TIlEPROVISION
or
SCIENCE CURRICULUM IN SMALL RURAL IIIGH SCHOOLS IN NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADORBY
eLINDA BARR
A the sis submittedto the Schoolof Graduate st ud i e s in par.t i al fulf ilmentof the
requirement s forthedegree of Masterof Edu c a ti on
Facultyof Educat ion Memorial Uni ve rs i ty of Newfoundland
19 95
st. John 's Newf oundland
J.bstract
Thi s thes i s inve st iga t e s the provi sion of science ed uc a tio n insma ll rural high sch ools throughout the provi nc e of Newfoundland and La br ad o r.
In recent ye ars there ha s been a call for greater participation and achieveme nt in science prov in c ially, nationally and internati onally. Provincia 11y, several docuaentishav e recently add r essed eitherscienceeducation, small schools or bot h . Howeve r, none actually focu s es directly on the probl e ms ass oc i a ted wit h providing science edu c a t i o n which are faced by smal l schools within the provi nce. This th esis at tempt s to examinethese problems.
Sc h oo ls with in the provincewhich offer anyof grades 7- 12 and whi chweredefine das sma ll ac cordingto the provincial guidelines were identi fied. Two questionnaires were then developedto be sent to eachof the schools id e nt i fie d .
The principal questionna ire exa mi n e d general school information, scie n c e courses offere1, distance education, schoolbUdq et,teach erhiring and per sonaldata.
The teacher que st i onn aire exenkned educational background , pre-service training for small schools, present teachingdut ies, science lab facilities, distance education.
professional development, teaching resources, teaching strateqies and person aldata.
11
Principal survey results showed a la r ge var i a t i o n in science programs offered throughout the province'S sma ll schools . Mostschools were lackinginfunding, facilit i esand r-eeources , Programofferings ....er-a often limited due toth e s e factors as well as theuna va ila b i lit y of qualifiedtea ch ers . Teacher survey results showed a significant lack of appropriatepre-servicetraining as well asins u f f i c i e n t in- service tr a i n i ng and professicnaldevelopment. Tnac:hersalso complainedof a lack of adequate facilities, equipmentand Teacher "'orkloads ....er e tremendous and most teachers reportedteaChingin a mUlti-gradesituation.
Fo r both the principals and teachers, most re s pond e nt s were male ,relativelyyoung with littlete achi ng expe rience.
This stUdy providedinsight int', thecu r r entpr ovi s i o n of science curriculum in small ru ral schoo ls throughou t the provinceof Newfoundland . The surveysprovidedboth teachers and principalswith an opport-.lOity to vo i c e their opinions concer ning th e provision of science curriculum. in their schools. The study has resul ted in recommendations wit h respe c t to pre-service training, curriculum development, te a ch er workload, small schoo l funding, distance education offerings, professional de ve l opme n t, and science la b facilities. I tis hoped that the information ga t h Elr ed inthe st udy ca n be used to improve the provision af science curricu lumin Newfoundland'ssmall schoo ls.
iii
I would li ke to thank all ofth e ind i vid u a ls who have helped me tocOlllplet e th is the s is. First ofal ~I wo uldlike to thank lily the si s supe rvis o r, Dr. Denni s Mulcahy, ",ho initially sugg ested that my thesistopic bere l ated tosmall sc hoo l s. Si nce that ti mehe hasbeenan invaluablesourceof advice withre spect to bothmy researchanc1 maintainingmy sanity.
I wouldlike tothankGerry White for his assist ancein theusageof Lotus 12 3 and SPSSX. Inadditi o nI would like to thank Bruc eBurt on , Barry t.enre....and the graduate stude nts who offere d the ir advic e during the development of my questionnaires . A spe cia l thanks to Ke r ry Pope and Jill Andrews at th e Depa rtme nt of Educati on, fo r alwayshavingthe ti metoans werlIy questionsandforpr ovid i nq me with al lthe schoo l sta t i s tics I ne e ded. I would also like to thank Illy schoolboard, Novaconsol i date d, for grant ingme educational leave,duringWhichmyinitia l res e a rchwa s completed.
A very spec i alth:mk youis ext e nde d to Reg Bonnelland th e staff of the NLTAwho so generou sly pr o v i d ed me with assistance by printingand mailing lily questionnai res.
Th is th esis could not have beencompleted wit ho ut the su pport of my parents, Paul andMyrtle Barr;my son, Pa ul ; and my husband, Michel. Their faith in me and their constant
iv
encouragementha ske pt me going fo r thepa stsixyears. And la s t, but no t lea s t , 1 wou l d like to tha nkall of tho sete a ch e rs and princ ipa l s , insmal l schoolsthroughoutthe province,whoresponded to myquestionnaire s. Thank you for takinq the time out of yo ur alr ea d y necetc sche du l e s to co mp l e t e yet another que sti onn a i r e. Let's hepethat some one fina.llylistens to yourcomme nt s ,and more importantlyacts on the in fo rma t ionco nta.i nedwi t h in this the sis.
Tableot content.
Abstract Acknowledgements Li st of Tables
CHAPTER ONE The Research Problem
overv i e w of theChap t er Concer nforScience Education Concern for Small Rural Schools scienceEducation in SmallRural Schools Distance Education
STEM-Net purpose of the Study Thesis Question Science Program Resources TheScience Teacher ProfessionalDevelopment Distance Educationand STEM-Net Li mi t a t i o n s
sign i f i c an c e summary
vi
ii Iv xii
1.
as
1
17.
2 .
2.
21 22
2J 24 2S
"
27
CHAPT£R TWO Literature Review
cve rv t ev of the Chapter Small School Cha r a c t e r i s t i c s
Advantagesof SmallScho o ls Disadvantages of SmallSchoo l s School siz eVer s us Achievement Recruiting and Retain ingTe a chers ProfessionalDevelopment
Pre-serviceTraining In-s erviceTrain ing Telementor ing /TelenetW'orking Multi -grade Cl a ssr ooms
School size Ve r s us curricu larOfferings Distance Education
Summary
CHAPTER THREE Me t ho dolo gy
overview of theChapter SelectionofSur v e y Methodology Definingthepopulation De v e lopme nt of SurveyIns t r ume nt Field Te s t i ng
Final Form
vii
28 28
2' 2.
33 35 37 44 44 50 56 63 71 75 84
85 85 85 87 93 95 96
Distribut ion 97
Prompt s 97
Numbe rsandPerceptions 98
Analysis and Interpretat ion 99
Doc ume nt Analysis for supplementary InfoxlIlatio n 99
SUlIllDary 100
CHAPTERFOUR
Data Analys i s 101
Overviewot the Cha pt e r 101
Princ ipalSurvey Re su lts 101
Gene ra l Inf o rmat i o n 10 1
Co ur s e s Offered 103
Jun i or High 10 3
Senio r High 105
Di s tanc e Education 117
School Budqet 125
Teacher Hirinq 128
Person alData 129
General Comments 130
Teach er SurveyResults 13 1
Gen era l Info r mati on 131
Educat ionalBackqround 131
Pre-S e rviceTrai ning fo r Small Sch ools 135
Pres entTe a ch ingDuties 144
viii
sc Ience Lab Facidties DistanceEducation ProfessionalDevelopment TeachingResources re a c h i ng strategies
Pre par a t i on Time Teachingstr at egi e s
Single-gradeclasses MUlt i -gradeclasses Persona l Data
Gen e r al Comments s.ummary
CHAPTERFIVE
ConclusionsandRecommendatIons overviewof the Chapter Sc i en c e Facilities science Curriculum
Teacher Allocation school consolidation curriculumDevelopment Distance Education Pre-serviceTr a in i ng Pro f e s s i o nal Developmen t
In-s e rvi c i ng ix
151 157 15' 162 17 3 173 17 5 175 178 18 0 181 18 '
190 190 190 191 191 193 193 19.
199 201 202
Profe ss ionalPeriod.icals TeacherUpgrading Nat io nal Sc ie nc e In5tituto!i Wor kl o ad
Gender
Lis tofRe commend ati o ns suggesti o nsto r rurtl.e r Resea r c h swma ry
Bibl i ography AppendixA
Sc hoo l BoardsKey AppenrJi xB
Schaabvi a SchoolBoards AppendixC
SChools Key Append ix0
JointServ i ces SChoo ls AppendixE
Joint Servi c eSchoo l St a tistica Appendi x F
NativeSchools Appe nd ixG
Te a c he rQues t ionnai r e
20.
