Dissertation writing help - A pragmatic analysis of rural school consolidation
This single case study of rural school consolidation examines the 1967 closing of a small high school at Hawkins, Wisconsin and the way that experience continues to shape educational aims for Hawkins Elementary School. Its methodology is pragmatic analysis, characterized by John Dewey as an application of the scientific method to investigate the way experiences from the past are rendered in the present to establish aims for the future. Archival records are presented that trace local consolidation events from 1903. Documentation is compared across two critical consolidation decisions: 1967 and 2001. Interview data are examined from three sets of participants (4 educational leaders who advocated consolidation in 1967, 1 recent student who experienced both Hawkins Elementary and Ladysmith High Schools, and 4 Hawkins graduates who advocated passing a referendum to maintain a school at Hawkins in 2001). Participant observations are provided by the researcher who has served as Ladysmith-Hawkins Superintendent of Schools since 1998. Two compendiums of aims are provided: one from advocates of the consolidation movement around 1900 and one from current interviews. The conclusion is that this case study provides an example of consolidation that was unusually collaborative and democratic in 1967, launched by the smaller rather than the larger district. It further suggests that the 2001 decision to build a new elementary school to serve 60-80 students reflects educational aims that support small rural schools and reject further consolidation.