that the size of a school does not inhibit personal interaction, but that it encourages it.  He states that small schools typically serve a community nucleus which invites strong support from parents and community members as well as closer working relationships among the school staff, which may contribute to higher teacher satisfaction (Barker, 2008).  He also claims that in smaller schools, relationships between teachers and administrators tend to be more personal and informal which lends itself to a greater tendency for cooperation among the staff.  In terms of curriculum and instruction, Barker argues that, due to low student/teacher ratios, smaller schools (which more vastly populate rural areas than urban areas) are more likely to be learner-centered with strong emphasis placed on individualized and small group instruction.  According to Barker, smallness also permits changes in curricula and organization of instructional materials with relative ease, providing teachers with more autonomy in instructional decisions which may also enhance rates of educator satisfaction (Barker, 2008).

Conversely, researcher Jerry M. Lowe argues in his 2006 publication that, because of teacher working conditions, many small rural school districts across America continue to be majorly concerned with attracting and retaining quality teachers.  According to Lowe, the most critical factor to be considered in teacher recruitment and retention is that schools must be effective and provide teaching and learning environments that are attractive.  He claims that a variety of issues contributes to the problems of recruiting and retaining teachers in small and rural schools, issues which larger, urban school districts have systems in place for addressing.  Lowe states:

A school’s character is determined by how well it consistently reflects local culture, community, and the individual needs and competences of all stakeholders.  No one wants to serve in a school district where the environment for teaching and learning is less than positive.  Local school administrators must create meaning and purpose at work.  They must ensure that ‘the people side of the school’ is the most important and that teachers are empowered by their own efficacy as professionals (Lowe, 2006, p.28).

Lowe emphasizes that rural school districts should follow the lead of larger, urban districts and develop school administrators who are authentic instructional leaders, establish systems of frequently monitoring student progress, invest in quality staff development, budget for teacher recruiting, focus on planning, offer incentives to teachers (such as considering a loan forgiveness plan and providing housing for new teachers), develop marketing strategies, and provide authentic mentoring for new teachers (Lowe, 2006).  In his conclusion, Lowe recognizes budgeting issues are a concern; however, he offers no strategies for overcoming this large obstacle for teacher retention in smaller, rural districts:

Teacher recruitment and retention is of critical importance to most rural school districts.  During these times of small budgets and unfunded federal mandates, it is necessary that rural school districts develop a dynamic structure for finding and keeping good teachers…  To combat this trend, rural districts should consider teacher recruiting and retention to be an integral component of the total school program by initiating bold strategies designed to attract and retain the best teachers possible.  Considering the recruiting effort to be an on-going educational priority will surely enhance the number and quality of the rural school instructional staff (Lowe, 2006, p.31). 

In 2008, researcher John T. Huysman published an award-winning dissertation regarding rural teacher satisfaction.  In it, he establishes that for years, there has been a general consensus that rural schools exist in a unique environment as compared to the balance of other types of schools in public education since they operate under the same laws and with comparable expectations and goals as their urban and suburban counterparts, but without the quantity or quality of support and resources available from a school’s central organization or the local community.  He establishes that teachers and administrators become the main vehicles in rural districts for establishing processes for professional and curriculum development, but that unfortunately, the expertise, experience, talents, commitment, and enthusiasm are typically highly underutilized, contributing to high rates of teacher dissatisfaction in rural areas (Huysman, 2008).  Huysman conducted a mixed-methods study in one rural Florida school district that operated three schools countywide.  Eighty-nine teachers contributed responses to the study which led to Huysman’s conclusions and recommendations:

·         Security, activity, social service, variety, and ability utilization are intrinsic factors which rank highest with job satisfaction.

·         Extrinsic factors of recognition, company policies; opportunities for advancement, co-workers, and compensation most influence rural teacher dissatisfaction.

·         Rural teachers do not feel respected as “homegrown” teachers.

·         In rural districts, “role confusion” exists between homegrown and transplanted teachers which causes rural teachers to question the respect and recognition offered from the administration and their peers, the distribution of power and influence of their peers, and the retention of quality homegrown and transplanted teachers.

·         To increase job satisfaction, district administration should recognize and utilize the expertise and experience of the district’s faculty.

·         An ongoing district-wide teacher recognition program should be designed in addition to the Teacher of the Year program to acknowledge teacher achievements.

