This white paper from the Rural Trust's capacity building program shows how place-based learning has led to favorable academic outcomes for students in rural Alaska. "The Star With My Name" recounts the methods and successes of the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative using place-based learning with Alaska Native students in the state's small rural schools.

Contrary to its Spanish name, East Feliciana has never been a “happy land” for public education. Located in southeastern Louisiana, East Feliciana Parish School District was carved out as a result of consolidations, closures, mergers and chronic poor school performance. The district serves approximately 3,000 students, 2,400 of them in grades K-8. In a parish where African Americans comprise only 47.1% of the population, they represent more than 80% of the public school students; most, 84.8%, qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

This report finds that states should use statistical confidence intervals to interpret test scores as a measure of “adequate yearly progress” for small schools under the No Child Left Behind Act.

To enhance and promote place-based learning, the Rural Trust set about the task of creating tools and strategies capable of documenting and measuring the full impact of learning that unfolds both inside and outside a school’s walls, and for using the evidence that these strategies yield to improve place-based learning efforts. These tools and strategies evolved into the Place-Based Learning Portfolio, a self-evaluation system in which school and community groups gather evidence of their place-based learning efforts, tell the story of their work while drawing on that evidence, and then analyze and reflect on their progress toward their goals.

This student performance produced by the Rural Trust Policy Program raises many troubling topics teens face -- abuse, discrimination, suicide, pregnancy, school violence -- all while trying to make sense of a standardized system of schooling. Recommended as a powerful conversation/meeting starter for education and youth advocacy groups, faculty, administrators, students and policymakers.

An update of the earlier Assessment Monograph, this report discusses the limitations of standardized testing in evaluating student progress and offers alternative methods to assess project and place-based student work.

This document articulates the Rural Trust's views on academic standards, with particular emphasis on the role of community input in setting and maintaining standards. Ann C. Lewis, columnist for KAPPAN magazine, called this policy statement "one of the finest philosophical documents to come out of the standards movement."

Anne C. Lewis, columnist for KAPPAN, discusses the standards movement and the Rural School and Community Trust (formerly the Rural Challenge) standards policy statement.

From November 1998 through February 1999, the Rural Trust's Policy Program hosted an online discussion of public school standards. They reflect the thoughts of several hundred parents, educators, policymakers, and interested individuals from 45 states and three countries who weighed in on the standards issue as it affects rural communities. The proceedings of this lively debate are available online.

From November of 1998 through February of 1999, the Rural Challenge hosted an online conversation to raise the issue of community input in the standards movement that is sweeping the country. A highlight of the event was a January 13th video conference involving over 200 participants in seven sites around the U.S. with hundreds of others following the conversation from their computers.   This is the transcript the keynote address given by Debra Meier.

There is a battle going on out there, and it’s not pretty and certainly not rational. Across the country, states are pushing to close their small rural schools with the mistaken hope of saving money. This struggle is currently happening in almost all regions of the country and includes states as diverse as Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Nebraska, South Carolina, and South Dakota (“Anything but research-based,” 2006).

Some policymakers and other advocates of reorganizing Arkansas’ public education system have insisted that the minimum district size requirements included in Act 60 and the district closings authorized under the Omnibus Education Act are aimed at closing school districts only, for the sake of “administrative” efficiency. They argue that the forced reorganization of districts is not intended to close schools. Some tease the issue a bit, adding that at the very least it doesn’t have to happen, and in their view, probably will not happen. This analysis of the ways that reorganization has played out over the past two years strongly suggests otherwise.

This report presents findings from an investigation into relationships between academic achievement and the distribution of fiscal resources among rural school districts in Oregon. The investigation was prompted by earlier-reported findings suggesting the critical nature of both achievement gaps and resource gaps among rural school districts in the state. A variety of statistical procedures yielded consistent findings indicating that there is considerable disparity in the distribution of fiscal resources among rural districts, and that the level of fiscal resources available to districts significantly influences educational outcomes.

Small school districts are an “achievement blessing” in Iowa, according to More Doesn’t Mean Better. In Iowa, consolidation proponents contend that small schools in small districts cannot offer a sufficiently broad curriculum, and that offering more courses would lead to higher achievement levels. This study finds just the opposite: Bigger schools and broader curriculum do not boost student achievement. In fact, smaller districts with fewer course offerings and higher poverty produced a slightly higher—but not statistically significant—percentage of students who scored “proficient” on state achievement tests than larger districts.