205 20 5 20' 207 20' 210 216 217
219 228 228 210 210 241 241 25<
25' 256 256 260 260 262 262
Appendix H
principal Questionnaire Appendix r
Cover Letter AppendixJ
Consent Form
xi
287 287 300 300 303 303
Lh tof Tabl ••
,ag.
Table 1 SchoolsCategorizedby Enrolment in
Grades7toLevel III
• •
Table2 Grade Combinationsof Schools 102
Table 3 Senior High Scienc e Course Offerings 106/107 Table4 Science CoursesCompleted byTeachers
".
Table 5 ScienceCoursesTaught byTeachersin
SmallRural Schoo ls 147/148
Table6 StudentCo.put er Usag e , .7
Tabl e7 Te a c h e r Comp u te r Us a ge 167
Table8 Genera l Ins t r uc tio na l Usageof Computers 168
xii
CHAPtER 1 THE RESEARCH PROBLEM
overview ot tbe Chapter
Thepur pos e of this Chapte r istointrod ucethere s earch prob l em andesta b l ish thene ed for th i sparticularstudy. The cha pt e r disc l oses the re search que st i on s andident i fie s ttle limi tationsandsi g nif i c anceofthest udy.
Concern tor science Education
The ge nera l contextof th is stud y is the un ive rsa l ly express e dco nc ern about thequa li t y and quanti tyof sc ience educa t ion in today ' s schoo l s . The particular foc u s of the st ud y is the pro vis ion of sc iencecurricu lum in the sma l l rural seconda r y schoolsin thepr o vince of Newf oundla ndand Labra dor.
In academi c jo urna ls, gove r nme ntrep orts and thepopu l a r press, scienc e educat i o n is rece i vinga fa ilinggrade. The co nseq ue nces of this sit ua tion are linked direc t l y to the economic well bei ng of pa r ticu lar nations, st a t e s antl provinces. The informati on age'stech no log y dri venrevolution depends , we ar e told , on sci e nce edu c a t i o n. The rhetoric riva l s thatgener a ted by the USSR' s su c cess wi t h sputnikand the fear and pa n icofthat event .
Recent reports in the U. S. (A Nation at Risk, 198 3 ;
Acti onfor Excell en ce ,1983: OUr Chil d renlit Ri s k , 1985) show that many students are graduating wi t hout a basic unde rstand i ng of math, scienc eor te c h nology. As a re sult, the country's demands for scient i sts , ma t hemat ic i a ns and engineers is no t being met (Aldridge, 1992; Fisher, 1992).
Acc ord ing to Joyce (198 6) there ha s been an overall de cline in Ame r ican achieve me nt test sco r e s , yet chil dren shou ldbe more l i teratedueto med i a andccmpue er- exposure. As well,the number ofst ude nt s selectingadvancedscience and math course s has not risen despite the recent focus on sci e ntif i c lite ra c y .
Int e r n a tio na l ly,U.S.stude nt s rank among the lowestin bothscienceandmathachieve me nt. The s eresultsarlt partof the In t ernat i onalAssessment of Educa tionalProgres s,based on standardized math and scle nc e tests qiven to students in twentyind us tr i al i z e d count ri e s in 19 91. Can ad ian st ude nt s rankedsome wh ere in the middl e.
The Ame rica nsolutionha s beenthe development of a
"national proj ect designed to reform sc ience education- (Al(iridge , 1992 ,p. 13). Th is pro j e ctisre f e r r edto asthe Project on Scope,. Sequen ce , and Coo r di na t ioll of secondary School Science (SS&C ). The project focusesonagr e a t e r dept h of understandi ng, les s coverage , mo re hands on experience, stude nt prec o nc ep t i o ns andse q u e ncingofst ude nt developmental leve l s. Stude nt assessment is perf orm ance based using
cOWlputer-diskinteractive (CO- I) te chnology.
The ne e d for a "stro ng engineering, science and te c hn o l og y skills base in Canada" was called for by the Federal prosperity Initiative in thei r Action Plan for Canada's prosperity (Oepartment of Education, 19 9 3, Profile '92: Educational indicators, p. 18). Thus, Canada must increase the numbe r and quality of students graduating in these sUbjElct areas.
Tho Inte r na t i on a l Association for Evaluation of Educational Achievement (lEA) conducts internatio na l educationa l research. In 1984 they conducted the Second International Science Study (5155 ). Canada was one of 25 countrieswhich participated . Students' scienceabilitywas assessed for 10 year olds,14 year olds and 17-18year olds.
Incomparison to15countries,Canadianstudentsranke dsixth for10yearo'ldsand four t hfor14year olds. For 17- 1 8year olds Canada ranked eleventh for biology and twelfth for chemistry (Connelly. Crocker& xees , 1989).
A similar study car ried out by the Inter national Assessmentof Educational Progress (IAEP) in19 9 0-91surveyed the math and sctence abilities of9and13yeareree intwe nty count r i es. Canada's13yearoLde ranked ninthoutoffi fteen.
The ni ne year aIds ranked fourthout of ten (Lapoint e, A. , Askew, J.1&Me a d , N.,1992).
Inthe same study, Newfoundlandranked eleventhout of
four t e en"provinc es "inthe scie nceas.essme ntof13ye a rold.
(althoug hthe rear e onl y tenprov i ncesand two territories, seve r a lprov i nc este st ed EnglishandFre nc hspeaking students se pa r at ely, while othe rsdi d not pa rticipa t e ) (Lapoint e at aL,,19 9 2 ).
Provi nc ia l conce rnsabout part ic ipation andac h i ev8f11ent inacademic sc i encecourse s led tothe creation of th eTa sk Forceon Mathemat i csandSci enceEduc atio nin19 8 9. The Ta sk Force was appointed as a result of "pu b li c concernever-level s of achievemen t and part i cipat i on inmat h e matics and sci e nce pr ograms th rougho ut the ed ucatio na l system" (Gover nment of Ne wfou ndland and Labrado r, Hay 19 8 9b, Towards an ac hieving socie ty :SUJIIJIlaryre port, p , !x)
The Task Force re ache d a ge neral conc l us ion tha t "t h e educational system is in the midst of a cri.i. of lov expectation." (Go v e r nmentof Ne wf oundland and Labr a dor, May 198 9b ,Towar ds anachievir.g society: SU1lUllary report, p, 2).
This de cr e ase in exp ectations coincide s with the incre ase d need fo r ed uc a t i on for the ec o nomi c well- bei ng of our pr o v inc e. Oursocietyis be c omingone in which"in f o rma t i o n and the abili ty to use inf orma tion are the mo s t prized commodities" (Gov e rnme nt of Newf oundland and Lab r a d or, Halr 1989b, Towards an achievingsociety: summar y repo r t , p. 2). As suc h, our st udents need to expe r i ence su c c es s .in tholiG ecadeedc areas (mathand sctewce) Which wil l allo W'the mto
pursue a highereducation.
Thus, the Task Force identified three reasons as to why math and science should be given the highestpriorityin the educational system: 1) math and science programs "'illconvey to students the transformation from a resource-basad, industrial societyto a knowledge-based, informatil)nsociety;
2) math and science education will allow students to further their education and increase their ability to f'unctiol' in society; J) students are not likelY to become COIRpetent in math and science outside of the schoolsetting.
The five main goalsof science education ide nt ifi ed by the Task Force are as follows: scientific literacy, science for informed citizenship, science fo r work, ncfence for further education and science for critical thinking. similar goals for mathematics education were identified.