·         The county induction program needs to be reviewed, restructured, and funded to provide continuing training and meaningful information to all new teachers, homegrown or transplanted (Huysman, 2008).

Methods, Instrumentation, and Data Collection

The researcher collected quantitative survey data from 40 practicing teachers; 20 from two different rural elementary schools in a small school district, and 20 from three urban schools from two large, urban school districts. When creating the survey questions to be distributed in the study, the researcher referenced the North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions Survey (2012) to generate a list of multiple choice survey questions regarding demographic information and teacher job satisfaction specifically related to instructional support, curriculum development, and professional development provided by each respondent’s school district.  The researcher included one open-ended survey question in which teachers could list factors related to either their job satisfaction or dissatisfaction.  The survey was created using Qualtrics software and distributed to teachers as a hyperlink in an email.  School administrators and administrative interns distributed the surveys in each participating school. 

Findings

Of the twenty educators from larger, urban districts who participated in the survey, 50 percent of them had been teaching for five or less years, 40 percent had been teaching between six and 15, and 10 percent had taught for 16 or more years.  Twenty-five percent of teachers were 26 years old or younger, 55 percent were between 27 and 35, 5 percent were between 36 and 45, and 15 percent were 46 or older.  Thirty percent of the urban teachers surveyed were K-2 teachers while the remaining 70 percent taught in grades 3-5. Overall, 20 percent of urban teachers surveyed were very satisfied with their school and district’s instructional improvement practices while 60 percent were satisfied.  Teachers who were satisfied with the levels of instructional support in their schools and districts cited the following reasons for that satisfaction:

·            The staff at their schools

·            Being able to collaborate with their colleagues across the district

·            A principal who is a strong, supportive instructional leader

·            Strong, supportive mentors

One survey participant who was not satisfied with the levels of instructional support in his or her school and district cited the following reason for that dissatisfaction:  support and resources are sufficient at the school level, but not at the district level.

Of the twenty educators from small, rural districts who participated in the survey, 35 percent of them had been teaching for five or less years, 40 percent had been teaching between six and 15, and 25 percent had taught for 16 or more years.  Twenty-five percent of teachers were 26 years old or younger, 30 percent were between 27 and 35, 20 percent were between 36 and 45, and 25 percent were 46 or older.  Thirty-five percent of the rural teachers surveyed were K-2 teachers while the remaining 65 percent taught in grades 3-5. 

           

Overall, two percent of rural teachers surveyed were very satisfied with their school and district’s instructional improvement practices while 70 percent were satisfied.  Interestingly, this pattern somewhat aligned with data from the survey question regarding autonomy in the classroom: 37 percent of rural educators surveyed were very satisfied with the autonomy their small school and district allows them in the classroom while 63 percent of the teachers were satisfied; no teachers were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the level of autonomy they enjoy in their classrooms.  Teachers who were satisfied with the levels of instructional support in their schools and districts cited the following reasons for that satisfaction:

·            Having workdays built in during the school year for professional development
·            Having PLC time during the instructional day to collaborate
·            Receiving CASE 21 (benchmark) scores quickly after administering tests
·            Curriculum specialists for each elementary school
·            Personal connections with district personnel, such as curriculum directors
·            Autonomy in making instructional decisions at the classroom level
·            Wealth and variety of resources provided
·            Family atmosphere
·            A strong principal

Teachers who were not satisfied with the levels of instructional support in their schools and districts cited the following reasons for that dissatisfaction: 

·         Lack of communication between schools

·         Too much theory in professional development (needs more hands-on approaches)

·         Lack of support from the district level in implementation of instructional practices

·         Too much focus on testing, scores, and research rather than meaningful approaches

·         On-site curriculum specialists will not be rehired next year due to budget cuts

·         Feeling lost as a first-year teacher

·         Lack of communication between district-level and teachers

·         Need more time to study provided resources

In rural districts, “role confusion” exists between homegrown and transplanted teachers which causes rural teachers to question the respect and recognition offered from the administration and their peers, the distribution of power and influence of their peers, and the retention of quality homegrown and transplanted teachers.

·         To increase job satisfaction, district administration should recognize and utilize the expertise and experience of the district’s faculty.