The consolidation of schools and school districts is an ongoing issue in most of rural America. Each year hundreds of communities face the closure of their local school or the loss of their local school district-and the school governance positions associated with the district. State policies promoting consolidation have existed for most of the 20th and now 21st centuries. Indeed, the numbers of schools and districts in this country have been drastically reduced, despite burgeoning school populations.

For those rural schools and communities across the country facing declining student enrollment, there are no easy answers. But there are steps policymakers and communities can take to help cushion the negative impact of declining enrollment on schools to ensure that “no child left behind” also means “no place left behind.” This report details 20 policies that provide students in communities experiencing declining enrollment with a high quality education and also buy time for communities to rebound, improve, or adjust to changes in population and revenue.

A task force of the National Rural Education Association has prepared a report on school consolidation for the organization’s executive board. It presents an excellent summary of the history of the issue and summarizes research on the topic, concluding with a series of recommendations.

This report examines the impact of Arkansas' Act 60 (2004) on the racial composition of the student population, elected school boards, and administrative leadership of 27 districts affected by consolidations involving one or more districts with an African-American majority.

School size is a critical factor in determining educational outcomes.  Research links small school size with higher levels of achievement and cost effectiveness.  Small size also makes other school improvements more effective. Many urban systems have recently improved education for all students by breaking large schools into smaller units.  Small schools have long been more common in rural areas, and when population is sparse, they sometimes need to be even smaller than would be appropriate in more densely populated areas.   But the advantages of small schools can be undermined if they are under funded or forced to organize and operate the way larger schools do.   Moreover, the advantages of smallness can be used to justify schools that segregate students by income, race, or social background, denying all students essential educational opportunities, compromising constitutional rights, and diminishing social justice.  But when well motivated and properly funded, small schools can provide strong education for rural students.  Here is what researchers have found about school size.

In response to an Arkansas Supreme Court order to alter the state's school funding system, Governor Mike Huckabee and others have proposed consolidating many small school districts.  This report analyzes financial and academic data of all Arkansas districts and evaluates several approaches to district consolidation. 

The following is intended to be a thought-provoking, but non-prescriptive, look at the future of Regional Education Service Cooperatives in Arkansas.  The decisions reached, however, must be made with the full and equal involvement of the existing co-ops, the districts they serve, and the Arkansas Department of Education.

There are legitimate concerns about the administrative costs of running small school districts.  It has been widely assumed that the only way to reduce these costs is to achieve economies of scale by eliminating school districts through consolidation. Proposals to consolidate districts often include assurances that closing districts does not mean that schools have to close.  The idea is that we can reduce administrative costs without losing the educational benefits of small schools.

Consolidation proponents often argue that consolidating schools and/or districts will lower per pupil costs.  But a stream of studies over half a century casts doubts on this assumption. 

Few states have pursued consolidation of rural schools more aggressively than West Virginia.  With the promise of broader curriculum and huge tax savings, the state has closed more than 300 schools, one in every five, since 1990.  In 2002, the Charleston Gazette investigated the outcomes of the state's consolidation efforts in the series, "Closing Costs."  Its authors, reporters Eric Eyre and Scott Finn, won the 2002 Education Writers Award for best series for a newspaper with circulation under 100,000 and the Fred M. Hechinger Grand Prize for Education Reporting.  This summary of "Closing Costs" provides a great starting point for schools and communities seeking to fight consolidation.

Dollars & Sense is a collaborative effort of the KnowledgeWorks Foundation, the Rural School and Community Trust, and Concordia, Inc. A team of nine researchers with expertise in education, architecture, and quantitative research challenge the common belief that big schools are cheaper to build and maintain than are small ones. Their conclusion: investing tax dollars in small schools makes good economic sense.

Lowering the Overhead by Raising the Roof provides strategies to help communities reduce the costs of maintaining, building, and renovating small schools, author Barbara Lawrence reports on specific strategies that rural communities have used and shares what she has learned from people throughout the country.

Offering new empirical and theoretical insights into school and district consolidation across the country, this study traces actual transportation costs across states and the relationship between transportation and instructional costs. They posit that the consolidation and transportation issues are linked and that together they have constrained instructional opportunities for rural children.

This research, funded in part by the Rural Trust, finds that small schools measure up very well against their big neighbors when the cost of schooling is measured as the cost per graduate.

Why Rural Matters 2007: The Realities of Rural Education Growth is a snapshot of rural education that provides essential information on the condition of rural education in the 50 states and uncovers new trends and challenges facing rural educators. Overall, enrollment in rural schools is up by 15%-a reversal of the year-over-year declines these communities have seen. While overall enrollment is on the rise the most startling data revealed in the report is the 55% increase in rural minority students, with some states experiencing increases of over 100%. Why Rural Matters 2007 also serves as a reminder that many rural schools continue to face a number of challenges, including high poverty levels, low student achievement, low teacher salaries, and uneven distribution of Title I funds.