The Task Force made recommendations dealinlJ with such topi..::s as improving participation, science curriCUlum, time allocation, testing and evaluation, teaching facilities and teacher education.
specificrecommendations of the Task Force Lnc Iude such things as the development of advanced courses in math and science,an increase in the minimum numberot' ec f e nc e credits required for graduation from two to six, the ej.tccae.tcnot additional time to science courses for laboratotoy work, the identification of science as a specialist subject in terms of
teacher hiring andal l oc a t i o n, a suggested minimu mstandard for laboratoryfacilitie s and equipmentforallschoo l s and the upgrading of teach erpre-servicetraini ngtoinclude more sci e nceand scienceeduca t i o n(Go vernment of Newfoundland and La br ador, May 1989a, Towards an aChiev ing soc iety : Final repo r t )~
In 1!190 the Newfoundla nd Gov e r nmen t appo i nt e d the William/5' Roy ')l Commiss ion on Ed ucation. The resulting report, Lsu ued in1992 , ent i tled Our Chil dren Our Futur o, raised many issues concer ni n g ourcur rent educational syst e m.
Onesuch issue wa s scienceachievem e nt levels. At a timewhen ou r worldis rapidl y changi ng, we ne ed toproducegraduate s who are ab le to cope wi t h rapidte chnolog ical changes and inn ovations inscience. The Commissi o n reportsthat "ticc many graduates la ck the bas i c and re l eva nt sk i lls reqUired to fu nc t i o n in our pre sent society " (Governme l'1tof Newfoundland an dLabrador , Harch 199 2a , Our chil dren our tuture: Final repo r tI p.xv ),
The Commis sio n repeatedly refers to the links between economy and educati o n and point s out the inc r eased skill levelsrequi r e d for most jo bs. TeChno l ogica l adv ances have resu l t e d in bueIneeeee seeking workers ....he are "a c t ive learners". The grad ua t es produced byoureducat ional sys t em mu st be "manipUlatorsof knowledge".
In their call for a bett e r quality of education the
Commission states "coping with te ch nologic a l change and sci e ntific innova tio n willre quir easound set ofbasic skills which ",.111 go beyondtheneceenar yfunda mental s of literacy and numerac y" (Gov ernmen t ofNewf oun dlan d and Labrador,March 1992a, Ourchi l dr en our fu tu r li: Fina l report, p. 44). To respond to thesede man d s theRoyalCotlUflissionrecoll'Jllel1.dl'that the pro v inc ialcurric ul u mhave a more academic foc us, enabling studentsto re c e i vea "high qua li tyac adem ic education'·,thus en a bling themtofur t hs,r thei reducationfollowing highschoo l graduation.
Pro vinc ial ach i e v e ment in the Canadian Test of Basic Sk i ll s (CT8S) fo rthe pastsevera l years places Newf o u nd l an d wellbelowthe national med ian level in all grades tested (Governme ntof Newf oundla nd and Labra dor, March 1992a, our children our fut ure: Final report; Department of Education, 1993,Profile '92 :Educational indi cators). Also, as st a ted earlier, in the 1990 IAEPsurve y of math and sci e nc e sk i lls Newfoundl an d st ude nt s ranked nea r th e bot t o mof Canada's science assessment of 13 yea r ol ds. The Task Force rep orts that the scienc e achievement of our st ude nts "Isamo ngthe lowest fo und in any of the countrie s for whi ch data are available" (Go ve r nment of Newf ou ndland and Labrador, May 1989b , Towards anachievingsoc iety:Summaryreport, P' 10).
ThUS,the RoyalCo mmi ssion suggeststhatSUbjects such as science aremo r eimpor t a nt than someothersin the curriculum
andassuc h sh ou l d bealloc a t e.dmor e timein theprogram. The suggest ionis also made tha t core science cours e s sh o u l d be ma.1e evat reereto all student s inthe pro v ince.
In the ir sutllDla r y rep ort, theRoyal Commissio n recommends th at .. e core curriculumbeestab U $h ed compr is i ng a mi n im um ot' 50\ of inst r uc tiona l time in the dis ciplines ot' Language, Mathematic sand Scienc eandin whichsta nda r ds ofac h iev eme n t in these SUbj ects become a primary aim of ed uc a t ion atal l level s" «(iovernme ntofNewfo und l a nd and Labrador ,March1992b , DUl" children our future:su mmary report, p, 15).
Despit e thetypes of re c ommendations made by boththe Tas k FOrc e and the Royal Commi s sion participation and achiev e ment in sc i e nc e remains low. Eve n though the Task FOrce recommend ed the requirement of six sci e nc e credits (three cour s e e) for graduat ion , it is still possible fo r a st ud e nt to gr a d uat e fromour sc h o o l system with only two sc ience cour s escompl ete dat the senior high level. As well, there ace norestri ction sas to wh ichscien c e courses must be complete.d . For exa mpke , a student coul d co mp l e t e General Science 1200 and Phys icalScience 2205, andgr a d ua t e with no academic sciencecourse sand noLe v elIII scienc e credits.
In recent years therehavebeensomemod i f i ca t i o n sma d e to several sc Lence cour s es . 1\ne w Phys icscourse has been int r Od u c e d, as well as a new Environmental Science course (me a nt for the aca de micstudent, butst i l l beingottered to
the non-academic student). A new Science, Technology and societycoursehas bee ndevised,to beimp l e me nte d inth e 94- 95 school year (however, i t will no t be required by all st ude nt s inLevelIasrecommended bythe Task Force). Anew Biology course is beingpiloted and the junior hi g h science prog ram is also beingcha ng e d (both areto be int rod uced in the 94-95schoolyear). The recent introd ucti o notdistance educationha s providedfor the delive ry of Phy tj ics 2204 to ru r a l areas of the prov ince. Desp ite these ch a nge s, participationin themore academicsciencecourses (chemistry and physics) reneIns low, at ar o und 30\ (Department of Educatio n , 1993 ,Profile '92: !;.;iucationa l indicators) . Thus we have a long way to go to increase academic science participation and to ensure that our stude nts graduate academicallyprep aredtomee t the future.
Concerntorsmall Rur al School s
The s e recent educational studies ha ve alsofocusedtheir attentions on small schools in our province. Several educi!ltional pUblications and st ud i e s allud e to th e la r ge numberofsma llruralschools inourprovince . with declining enrolments thenumbe r ofsma l l schoolsis expected to increase (Government of Newfoundland and La br a dor , Mar c h 1992a, Our children our future: Final report ; Mulcahy , 19 9 211 ; Riggs, 198 7 ). Fu rt he r consolidation of small schoo l s may be
ao possible, but the general view is tha t schools have amalgamatedas much as possible.
TheSmall SchoolsProject,....hlehwas completedin 19 8 7 , focusedonthe problems facing small schoolsand attemp ted to develop "proposals to enhanceeducational opportunities" tor small schools (Riggs, 1987, p. 3). The projf!ct producedJJ recommendations which dealtwith such things as defining small schools, funding of small schools, pre-service training for teachers,course offerings,teacher allocationandre s ourc e s.
The 1992 Royal Commission also made severa l recommendations dealing specifically with small schools.
These recommendations included school consolidation, the de v e l o p me n t of a Professional Development Cen tre, the availabilityof special servicesand training forte a c her s in smal l ru r a l schools and multi-grade classrooms, the de velopme nt of a Centrefo r Smal lschools, the addressingof cu r r icu lum ne e d s for studentsin multi-grade classes,sUbject- area integrationand the provisionof a forum for mUl ti-g rade teachers to shareteaching strategies and practices.
Science Educationin Slllall Rural Scboole The currentemphasis on science education will presenta particu lar challenge to small rural high schools in the pr ov inc e. In rural areas the course offerings in a high sc ho o l often depend upon student enrolment and te acher
11 qualification s . These twofactorsand ot he rs will impa c t on the capaci t y of sma ll sch oo ls tooffer a quality science ed uca tio n prog r am.
Following the Small Schools study project in 1987 the Departmentof Educat i onpropos edthe fo llowi ng def init ions for sma ll schools. For a pri mar y and el ementa r y sc hoo l , the school is con s ider ed smal l i f the to tal stude nt enrolment div id ed bythe number of gra de s off e r ed is lesstha ntwelve.
For an all-gr ad e,cent ra l or regiona l high schoo l, the school is considered smal l i fthetotal st ude nt enro l ment di videdby 25isle ssthanthe numberof grades offered.
According tostat isticsreceived fr omtheDepartmentof Educ ation for the 1992-9 3schoo l ye a r the re we re 130 sc h o ols in the province offe ri ng gra de 7 and above which were identified as sma ll (five ofthe s eare joint services and were report p.dtwi c e). The total numberof schoo l sin the province Whic h offer grade 7 and above is 320. 'rnus over 40\ of schools whi ch offer inte r media teand senior high scie nc e ar e sma llscho ols.
