Storylines About Rural Teachers in the United States: A Synthesis of the Research Literature

• In Event: Rural Education and Teachers

Abstract

This paper presents a synthesis of the research conducted on rural teachers in the United States. The authors use a narrative method to review over 40 peer-reviewed empirical research articles conducted over the past 40 years. The authors identify 4 narrative storylines in the extant research literature: 1). Rural teachers are professionally isolated; 2). Rural teachers are different from urban and/or suburban teachers; 3). Rural teachers are often teaching out of their field; and 4). Rural teachers are particularly resistant to change.

Authors

• Amy Johnson Lachuk, University of South Carolina

• Megan Burton, Auburn University

• Kara D. Brown, University of South Carolina