Describes the challenges facing low-wealth rural school districts in eastern North Carolina as they relate to issues of teacher quality and summarizes the rural-specific strategies going on around the country to respond to these challenges. The report also covers how North Carolina is doing in each strategy, and provides additional recommendations based on the specific circumstances in North Carolina that would help address the pressing issue of providing all children in North Carolina the teachers they deserve.

There is a battle going on out there, and it’s not pretty and certainly not rational. Across the country, states are pushing to close their small rural schools with the mistaken hope of saving money. This struggle is currently happening in almost all regions of the country and includes states as diverse as Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Nebraska, South Carolina, and South Dakota (“Anything but research-based,” 2006).

"If you want to have good relations and increase support for the schools, connect student learning to the good of the community," says Robert Chappell, Superintendent of Schools in rural Rappahannock County, Virginia.

This report presents findings from an investigation into relationships between academic achievement and the distribution of fiscal resources among rural school districts in Oregon. The investigation was prompted by earlier-reported findings suggesting the critical nature of both achievement gaps and resource gaps among rural school districts in the state. A variety of statistical procedures yielded consistent findings indicating that there is considerable disparity in the distribution of fiscal resources among rural districts, and that the level of fiscal resources available to districts significantly influences educational outcomes.

Small school districts are an “achievement blessing” in Iowa, according to More Doesn’t Mean Better. In Iowa, consolidation proponents contend that small schools in small districts cannot offer a sufficiently broad curriculum, and that offering more courses would lead to higher achievement levels. This study finds just the opposite: Bigger schools and broader curriculum do not boost student achievement. In fact, smaller districts with fewer course offerings and higher poverty produced a slightly higher—but not statistically significant—percentage of students who scored “proficient” on state achievement tests than larger districts.

For those rural schools and communities across the country facing declining student enrollment, there are no easy answers. But there are steps policymakers and communities can take to help cushion the negative impact of declining enrollment on schools to ensure that “no child left behind” also means “no place left behind.” This report details 20 policies that provide students in communities experiencing declining enrollment with a high quality education and also buy time for communities to rebound, improve, or adjust to changes in population and revenue.

This report suggests that the distribution of both school funding and qualified teachers are primary forces behind Mississippi's achievement gaps. It finds that districts with students facing the most severe challenges to high academic achievement are also the districts that have the most limited resources with which to address those challenges. Conversely, districts with students facing the fewest challenges are also the ones with the most resources.

A task force of the National Rural Education Association has prepared a report on school consolidation for the organization’s executive board. It presents an excellent summary of the history of the issue and summarizes research on the topic, concluding with a series of recommendations.

This report outlines the specifics of what the rural perspective on educational adequacy entails for policymakers, education leaders, and school finance advocates.  While the report embraces the thinking behind education adequacy, it urges researchers and school funding reform advocates to begin using the phrase "high quality education," because it more aptly describes quality schooling and it will resonate better with rural people and the broader public. 

This report examines the impact of Arkansas' Act 60 (2004) on the racial composition of the student population, elected school boards, and administrative leadership of 27 districts affected by consolidations involving one or more districts with an African-American majority.

Transcript of virtual news conference for Why Rural Matters 2005.

Why Rural Matters 2005 is the third in a series of reports analyzing the importance of rural education in each of the 50 states and calling attention to the urgency with which policymakers in each state should address the problems of rural education.

This special report issued in partnership with the USDA Economic Research Service and the Rural Trust explores the connections between rural education and local community well-being. The report includes three sections: Education, Human Capital, and the Local Economy; Links between Rural Schools and Communities; and Creating Successful Rural Schools and Students. Each section includes several articles and provides descriptive information, research data, and examples of promising programs.

This report highlights some of the leading policy issues faced by education stakeholders and presents rural-specific strategies to ensure both sound fiscal management practices and a high quality education for all students. To complement the report, the Rural Trust offers a workshop that can be tailored to both meet the needs of various constituencies and be responsive to context and need.

Nebraska school systems with the lowest test scores serve more students who face socio-economic barriers to academic achievement than do other Nebraska schools, but have to do it with less money, according to this analysis.