Thesesmall schoo ls ra ngeinstr uct ure from sc h ool s which offer K-12, 1<-10 , K-9 , K-8 ,K-7 , 6-12, 7-1~ , 10-12 andinc lude severalwh i ch offeranygr ad es from K-12for whi c h they have students. Enrol ment inthese schools ra nge s from sixstud e nts (FramptonEle me ntary inHonks town andSt. Geor ge 'sSc ho o l in Paradise Riv er ) to 324st uden ts (Deer Lake Sch oo l in Deer
12 Lake)• Overhalf of these sc hool s have enrolments of less than 100st u de nts.
The provincia l sma llsc hoo ls differnot only in structure and sizebutalsoin geographicallocation. With respectto the school's capac i ty tooffer a quality science program , locationplaysanimportant role. InNewfoundland, a rural sc hoo l is one locatedina rura l area, Ie, aco mmuni t y of leBB than 5000 inhabitants. Howev er, no t allsma l l schools are located inrural area s. Ontheothe r hand,manyotoursma l l schools are located in isol ate d ar e as ofthe provincewhich maybe acces s ibleonl ybyferr yorsmall pla ne. Consider,for example ,there s o ur c es (both humanandphysical)whIch are at the disposal of stu de nts atten d ingSt.Joh n' s Academy in st.
John ' sve r s us tho s eava i l abletost u d e nt s attending Jene Haven Memorial in Na in or st. Pet er's AllGra d ein McCallum.
All of the provincial educa tio n a l reportshavealluded to the problems assoc i a ted with Offering a comprehensive educ a t i tona l pro g r am to small rur a l schools. The 1992 Roy a l commission summaryreportent i tled Our Childr e n Our Future acknowledges th e s e problems sta ti ng "it isloqistically and financiallyimpos sible tooffereve r y highschool course, as well as everyel ective toev erystudent in the province" (p. 16 ).
The 198 7 Smal l Schools St Udy Project points out the inequit ies in se nior hi gh sc hoo l course offerings among
13 schools, specifically pinpointing the lack of emphasis science courses. The Project reports findings that smal l schoolsoffer fe....er pure sciencecourses than larger schools, st udents in small schools take fe....er science courses than students in la r ge r schoolsand that small schools lack proper science facilities and equipment . Their resultssho...ed that asre c e nt as1986fifteenpercent of the small schoolsin the provincehadno sciencela bo r a t o r y. They statethat science achievement was not relatedtosc hoolsize,buttha t there was a significant rela t i on s h i p between science achievement and the numbe r of sciencecourses completed by students.
The19 8 9Task ForceonMathematicsand Science Education
also points to the problems of offering a compre hensive pr og r a m in smal l schools,reporting that most schoo l boar ds wereconcernedwith "increasing theecopeof programs insmall schools" (Governrn~ntof Newfoundland and Labrador, Ma y 1989b, Towards an achieving society: Summary report, p, 14). The reportstates that studentaccessto programs in smal l schools has be en a prob lem and that programs in smal l schoo ls ar e not broad eno ugh. Howe ve r, rather th a n sugge sti ng that sma l l schools attemptto increase their offerings th eTa s k Force sugg est s th at smallschools offer a core progra mwhich wou l d incl udeadvanced mathalong with physicsor chemistryto be offeredto the graduatingclass.
The Task Forc e also acknowledged the lack of sc ience
14 facilit ies and equipme nt wh i ch exist ed in smal l schools , re c ommend ingtha t all schools ha ve mi n imumsta nda r d s for lab fac i lit i e s andre c eIve extr afundi ng topurc hase eq u i pment. These minimumstandards wou l dincludethepr o v isionof spa ce exclusively fo rscienc e lab oratorywork ,includinglaboratory benche s with running water , elec t ri c a l outlets, storage and preparat ion sp a c e (Re c ommenda tion 12.1 0).
TheTas k Forc e also compa red mathandscience achieve ment of st ude nts in smal l and large schoo ls, concluding that students in larger, ur ban schoo l s achie ve d at higher levels than thos einsmal ler , rural scho o ls. Howe v er ,til eypointout that the s e dif fe re nces inac h ieve ment are sma l l e r than the differenceswhichexi s t betwee n and withinboards.
The 199 2Royal Commi ssiononEducati on alsoacknowledges the ine q ua lit i es that exi st betw e e n school s, st a t i ng that
"inequal itie s in acce s sto qualityeduca tio n have become no t -e unacceptableasthelevel of educ ationrequiredfor meani ngful participation in soc iet y inc rea ses" (Gov e r nme nt of Newf oundland and Labrador, March 199 2a , Our childr en .future: Fin a l report , p, 37). The Commission acknowledges that the problemof pro v idinged ucatio nal serv i c e s in rural areas iscompo un de d by isolation,decliningenrolmentsand the increasingcost of se rvic e s.
With respect to ac h ievement of rural ve r s us urban stUdents,an anal y s i s ofCTBS score srevealed that stUdents in
15 sma llerscho ol ste nd edtoscorebelowtho s e of la rger sc hoo ls.
However, the Co mm i ssio n statesthat it would be difficultto pro ve a causal rela t i on s h ip due to the varie ty of fact o rs associated with schoolsiz e.
Sc i e nc e education isgiven a high priority by theRo ya l commi ssion,Whichst a t es thatLanguage Arts, Mathematicsand Sc i e nce are fundamentalto student success inothersub jec t s and shouldbe assignedthe largest ti me alloc at ion.
Thus, it has be enrecognizedbymany tha t in.::reasing the quality and quantity of science education in small rural schools will be a particular challenge .
Distance Education
In all of the recent provincial ed.ucational reports reference has been made to the suggestion that distancE' education be int r od uc ed as a me a ns of reducing program inequity in smallrural sc ho o l s. The RoyalCo mmi s s i o n reters to distance ed u c a t i on as being ab l e to "p r ov i d e improved educationalopportunities tosmall isolated schools, so that the needs of Learner-s can be me t regardless of location"
(Government of Ne....foundland and Labrador, March 199280, Our children our t'uture: Final report, p. 318 ) .
Distance education ....asfirstintroduced to the province's schools in 1988-89 with the offering of AdvancedMath courses.
Instruction is through teleconference, telephone and
16
facs imi le . Since it s introductionprovi ncial enrolmen t in Adv a n ce d Mathhas increase ddramatic a lly . For ru r a l stad e nts part i c ipa t i on in Ma t h 1201 hasinc r e as e d fro m 16\ in19 88 to 34 \ in 199 2 (Departme nt of Edu catio n , 1993 , Pro:tile '92 : Educ at ional ind icator s).
Rece n tl y, Ph ysics 2204 was made av a ilabletorural stude nts throug hdi stanc e education , with plan s to impleme nt Phys ics 3204inthe 19 9 3-94sc hool year. In 19 92, 87 stude nts in 20 schoo ls were enro l e d in Physics 2204 vi a distance education (Department of Ed uca t ion, 1993, Prorile '92 : Educ ational indi cators ).
Thus, as of 19 9 3 Ph ysics 2204 and Physics 3204 are offered through~i stanceeduc at i on. Howeve r, the s eareon l y two of more than twenty science course s of f e r e d in th e prov incia l se n ior high scie nce pr og r am. At the re c e nt Small Sch o o lsCon f e r e n c e held in Ga nder in Oc to be r 1992 ,Doug Young.
DistanceEducation Consultantfor the prov ince,indicatedthat Chemi strywas one course for whichdistanceeducation would not be an eas ysolution.
The report by the Royal Commiss i o n acknowledges that distance ed u c a tio n ha s thepO~.ll.tialto reduce educational in e q u a li ty , but that the serv ice mus t be "we ll - a r t i c u l a t e d , well-developed, and well-manag ed". Toobt ai n such a service the Commission calls for thedeve lopmen t of IIformal policies about on-going services, types of technologies and needs and
17 priorities " (Governmentof Newfound land and Labrador, March 1992a,Ourch i l dr e n our future : Final re po r t ,p, 318) .