·         An ongoing district-wide teacher recognition program should be designed in addition to the Teacher of the Year program to acknowledge teacher achievements.

·         The county induction program needs to be reviewed, restructured, and funded to provide continuing training and meaningful information to all new teachers, homegrown or transplanted (Huysman, 2008).

 Implications for Teachers and School Leaders

The most surprising pattern in this study’s data is the fact that most of teacher dissatisfaction from both large, urban and small, rural districts come from the least experienced teachers, which indicates that school organizations of all types need to nurture their beginning educators and allocate time and resources for their professional development.  This may prove to be most difficult for small, rural schools and districts and resources are more limited than in larger, urban districts, but educators as well as school and district leaders would fare well to utilize technology, particularly online mentoring, collaboration, and professional development, to strengthen the practices of their beginning teachers. The practice of online mentoring and collaborating for educators is currently being implemented all over the United States.  E-Mentoring for Student Success, a program created by the Santa Cruz, California-based New Teacher Center, is beginning to gain ground as a new tactic for teacher support as states and districts seek ways to keep beginning teachers in the practice.  Currently, users benefiting from the service attribute the program’s success to the fact that rural participants have been able to overcome two factors that rural educators typically find challenging in collaboration and professional development: geography and time.  The program’s goal is to learn how technology could support teachers during the most difficult first few years in a classroom, and it has expanded to include support from the United States Department of Education (Sawchuck, 2013).    Districts and schools could benefit from this approach by surveying the needs of their faculty and staff, particularly those of beginning teachers and creating online forums and sites tailored to the specific needs of those educators.  Not only would this provide the instructional resources and support beginning teachers require, but it also would increase communication between users, which could include teachers in the same schools, different schools but within the same district, and teachers of different districts.  This could help address the teacher concern of lack of communication between district leaders, schools, and educators. 

Limitations of Study

 The major limitation of this study was the time constraint.  The researcher only had eight weeks to create and distribute the survey questions and gather and analyze results.  Having more time to conduct the research could have provided the opportunity for a larger sample size and better survey results, which would have led to stronger conclusions.  With more time and a larger sample size, the researcher would have included more qualitative data in the results in order to better inform recommendations for teachers and school leaders.  The researcher would have also conducted subsequent research on beginning teacher satisfaction in rural areas versus urban school districts, if the data from the larger sample size produced the same pattern of results as this study.  Additionally, the researcher would have liked to gather quantitative and qualitative data from school and district leaders from the schools involved in this study to gather detailed information about how professional development resources are allocated and used comparatively.  Future studies on this topic can also focus on the efficacy of online-based mentoring programs and their impacts on both urban and rural educators.

Conclusions

 Based on the data from this research, the researcher concluded that veteran teachers from small, rural districts and large, urban districts are fairly satisfied with the professional development instructional support practices at their respective teaching assignments, and that beginning teachers from both types of schools and districts are the most dissatisfied; thus, schools and districts should focus financial and human resources on beginning teacher development.  Technology and internet-based programs for teacher support could benefit educators from all types of schools and districts and could help overcome any financial, time, and geographic barriers to providing beginning teachers the instructional support they need early in their careers.  Further research should be conducted on the development and efficacy of such programs.  

References

Barker, B. (2008).  The advantages of small schools.  Educational Resource Information Center U. S. Department of Education.  Retrieved from http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Advantages_Small/

Huysman, John. T. (2008).  Rural teacher satisfaction: An analysis of beliefs and attitudes of rural teachers’ job satisfaction.  The Rural Educator, Winter 2008, 31-38.  Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ869291

Lowe, Jerry M.  (2006).  Rural education: Attracting and retaining teachers in small schools.  The Rural Educator, Winter 2006, 28-32.  Retrieved from http://www.ruraleducator.net/archive/27-2/27-2_Lowe.pdf

Redding, S., & Walberg, H. J. (2012).  Promoting Learning in rural schools.  Center on Innovation & Improvement.  Retrieved from http://www.adi.org/about/downloads/Promoting_Learning_in_Rural_Schools.pdf

Sawchuk, S. (2013). For rural teachers, support is a click away.  Education Week.  Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/08/28/02mentor.h33.html?tkn=WZMFCYEQYp1x%2B7vSrJyBlQL%2FkOq7aZcx%2Bz6o&cmp=ENL-TU-NEWS2