"This dissertation study seeks to explore the intersection of rurality with educational leadership through the phenomena of population change. The study is comprised of three distinct papers, which explore this intersection in complementary ways: examining broad trends in rural public school student populations; exploring the experiences and perceptions of principals and school leaders in rural schools that have undergone changes in student population; and exploring how principals perceive the influence of state policies and climate, in addition to population change and their rural contexts, as on their leadership behaviors and functions of their schools. The collective findings from these three papers are suggestive of changing leadership behaviors and duties for school leaders as rural schools continue to decline in enrollment across much of the United States. These changes in leadership are further complicated by local contexts and state policies. Even with a majority of the public school districts in the United States located in these rural areas (NCES, n.d.), only a scant corpus of educational research focuses on these schools. Thus, the unique contexts and interests of these schools and communities may not be fully understood, which carries implications for the preparation of leaders for positions in rural schools and the design of educational policy."--Page ii.
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