STEM- H.t
STEM-Net has beenproposed as a provi ncialnetwo rk for edu ca to rs in the province, particu larly in the fi eld of ee t e nc e , math and tech no l ogy. The networkwas proposed in response to ACOA's recoqnition that higher ed ucat i o n in science, math and technology would leadto improvements in employmentandUl t imate l y our province'seconomy(Weir,1993).
As teacher quali ficationis one factorwhich is often cited as being responsible for the re l at i ve l y low numbe r of course of ferings in rural schools, such a network may very wel l reduce pr o f e s s i ona l isolation and provide teachers with the training and expertisethey need.
Th e proposed STEM·Net network is in accordance with re c omme nda t i o ns made by the 1992 Royal Commission on Education. such recommendations inc l ude emphasis on profes sionaldevelo pmentand the focus ondi stan c e education wou ldplace the technology re q u ire d for the deliveryof such progr a ms in al l sma l l rural school s. Thus th e miss ion af STEM· Ne t, to support the "teaching, curricu lum and pr Ofessional devel opmen t ac t iviti e s" and to cont r ibute to efforts to "bringabout a substantial improvement instude nt ac h ieve mentinmat h e mati c s,technologyeducatio nandec den c e "
18 wouldhelp tosa t i s f y the Commiss i on's re co mmendat ions (Weir, 1993, p, 1.3).
Purpose of the study
'r he r e is a definite concernfor the quality of science education in our province, as ind i c a t e d by the numerous st udie s , inq u i r ie s and commissionswhi ch hav e investigated science educ a t i on as part of their man da te. These st ud ies haveresulted in atleast anac kno wl e dge me nt of the existence ofsma l lschools intheprovi nce, and theevat-eneas that there are problems in delivering a comp l e te education programto students in these sc hoo l s.
What isLackLnqat thispoint isafocus e d, comprehensive st udy whlch attempts to doc u ment the current cur r i c u l um provision for scien ce education in small schools in Newfoundlandand Labrador. The purposeot' thi s stUdyis to co nduc t an inq u i ry which will docu mentthe currc;;nt situation visa vis science educati on insma ll rural sc h oo l s. If one considersthe cur r e nt interest insci e nc e education as well as the current int e r e s t in sma l l sc hoo ls , then it seemsonly na tura l that the deli veryof scien ce in sma l l schools ne e d s to be exa mined.
This stUdy willinc o r p or a te the point otviewotrural educatorswho must meet the challengesat:ruralschoolsdaily.
Small schools have specif i c concerns reqardinq curriculum
rs pro vision . An examination ot' scienc e curriculun In small sehoolBshould hlqhli9htth e s e concerns and contrib\:tetoth e deve l opmen t ot solutlons todea lwit httU!lIIl. Sucha data base wouldbe veryus e f u l to quideandinfo~any futur e plann i ng' and develop ment s!to rtsto impr o vethequalityandqua nt i t y of science edu cation insmal l rur alschoo ls .
20 TREsn QUE.TIOM
fiBM' ISTHECVRRENT PROVISION FORsctmcsCURR l alW If IN SHALLRURAL HIGHSCHOOLS IN NEtiFOUHDLAND ~ViDLABRADOR?
The focusof the propo s edstud yisthe currentprov is ion forsc ience curr i cUl um(Grade s7-Leve l III) in the ruralare~8 of the provinc e. To determ ine the existi ng provis ionthe following factorswere investiga ted.
Science Prograa
School princ ipa lswere as k e dto identi fy wh I c h science cou rse s were bei ng of fered in theirscho ol. Th i s included those of f ere dthr o ug h dist ance educa tion , as well a8 thos e wh Ich wou ldbeof fe r ed in alte rnatl nqyears.
As wel l , re a sons as towh ya scienceco urs ewas orwas not off e red WilS examined so as to determine thos e barr iers whIchex i st for part i c ular sciencecourses. Th i s was done In partby exami ning school l.'Udge tsandresource s. Course ti lle al loc a tions were exa mi ne d to determi ne itallscho o l s allocate an equal amount of instruct ional time for va r i o us cour•• •
(particularly at the ju n i o r high level).
principa l s ....er e askedquestionsconcerning their school's bUdgt'lt to determinewhetheror not therei8a discrepancy in funding receivedby differentsmall schools and to deteBine
21 if small scho o l s differ in the amount of money spe nt scienceinstructiona l suppl ies bas edonsc hool sizeand course offerings . Ways in wh ich sma l l schools co mpe ns a t e for insufficient funding (if itex ists) was also examined .
Schoolprincipalswere alsoquestio nedas to thesc hoo l' s accessto guidancecounse llorsand teachersfor special ne eds st ude nt s as their pre s en c e or absence in the sc hoo l would likely impact on the scienc e teacher. As well , teacher allocation was lo oke d at to see if thereare di screpancies between sc hoo l s desig nated as small (part icularly in joint service schoo ls ).
Resoure••
Both principal sand teachers vere asked to identify their school's sc ienc e resources and laboratory facilities.
Teacherswere questioned regard ingscience lab facilities to detenine the ext.entto which sma ll schools are equipped to offer the va r iou s science courses which are a part of the provincial scie nc e curric ul um. Anat tempt was al s o made to determinewhy fa c i lit ies are lac k ing . The lack of proper sc i encelab facilitiesand equipme ntis one co n c e r n whichhas beenrais e dinnume r o us studies (Sma l l School s St Udyproject, 1987; Royal commission , Our Chi l dr e n Our Future, 1992). Stude nt access to science laboratories was exa mi n ed to determ inewhetherorno t accessis adequate.
22 The resources which teachers in small schools have access to waslooked at ,in orderto determine those resources which science teachers findmost val u a bl e and those to which they would like to have access.
The Sci.Dce Teaober
A general profile of the science teacher in small rural sc h o o l s was composed by looking at their educational background, pre- service training, course as signment and workload, and their teach ingstra t egies . As well, te achers were askedtheir ago, sex and total years teachingexperience so as to develop a pr o f ile of the sc ienc e teacher 1n small rural schools.
The educational background of teachers was examined.
Questions askedinclude duniversitydegrees held, number and type of university sc ien ce co urse s completed, scienco education courses completedand post university traininq .
Teachers were questioned as to the amount and typeot pre-service traininq which they received which specitically prepared them for their present scienceteachingassignment in small schools. Questions asked dealt with student teaching and internship assignments, pre-service traini nq for small schools andJI'Iu l t i - q r a d e training.
Teachers were questioned as to thElir overallsatisfaction vith such thing s as class size, preparation time, resources
2J
and number of preparations. As 'Well, they were asked about their present teaching assignments (courses taught, grades taught) to determine the extent of teacher misassignment and mUlti-grading.
The various teaching strategies which science teachers in small schools employ, both in si ng l e grade and mUlti-grade classrooms was investigated. This may in turn assist in the development of a curriculum appropriate for use in small schools.
Principals were questioned co nc e r n i ng the factors that influence the hiring of science teachers for their school.
This will help determine what schools are looking for in a science teacher.perhaps helping to determine the pre-service training requirements of science teachers in small rural schools.
Professional Develop.ent
Professional development is a concern that was raised by the 1992 Royal Commission Our Children Our Future. The amount and type of professional development which ecreece teachers receive or have access to was examined, as well as reasons why teachers
development provided.
not attending professional
24 Distanc eEdueatioD and BTEM-Net
Asdistance ed ucatio n, particular lyinsci ence . isfai rl y to our educational system, the remaybe some pr obl ems which ex i st abo ut which fe w educators ar e aware. Teac hers wer e qu est i on ed as to whethe r or not the y are awar e of any problems ....hic h di stanc e ed ucat i o nstud e nts areex pe rie nc ingin their school. principa l s were que stioned re ga r d ing the impl e mentationof distance ed ucationin their sch oo l sso as to determ ine the adv antages and disadva nt a ges of dista nce educationprograms. Aswe ll , cou r s e offe rings and enrolments wereexami ne d soastoproduce a pro f i leof scienc e distance education.
STEM- Netis oneresou rce propo s alwhich isintend ed to reduce profess i ona l isol a tio nof teache rs . This, too, W48 examined. This wa s ach ieved, in part, by determining the extent to whichscienc e te achers insma llsc ho o ls makeuseat computers in their tea ch i ng.
