The Problem: A Disconnect between Research and Practice Despite the growing interest in getting educational leaders to use research in their decision-making, educational research often does not inform practice. Policymakers argue that research can support educational leaders in making more informed and effective decisions. In fact, policies like the Every Student Succeeds Act urge educational
“On average, in the twenty-first century, rural communities differ more from each other than they do from urban areas” (Flora & Flora 2008, 6). For decades education researchers have studied how geographic location, and more specifically population size and density, influence a variety of educational indicators including student performance, school governance, and postsecondary access.
Educational researchers are taking an increasing interest in social space, how people use and attach meanings to the “stuff” of natural space. In the past three years, the American Journal of Education has published ten articles that directly consider the effects of spatial factors on educational processes, six of them in a special issue called
