© 2025 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WECS · WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM · WVOF
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

The One-Room Schoolhouse: A Vanishing Tradition

At the turn of the 20th century, one of every three American children was educated in a one-room schoolhouse. Now only a few still exist, mainly in the nation's rural communities.

Taki Telonidis of the Western Folklife Center profiles one such school in the tiny northern Nevada town of Jiggs.

Children in kindergarten and grades one through six attend The Mound Valley School, built in 1983 by students from a neighboring one-room schoolhouse.

The class size this year is 15, up from 13 last year, which gave teacher Cheryl Turner a reason to petition her school board for a teacher's aide. Turner, who has taught at Mound Valley for 19 years, and her aide Cindy Nash prepare 40 lessons each day.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Taki Telonidis

Stand up for civility

This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.

We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.

Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play.