Unit 7: Set 4: Rural & Town Schools - Activities

Intro | Elementary | High School | Data Tables | Inspector Reports | Consolidation Maps |
Stanford Test | Architect's Plan | Photographs | Activities

1. Analysis and Conclusions: Using data provided in the charts and the information you can gain from the history of your own school, develop an explanatory answer for each of the following questions.


1. Students in rural schools scored poorly on the standardized tests administered in 1929. What do these scores tell us about rural education in 1929? What other evidence supports your conclusion? Are there other factors to be considered that educators and researchers have not considered?
2. Crosby schools had 98 male students and 149 female students in 1933. In 1962, Crosby high school had 110 male students and 93 female students. The sex ratio in North Dakota schools seems more normal by 1962. Why were the figures for male and female students skewed in 1932? Did parents in 1932 decide to educate daughters but not sons? Was this decision based on sound information? What opportunities did boys have if they lacked an 8th grade education in 1932?
3. Examine the architect’s drawings of Fortuna Elementary School. How does the building relate to the education and activities of Fortuna’s students? What does this drawing tell us about the Fortunans’ vision of the future of their town?

2. Discussion: Scholars of education tend to use a lot of numerical data. Does this data describe the educational process and outcome adequately? What other information might be useful? What other research methods (other than numerical) might be used to find out more about the success of failure of an educational institution? How would you organize a research project to determine the quality of education in your school?

3. Research: What does your school district spend per student? How does that compare to the state average or the cost per student for a large city?

4. Further research: Invite your School superintendent or school board president to speak to your class about school funding, plans for the future, and the assurance of quality education. Prepare questions and present them in advance to the speaker. Be prepared to ask more questions based on the speaker’s response to your prepared questions.

5. Just for Fun: Read through the questions and possible answers in the document labeled Stanford questions. These are some of the questions that the researcher thought were not addressed in the classroom. Can you match the question in the left column with the correct answer in the right hand column? (Remember that these questions were posed in 1929. Some answers might have changed since then.)

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