A Portrait of Rural Social Studies Teachers: Demographics and Implications for Professional Development

Abstract

In this study, we first provide a snapshot of key demographics and characteristics of social studies teachers in a rural setting based the 2017-2018 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) restricted-use data file from the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), administered by the Institute for Education Sciences (IES). Second, we look at potential implications based on specific insights from the data, including recognition of the change happening in the demographics of rural communities and a need for sustained PD about teaching students with diverse identities.