This information , alon g with a thorough review of the relevant literature and an investig a tion ot st r a t e g i e s and approaches rec ommen ded in othe r ar eas ot Ca na da and other countries (such as.Scope, Seq ue nc e andCoordination in the U.S .) resulted inva rio us recommen da t ions forimprovement1n the provision of scien ce curr i culum in small schools throughout the province.
25 Limitation.
As with any type of research, this inquiry has its limitations. The study focuses on the provision of science curricula (Grades 7- Le ve l III) in small rural schools in Newfoundland and Labn.dar . Thus, the study is limited to:al the province of Newfoundland and Labrador andbl small rural schools. statistics received from the provincial Department of Education indicate that there were 130 small schools in the province which offered Grade 7 to Level III. Five of these schools were joint service,thereby listed twice. Thus sample size was limited to 125 schools.
The extent to which the responses could be generalized was limitedbythe response rate. It has been recognized by the researcher that teachers in small schools are extremely busy, thus it m.ay be that those teachers who failed to respond may have been too bUsy to do so. The response rate, in turn, limits the number and type of correlations which may be made from the data collected.
Another limitation within the stUdy is school size.
There is a greatva r i a t i o n i.nthe student popUlation of those schools surveyed (from 6-324 stUdents). However, all of the schools surveyed fit the province'sdefinition of smalL
Because many of the responses on the survey were written, interpretations of statements made by teachers and principals may eaee be a limitation. Where statements were ambi9uous or
2.
itvas fel t by th e researc h e r that fur th e r explanation required,thes e state mentswereollit ted.
81g uif i gance
This study is on e whichwas needed, given the current int e r e s t in the problems faci ng our slIlall schools and the demand,provincially andna tio na lly. forhi gher par ticipatio n and achievementinecf en ce . Thisst ud y fo cusedexc lusivelyon the small rur a l high scho o l, which has not previous ly been done. Thestudyhas re sulted inaclear pictureof problems facing scienceteachers insllIall schoolsand ways inwblch ecee of these problems ca n be allev iated. Infonation collectedhas re sult ed in a compre he ns i vedata beee which can contribute orinf orm thedeve lopment of so l ut i ons toproblems fa cinq ecdenee teachers in small rural schools. Data collectedcouldbemad e availableto schools,schoolboards, theHLTA,the ,acuItyof Ed ucation at "emorialUniversi tyas well as the Departmentof Educat ionandthusbeuse dtoquide fu t u r e plan ninqandde velopment de c i s ions.
27 SWIrla ry
This chapter has introduced the re s ea r ch pro b lem , descr ibed the re search questions and ide n tifi e d th e limit a tions andsiqn if i c a nce of the study. Th enextchap t er wi llreviewthecur rent lite r atu r ere q ard l nqscien c e insmall schools.
2.
CHAPTER 2 LITERAT'ORB REVIEW
Overview of the Cbapt.r
The purpose of thischapter is to reviewthe literature regarding science provis ionin small schools andto;) discuss the points which have been made by researchers in this field. Although there has been much written regarding scfence educationthere hasbe enlittle research in the field of rural education. DeYoung (1987) states that "research on the particular problems,issues,and trends in rural education is relativelyscarce" (p. 123) and that "the current status of rural education studies is underdeveloped" (p. 124). Even less research has been carried out in the combined field of science in small ruralsc hools.
Topics discussed in this chapter will include: small school characteristics and effectiveness; school size vs , aChievement; recruiting and retaining teachers; staff development in terms of in-servicing and upgrading (including telementoring and telenet....orking); mUlti-grade teaching; and distanceeducation.
2.
Small Scbool Cbarecterillitic.
Cur re nt li t e r a t ur e concern ing sma l l schoo l cha r acte risticsrevealsmany advantages ofsma llschools for st udents, te a ch ers, admin istratorsand pa rent s . Forde c a des the ph ilosophy tha t "bigger is bette r" gui d e d educ ationa l phil o s o ph y and re f o r m. However, re c en t conc erns re ecnr eveneae, discipli ne, effective schooling and economics h....e forced policy mak ers to take a second look at small schools. What th e y have found is that smal l schoo ls ar e unique, offe ri ng many advantages of te n no t found in large schoo ls and may, in fa c t, serve as mode ls fo r eff e ctive scho o ls(Hor n, 19 9 1;Hu t t o , 199 0).
Advantages or Small Sch ools
Cut l er (1989) loo ks at the advantages ofsmal l schools fromsix view points. In te rms of administratio n smal l sc ho ols have le s s ne e d for hi erarc hy , fewer rules and requlati on s , and bette r counundcati.ona be t we e n adminis t ra tio n andst affmembers as comparedto large schools. Teachers in sma llscho o ls en j o y a lo wer pup il/ teac herratio , are ableto provi de the ir st udentswithmoreindividu al attentionand tend tobe morere c ep t ivetochan g etha n are theircou nt erpa r ts in lar ge schoo ls. stude nts in smallschoolsaremor e likelyto par t i c ipate inextra -curricu la ractivities andte ndto develop
it better se nseof purpose, pr ide and independence than do st ud e nt s in largl! schools. In terms of co mmunity, thesmal l
30 school is often the communityfocus:•. •1!Iso u rce of identity for the cOlTlll'lu n i t y. As a res ult , parent.s and residents are often more willing to support the schoolfinancially. With respectto guidanceand at mos phe r e, herein lies perhaps the greatest advantage of thesma ll school. Small student numbers resultin each student havingeasyaccess to the prIncipal and teachers within the scho ol . Students are more willing to approach teachers and the result is closer re l a t i o ns h i p s between teachers,principalsand students.
Fennell (1990) stat e s that the advantages of small schools in c l u d e closer relation sh ips between teachers, students, administrators and parents, more individualiu,d student attention fromteac hers, good discipline and high student participation in ext r a -cur r i c u lar activities. As we:i.l, Fennellci t es studieswhich found "smaller schools are more conducive to 3tudents'well being and social developlllent"
(p. :1.2 ) . other studies ci t e dby Fennell sti!'.te that smaH schools allow for teachers and principals to be more innovative and todevelop leadershipskills.
Horn (19 9 1) in a study of rural, slllall school
effectivenes s found that"r ura l pe oplehave the same general perceptions of what characterizes an effective/quality school as do educationalresearchers" (p. 25). Ho r n found that the small schools studied had 10.... drop out rates, high achievement, good teacher-student relationships, higher
Jl
parti c i pa ti on in extr a-c urric ular activiti es and ll. higher perc e nt age of stude nts planning to attend po st- sec o nd a r y inst itution s. Hor n concludes tha t "smal l scho o ls ha ve distinct advant agesfor eff ec t ivesc ho o l i ng" and that it is
"t i me to conside r small schoo ls as the beut; ground for cur r i c u l a r inno va t ions,alterna t i veorgani zatio n s. anduseof tec hn ologytobuildon the adv a ntages" (p. 26 ).
Hutto (1990) sta tes that ma ny errecerve sc h oo l practi c e s ex i st insmal l rural schoo ls and thatth e s e sch o o l s ne e d to
"a c c e nt u a te the pos it i v e and create. . . an awarenes s that rural education prov i de s effec tive and quality le arning for the stud entsit serves" (p,7). Hut to re fersto thefftcttha t implement ingchange is easily achie ved insma l l sc h oo l s , that inv o lvement ofadmini stratio n andsta ffin cha nge hoosts st a ff morale and providesteacherswi thasens eof"ownership". In contrast to Fe nn ell (199 0 ) . Hutto st a tes that teachers and administrators insmal l sc hoo l s are free to add courses and implement sp e c i a l programs due to a lack of bureaucracy.
Teachers in small school s hav e cl os e relationships with st u de nt s and parents, are inv o lve d in inno vat ive teach ing me t hods, ind i v iduali z ed inst ruc tio n and extra-curricular activitiesandcho ose to teachin these schools.
Hith respect to commu n i t y, Hut t o ecnoee the idea that small schools bring a sense ofide nti t y to communities ,which in turn fostersa senseof id e nti t y and belonging in students.
32 Pare ntsareoft e ninvolvedin schoo lac tivi t iesand interested instud e nt pr og r e s s. As are su l t thesch oo l of ten rece ives extra support for extra-cur r icula r activit i e s and sch oo l - communityrelat iono:hi p s areenhance d.
