Bridger Mountains

ISFIRE 2018

Communities and Partnerships:  Strengthening Rural Education

 

ISFIRE focuses on the obligation of the global education community to influence policy aimed at delivering equitable and socially just outcomes for rural students. ISFIRE offers an international forum for sharing research findings, innovative ideas and evaluated approaches linked to positive, practical action.

In our current global context, ISFIRE 2018 offers an opportunity for the rural education community to come together to celebrate the importance of rural education, discuss our common challenges, explore how research informs our rural practice, and share solutions to raise the profile of the teaching profession, support student learning, and honor school leaders.

Montana State University-Bozeman campus

General Information

  • The ISFIRE Conference will be held on August 1-3rd, 2018 in Bozeman, MT.
  • The Pre-conference Emerging Rural Scholars Summit will be held on July 31st, 2018.
  • This international symposium will include: keynote sessions, breakout parallel presentation sessions, and panel symposium sessions, with plenty of opportunities for discussion. You are encouraged to consider sharing with like-minded educators and researchers, and potential research collaborators your work to strengthen rural education.
  • The ISFIRE focus in 2018 is on Communities and Partnerships and how these strengthen rural education. In particular, six symposium threads (see below) have been described to guide you in planning your presentation(s).

Symposium Threads

  • Fostering Community in Rural Education
    • Re-defining community (climate, capacity, culture) within schools
    • Connecting schools with local, regional, national, and/or international communities
    • Communicating effectively within and between communities
  • Cultivating Rural Partnerships
    • Envisioning possibilities for potential partnerships
    • Developing goals for mutually beneficial partnerships
    • Sustaining effective partnerships
  • Growing the Rural Teaching Profession
    • Integrating the rural context in teacher preparation
    • Envisioning options for rural teacher recruitment and retention
    • Designing and delivering professional learning in rural contexts
  • Exploring Innovative Practices in Rural Pedagogy
    • Optimizing teaching in multi-grade contexts and non-traditional learning spaces
    • Meeting the needs of ALL rural learners
    • Sustaining and revitalizing Indigenous ways of knowing
  • Fostering Rural Student Success
    • Understanding the rural student perspective
    • Integrating technology to support student learning
    • Building student vision for individual, local, global futures
  • Building Capacity for Rural Leadership
    • Recruiting leaders within the school & community
    • Nurturing leadership development in students and teachers
    • Leading rural schools and communities to navigate change

Fence at Dry Creek School