Presented at ISEC 2000

One Room Schools in Montana at the Turn of the Century 1999-2001

Mary Susan E Fishbaugh

Abstract

Montana is a sparsely populated but geographically vast state in the north and west of the United States. Like the rest of the US, Montana's economy was originally based on agriculture, primarily ranching and mining. To educate the ranch children, one-room schools were built in remote, rural areas. There were few children, hundreds of miles between small towns, and wide-open spaces. A one-room school met the needs of the few, multi-aged ranch children living within a 25 to 100 mile radius.

Most of the United States industrialized in the twentieth century; Montana did not. The Montana economy is still based on ranching and mining. The population is still small and the Big Sky and wide open spaces remain. In fact, the largest metropolitan area in Montana is Billings with a population of 90,000 people. There are still children raised on ranches in remote areas who require a school within a reasonable distance of their homes. As a result, there are 85 to 100 currently operating one-room schools in Montana.

I have begun a three-year study of the remaining one-room schools in this state.
Year 1 will be a survey of current student demographics, information about the teacher(s), a brief history of the school, and a story unique to each. The end product of the first year will be an illustrated book.
Year 2 will involve more in-depth ethnographic study of cooperative learning, community building, and inclusionary strategies in five to ten of the schools. These schools will be geographically distributed across the five special education regions of the state. The end product of the second year will be journal manuscripts and conference presentations.
Year 3 will involve study of the use of technology and teacher professional issues in the five to ten schools. The end product of the third year will be a monograph reporting the impact of technology on both student learning and on teacher turn-over.

The paper will report on the first year survey with pictures. It will include information about the inclusion of students with special needs and how those needs are met in a one-room school located on the vast prairie or in a remote mountain setting in Montana.

Background

Montana is a sparsely populated but geographically vast state in the north and west of the United States. Like the rest of the US, Montana's economy was originally based on agriculture--primarily ranching and mining. To educate the ranch children, one-room schools were built in remote, rural areas. There were few children, hundreds of miles between small towns, and wide-open spaces. A one-room school met the needs of the few, multi-aged ranch children living within a 25 to 100 mile radius.

Most of the United States industrialized in the twentieth century; Montana did not. The Montana economy is still based on ranching and mining. The population is still small, and the Big Sky and wide-open spaces remain. In fact, the largest metropolitan area in Montana is Billings with a population of 90,000 people. There are still children raised on ranches in remote areas who require a school within a reasonable distance of their homes. As a result, there are approximately 100 currently operating small rural schools in Montana.

A study of current one-room schools in Montana is important for several reasons. First, the study is important historically. Montana has approximately 100 operating one-room or two-room schools that serve students with varying educational needs at various ages and grade levels. I do not know how that compares with other states, but my guess is that the number in Montana is high. One-room schools are a piece of Americana that is dying. Documentation of one-room schools at this time will preserve a bit of history.

Second, one-room schools have much to tell us about inclusion of students with different abilities, multi-grade grouping, student cooperative learning, peer-mediated learning, and building a community of learners. These are all current topics in education. One-room schools have been perfecting each of these areas by default, if not by design, since their inception. A look at the processes used in one-room schools can inform the practice of larger schools.

Third, the study can investigate professional feelings of isolation, means of continuing professional education, and impact of technology on remote, rural schools. A continuing issue in rural education is teacher turnover. Comparing rates of teacher turnover in different schools with an investigation of why teachers came to the school, why they stayed, or why they leave could have impact on strategies to recruit and retain teachers in rural areas.

Project Goals And Objectives

Project Phases

Phase I (1999/2001)

The first project phase involves visiting each of the operating one-room schools in Montana. I am taking photos of each school and have asked the teachers to complete a survey with the following information:

The product for this phase will be a book entitled Montana's One-Room Schools at the Turn of the Century: 1999-2001.

Phase II (2000/2002)

The second phase of the study will involve choosing one or two schools from each of the five special education regions in Montana for in-depth ethnographic study. We will investigate inclusion, cooperative learning, peer-mediated learning, and the effect of school community-building on student behavior. The products of this phase will be contributions to the professional literature and national/international conference presentations.

Phase III (2000/2002)

The third phase of the study will focus on the teachers who work in the schools. This phase may involve comparing teacher recruitment/retention in one-room schools with that in larger schools. During this phase, the impact of technology (i.e., computer access) on both student learning and teacher isolation/ continuing professional development will be investigated. The product for this phase will be a monograph that recounts an historical perspective of the rural teacher turnover problem and suggests directions for future practice.

Summary

For many years in the United States, the trend in education has been consolidation of small rural schools. This trend has been supported primarily through arguments related to economic benefits. The bigger the school, the more money available-school funding is based on student counts. The bigger the school, the more materials-buying in bulk is usually more cost effective than buying individually priced items. The bigger the school, the more resources-having special programs or equipment centrally located is less expensive than reimbursing personnel travel to or equipping several small remote schools. Montana has resisted this trend for the most part. The large number of one- and two-room schools still operating in the state are evidence of this resistance. The present project proposes to document both their existence and their benefit to Montana's students.

Index