In a study of ur ban ve rsus rur a l school s Lomotey and Swanson (198 9) als o supp o r t the idea that ruralschools ar e char,'!cter ized by a sense of co mmunity . Extra-curricular activitiesin ruralsc hoo lsar eseen asbe ingan int e gra l part of school lifeas the schoolisoft e nthesoc i a l andcultural cente r of the communi ty. They reportSkell y'Sfindingthat within these schoo ls "t h e r e is a clima te of ac ceptanc e , cooperation and mutualsuppo rt" (p. 442 ).
Barker and Gump (1964) also foun d "c l e a r evidence of greater participation in school activ i ties by sma ll school st ude nts than by large scbo oj,students " (p. 74). As ...ell, theyfound thatmore st udents heldpos it ion sofimp o r t an c e and respons ibility in small schoo l s andthat junior students in small schools report.ed better no n- class exper iences than students in largeschools.
pro v inc i all y , advantages of sma l l schools , similar to those reportedabove, we r e reported in the RoyalCommission's report Our ch i l dren Our Fut ur e: Fi nal Report. Th8S~
advantages included, but werenot limited to , the following:
smallerpupil-teacherratio; learner-ce nteredatmosphere and program; high stud entmorale; good discipline :high parental
'3
involvementand student loyalty tohome, school and community.
Similaradva n t a ges()f sma ll rur a l schools are discussed in Haller, Monk, Spo t t e d Bear , Grif fith and Moss, 1990; Parkay, 1983; Barker , 1985and DeYoung,1987.
Diladvapt.g" of Small .schoah
Although there are many advantages of sma l l schools, there aroalso disadvantages. In order for small schoolsto remain vi a b l e and effe ct i ve these di s a dv a nta ges must be recognized and minimized .
Cutler (198 9) sta tes that perhaps th e biggest disadvantagein small schoo ls isthelackof courseofferings. Distance educationcou r s e s are seen by Cut ler as being the answer to restricted cour-s eofferings . He proposes, as well, a curriculumdeveloped for sma ll schoolswi t h multi-graded eteee.ee andbe t t e r teacher preparation forsuc h situations.
Fennell(1990 ) referstost ud ies whichshow that there is lJmi t e d training availablefor bo th rural administratorsand teachers. Rural administrators are likelyto have teaching assignments on top of theiradministrativeduties and little time for curriculum development and other administrative duties. Rur a l teachers ar e often as signed teaChing responsibilities in mUltiple gradesand curriculum areas. As well,rural teachers face high exp ectationsfrom the c01lllllunity and are often heavily inv o lve d with extra-curricular activities.
"
Fennellal s o refers to the limitedcurricular offerings found in sma ll schoo ls. stressing the lac k of vocational programs, gifted programs and programs for the physically and/or mentally handicapped students.
Sutherland (1989) discussessome of the disadvantages1n Newfoundland's smallrural schools as discovered by the 1987 Small Schoolsstudy project. Sutherland makes reference to the concerns of teachers . who believed "instructional effectivenesswas sharplyredu cedby being required to teach too many grades, with too many cour ses, with ins u f f i c i e nt library, laboratory, remedial and enrichment services"(p.21. Sutherland concludes that the financial, curricular and
p,~rsonnelneeds of small schools may only be addressed when small schools become a majority in the province.
Lomotey and Swanson (1989 )also report that one of the major disadvantages of rural schools is their limited curricula. Reporting studies byMonk (1984, 1986), they state that there are fewer sciencecourses offered in small school districts and that there arevi r t ua lly no advanced courses offered in smallersc hoo l s.
Also reported was the fact that small school districts had a high percentage of fi r s t - ye a r teachers, as well as teachers teaching outside of their area of specialization.
Higher qualified teachers were more likely to be teaching in larger school districts. They also reported informal decis10n
'5 maki ng and inex pe rie nced pro fe s s ional le a dersh ip in rural sc ho o l s .
Scbool sl •• Verau. Acbiev. . .nt
Much has been writte n rega r d i ng st ud e nt achievement, particularly in math and sci e nc e , and man y st ud i es have attemptedtodistinguishbetween student ach i ev e men t in sma ll ve r s u s larger or rural vers us urban schools. However, findings have been inc o nc l usive and open to debate as to whether differences were ac tua l ly related to sc hoo l size, school locat ionor ava r i e tyof other factors.
Fennell(1990) reports fi ndi ngs byMarshall that student achievement in low-enr olment, mul t i - g r a de cla s ses was not adverselyaffected. Indesc r ib i ng anotherst udybyRandha....a and Hunt, Fennell states that al thoughurban students scored sliqhtly higher, res ultswere at t ri but e d to the educational and motivat ionallevels ofur ba n parents.
Horn (1991) reports findi ng sby Green and Stevens that school sizeis notdirectly linked to student achievement ; many factors must be taken into con sideration. In Horn's study of small rural sc hoo ls , he found that students in these schools performed above the st a t e average in all test areas. In ast ud y of achievement inrural schools, Sunal (1991) found tholtruralst ude nts had lowerscie nce ach i e vementscores than urban students. Sunal, however, attributes the
36 diff erenceto factors otherth a n location, statingth a t such factors as ins t ruct i o nal ma t e rials, fac U lt i e s , teac her certific a tion and te a c her in-service were cor r e lat ed to achiev eme nt.
Alspa uqh (1992) compa red urban ve rs us ruralachieve ment using soc i oe c on omic measu re s . He fou nd that the r e werCl no sig ni fi c a nt differ encesin ach ieve ment levels between urhan and rural schools. Howev e r. he did findmajo r soc i oe c o nomic differences, suchaspercentage of minor i ties and numberof two-parentfami lies. Al s pau g hfoundrura l schoolsto be more homogene ou s than ur ban sch oo ls. He concl ud es that ins truc t iona l improveme nt st ra t e gi es in urban and rura l sc h oo l s should be di ff e r e nt, as th e fac tor s whIch affec t ach ievemen t (SES) are al s odif f e r e nt.
Lomo tey and Swanson (1 9 8 9 ) repor ted that student ac hieveme nt inrural schools appr ox ima t ed bot h r»tional and st a t e average s,and had for many years, ac c ordingto a recent Na ti onal Ass e ssmen tor Educ a tionalProgress .
Findings,by co nne llyetal. (1989 1, ontestsof senIor highsciences across Canadashowed tha t la r g e urban schools performed bette renens1I\al l ruralsch oo ls. Number of labsand lab usage were also factors which positively affected achievement.
Provincially ,therehave be enmajorco nc e rns with respect to achieveme nt 1nsmallrural school s . CTBS resultsreported
37 inProrile'9 2:EducationalInd i c atorsshow thaturbansc h oo l s scored higher than rura l schoo ls at all grade le vels and in all testareas. Si milarre sultsare reported inTowards an Achievingsoc iety: Fina l Report (198 9). Students in urban schools were found to perform better in pUblic exams, as well as eTBS. However , the st u d y reported that differences in achievement witbin school districts were qreater than the differences between urban andru r a l schools . This pro mpted thesuggestionthat "the emphasison school siz e as a factor in achievementma y be exaggerated,and that the district would be a mar" strategic focal point for efforts at improving achievement" (p.89).
Reoruiting and Retaining- T.aohers
A frequently cited probleminsma ll rural schools is that of recruitingand retaining qualified teaching staft. There maybeseveral rea sons for this problei'l'l,inclUding lack of appropriate pre-servicetraining for rural sc h oo l s , school location, as well as soc ial andcu l t ur a l ta c t or s . since quality teachers are believ ed to be an important factor in student success it is importantthat rural sc hoo l s eveeeeee this problem.
Wollman (1990-91)st a t e s that teacher qualificationplays a major role in studentsucces s . In rural areas,attracting qualified teachers is a problem and as small schools otten
38 onlyhir e one teache r per subjec t area,qua lity1s critical.
Wo llma n ree lsthat part of the pr o bl e mlie s in the teacher sel ectio n andrecru itmentmethods usedby small schoo l s.
