Oklahoma Rural Schools Research Alliance
The Oklahoma Rural Schools Research Alliance sought to investigate three research topics: effective professional development strategies in rural schools, use of data to inform instruction in rural schools, and challenges American Indian students face in rural schools.
Reports
- Indicators of Successful Teacher Recruitment and Retention in Oklahoma Rural School Districts
- Opportunities for Teacher Professional Development in Oklahoma Rural and Nonrural Schools
Research Questions
Data Availability and Use
- What extant data relevant to achievement gaps in Oklahoma are available at the federal, state, and local levels to help the Oklahoma Rural Schools Research Alliance members focus their research agenda and inform their study designs? And what are the gaps in the existing data?
- What is known about promising data use practices that educators utilize to inform their instructional decisions and to modify their teaching practices?
- Which of these practices could be modified to be relevant to educators in rural schools?
Teacher Recruitment and Retention
- What is known about effective strategies for recruitment and retention of teachers in rural schools?
- Which indicators identified in the research literature predict successful recruitment and retention of teachers in rural schools in Oklahoma?
- Do some district and teacher characteristics affect the relationship between indicators and outcomes (that is, have a moderating effect on indicators of successful recruitment)?
Professional Development
- What challenges to implementing professional development in rural schools are identified by the research literature?
- What steps, initiatives, or actions does the research literature on professional development suggest are potentially promising in rural school settings?
- Does the implementation of promising professional development practices vary across schools by geographic locale?
- How do administrators' perceptions of the barriers to implementing professional development practices vary across schools by geographic locale?