In a stud y of recr u itment practices in rur a l sch oo ls Wollmanfound that rural sc hool s ofte n hired teachers in 1I hurry, on a need s basi s , andusu ally inthe spring. Most sch ool distr icts did not have a written hiring policy to tollow, or i f one exist e d it was not followe d. Wollman recommends better re cruitment policie s in rural are a s IIin lig-ht ofthe generallyacceptedbellefthat quality teachers are not easily att r a cte d to rural ar e a s " (p. 26). Wollman concludes that meeti ng student learn ingoutco mesca n best be ach ieve d by hir ingth e best teach ers Whichwould be "a result of effectiverecruitmen t and sele cti on pract i ce s · (p. 26)_
In a study of the acade mic preparation of sci e n c e teachers , Heikk inen(1987 1refe r sto the shor t a ge of qualified science teac hers, whic h he states has been particu larly se r iou s for s.all ruralschoo l di stri cts. Heikk inen found that:in the SUb j ec t areasofphysio l 09 Y, chemistryand earth science, teache rs who taught in sIIa11 schools had s1qnifi ca nt1yfewer credits; fewer teachers hada major or lIl.ino r in the i r subject area;andfewer were endor s e d to tea ch the SUbjects theywere eeecntnq, However, therewas little differe nce in the total number of science cre d its and percentageof Maet e r' s degrees held by teachers inalla l1 and
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large schools. Withrespect to course preparations, numberot preparations increasedas school sizedecreased. Heikkinen concludes. that hi s findings shou l d be encouragi ng to rural administrators as i t seems large schools ha ve the same problems in attractingqualified science eeecneru as small schools.
Luf t (19 9 2-9 3) states that because of a lack of appropriate training teachersare ofte nill-preparedfor the realitie s of teaching in sma ll rural schools. He cites severalreasons why teacherslea v e rural schools , inclUding lack of social andcu l t ur al opportunity ,geographic isolation and inadequate stat t development programs. Lutt states that teachers in small rural schools ar eof t e n heavilyburdenedas they are often expected to assi s t with extra-curricular activities and at the same time teach a wide range of SUbjects.
In his studyof recruitment/reta l'lmentpractices of rural school districts, Luft found that factors which make it difficult to recruit te a ch ers to rural areas inc l Ude isohtion. lack of communityservices,salary, lack of social life and distance from a univers ity. Successfulrecruitment practices inc l uded salary packages and benefits, recruiting from colleges which fed from rural areas,personal interviews, on-site vi s i t a tions, hiring people from rural areas and promotinq the positive aspects of small schools and rural
.0 living_
Adminis t rators felt univers itie s co u l d help ru ra l dist ric ts re c ru it/re tain teachers by offering in ter n s hi ps in rural area s, te ac h i ngItul ti-gra de techniques,offering rural visitati ons , postinq job openi ngs, sellinq the posit i ve aspectsof rural te achinq. havi ng rura l educator s as guest spe a ke rsand sponso ring re cruit ing fa i rs.
Luft concluded tha t onc e hired, rural te achers may be retained by of f ering relea se time for in-serv i cing and pr of e s s iona l de velopment, fr e qu e nt in-ser v i c i ng and ad min i s t r a t i v e support .
Garman an d Alkire (1992-9 3) dis c uss the hig h rate of staff turnov er in smallrur al schools. Many or thete ac her s leaving rur a l set t ings ....er e you ng and le ft forsocial and cu ltura l re a s o ns. CartllanandAlk ire re fe r tothe id e a that the quality ot' teache r s is cr ucial to the quality at' the school distr ictand,thUS, the selectio nof qual1t ieJteachers shou l dbea roliableproce ss.
Inast u d yat the se l ectio n proce ss of new teachers in sma ll rural sc hools Garma n and Alkire found that characteristics most preferred by hiring otficials included proficientstudentteach ingexper Ie ne e , classroom man aq ement, vitalityandenthus i asm . Theyalso found that principa l£>we re activelyinv olved in the hiringprocess,usually inth e to r m at'structured interview s.
41
In asi mi larstud y, Pesek (1993) st a t e sth a t "thesourc e of rec r uitment • . . ha d a de fi n i t e re l a ti onship ....ith sat isfac toryemploye e pl a c emen t" (p,25). Pesekst udi e dsuc h factors as re cruitment sources, effec ti ve nessofrecruitment me t hods and retainment of qual ityteachers. He found that subst ituteteacherli stsweremost of t e n usedasa recruitment sourceand werefound tobethemost effe ctivesource. Pesek feels that this is beca us e a subst i tut e teac h e r will have
"gained a realistic jo b prev rev thro ugh ot h e r teachers and their own experienceat that schoot" (p. 28) . Aswell, th e administration will havehad theoppo r t uni t y to evaluate the indi v idual. Also, sub s ti t ute teachers are likely to be members of the community and, the refore , unlikelyto leave.
Univers ities wereal sowide l yusedand rankedas the second most effecti ve re c r u i t me nt source.
withre s pect to hardtofil l positio nssuchaschemi s t r y and physics, Pe sekstatesthat recr u i t ing forsu ch positions will remain a challengeandtha t schools mustemphasize the positive aspects ofrur a l lifeand teaChinginsmallschools.
Pesekconcludesthat mos t sc hool s do not evaluate their recruitment proc:ramand thatsi nce the recruitmentof teachers is a time consuming, costlypr o c essit is one which needsto be eva l ua t e d . By choosing the best recruitment source, schools will be able to hire and retain highly qualified teachers . He concludes that low salaries, lack of
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profe ss iona l development opportuni t i es, geograph ical , ('1' 1tural , persona l andpr ofes s i o n a l is olat ionand inadequat e hou s ing are some of thbfa ctor s which need tobe add ressedby ruralsellooldistrict s.
In a study of teac her incentive s in rural schools , Reed and Busby (1985) discusstheuse of rewards and incentives to impr overuraleducati on. Problems in attracting and retaining qualif iedte ac he r sincl udela ck of st a t u s , 10....sa l ary and poor echcc L env i r onme nts. Resultsof the st ud yshowe d tha t most school sys t e ms used fr ingebenefits , suc has healthins ur a nc e, le a ve plansandcompet itive sal a ries,to recruitnew teachers. Kanyalso of fe r ed prof e s siona l de vel opmentprogramsor paid tuit ion for courses. Most schoo l sdid not of f e r rewardsto their supe rio r teac hers.
Reed andBusby found thattherec r u i tme nt and retainment rates were directly rel ated to the ince nt ives and rewards offered by thesch oo l districts. As suc h , the yrecommend the following as guideline s for small ruralschools : assist ne w teachers in find ing suita bl ehousir.-l; rei mbur s e highdemand teachers (math and scienc e) for mo ving expenses; otfer time and resources for profes sional de ve l o pmu ntj sponeor and endorse oo:ocial activit iesjofferrewardsto superior teachers;
offer salarybonusestosupe rio r tea chers.
In a study ofwhyteach ers cho os e rural schoolsMatthes and Carlson (1986) found that teachers acceptinq rural
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positions consideredpaceof living,costof li v ingand school si z e to be impo r t a nt . These tea c he r s ....ere concerned abo ut se t t li ng int o the communi ty . Fac t or s whIch verc namedas reasons why teachers left rural sc h o o ls included sa l a r y, parental support, fringe bene fits , sc hool climate and Matthes and Carlson conclude that schools are
"fac edIo'iththe chall engeofcr e a t i ng profess!cmalconditions in whIch teachers can find rewards and a professional identity" (p. 27).
provincially,concernhasal sobeen rai sedregarding the recruitmentand retai nment of quali ty te ache r s throughou t the rural areas of the province . The 1987 Small Schools Study pr o j e c t refers to the diffiCUlty sc hoo l boardsexperience In hiring and retain ing t.oe ch ees who can cope in mUlti-grade classrooms. A result of this difficulty is excens Ive misassignment of cea cner-s in small rural sc h ool s . Such findings resulted in recommendations thatteacher education programs reflect the characteristics of sma l l rural schools and mUlti-gradeclassr oo msand that some prospectiveteachers be r.equired to complete their internship in a smal lschool (Recommendations 5.2, 5.3 and5. 4 )•
Directly related to the shortage of math and science teachers in the prov inceare sev e ral reecanendaefcnsma d eby the 1989 Task Force on Math and ScienceTowards an Achieving Society:Final Report. These recommendationsinclude offering