In Letters to the Next President, more than 30 education experts, elected officials, practitioners, students, community leaders, and parents wrote to our next president, offering suggestions on improving critical problems in public education such as equitable funding resources and saving small schools. Now you can share your own thoughts on the future of education in this country by going to http://www.letterstoprez.org. A coalition of organizations, including the Rural Trust, will work on getting the letters delivered to the next president in January 2005. The book is $14.95 and is available at http://www.teacherscollegepress.com.

Distance learning is here to stay. Its future appears to be unsure only in its direction or extent of growth. This paper focuses on the applicability and potential of two-way interactive television (I-TV) for small and rural K-12 schools as a primary asset in improving educational access and equity and calls for the adoption of enlightened distance learning policies and guidelines at the state and local levels. Appendices include: (1) Characteristics of Major Distance Learning Technologies; (2) Types of Distance Learning Technologies; and (3) a Categorization of State Videoconferencing Policies. The Appendices are followed by a glossary of technical terms and list of references.

This policy paper offers insights and policy recommendations from studying high-poverty, but also high-performing, rural, southern schools that will change perceptions of what is possible in small, low-wealth rural settings. The report focuses on findings from five rural schools in Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi and on the characteristics that the five schools shared. Among many others, each school: displayed a sense of mutual respect and shared expectation; viewed smallness as an asset; had positive, flexible and collegial leadership; and, their environments brought out -- and expected -- the best of everyone. The report was prepared for the Southern Rural High School Study Initiative, a joint venture of the Southern Governors' Association, Southern Regional Education Board, and The Rural Trust.

Even though states nationwide spend $30 billion annually on school facilities, rural schools are frequently ignored, neglected, or under-funded--a condition that negatively impacts student learning, according to this policy report from the Rural Trust. The report chronicles the challenges faced by rural school districts to build and maintain quality schools and offers policy options for fair and effective state school facilities programs.

Why Rural Matters 2007: The Realities of Rural Education Growth is a snapshot of rural education that provides essential information on the condition of rural education in the 50 states and uncovers new trends and challenges facing rural educators. Overall, enrollment in rural schools is up by 15%-a reversal of the year-over-year declines these communities have seen. While overall enrollment is on the rise the most startling data revealed in the report is the 55% increase in rural minority students, with some states experiencing increases of over 100%. Why Rural Matters 2007 also serves as a reminder that many rural schools continue to face a number of challenges, including high poverty levels, low student achievement, low teacher salaries, and uneven distribution of Title I funds.

Describes the challenges facing low-wealth rural school districts in eastern North Carolina as they relate to issues of teacher quality and summarizes the rural-specific strategies going on around the country to respond to these challenges. The report also covers how North Carolina is doing in each strategy, and provides additional recommendations based on the specific circumstances in North Carolina that would help address the pressing issue of providing all children in North Carolina the teachers they deserve.

There is a battle going on out there, and it’s not pretty and certainly not rational. Across the country, states are pushing to close their small rural schools with the mistaken hope of saving money. This struggle is currently happening in almost all regions of the country and includes states as diverse as Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Nebraska, South Carolina, and South Dakota (“Anything but research-based,” 2006).

"If you want to have good relations and increase support for the schools, connect student learning to the good of the community," says Robert Chappell, Superintendent of Schools in rural Rappahannock County, Virginia.

This report presents findings from an investigation into relationships between academic achievement and the distribution of fiscal resources among rural school districts in Oregon. The investigation was prompted by earlier-reported findings suggesting the critical nature of both achievement gaps and resource gaps among rural school districts in the state. A variety of statistical procedures yielded consistent findings indicating that there is considerable disparity in the distribution of fiscal resources among rural districts, and that the level of fiscal resources available to districts significantly influences educational outcomes.

Small school districts are an “achievement blessing” in Iowa, according to More Doesn’t Mean Better. In Iowa, consolidation proponents contend that small schools in small districts cannot offer a sufficiently broad curriculum, and that offering more courses would lead to higher achievement levels. This study finds just the opposite: Bigger schools and broader curriculum do not boost student achievement. In fact, smaller districts with fewer course offerings and higher poverty produced a slightly higher—but not statistically significant—percentage of students who scored “proficient” on state achievement tests than larger districts.

For those rural schools and communities across the country facing declining student enrollment, there are no easy answers. But there are steps policymakers and communities can take to help cushion the negative impact of declining enrollment on schools to ensure that “no child left behind” also means “no place left behind.” This report details 20 policies that provide students in communities experiencing declining enrollment with a high quality education and also buy time for communities to rebound, improve, or adjust to changes in population and revenue.

This report suggests that the distribution of both school funding and qualified teachers are primary forces behind Mississippi's achievement gaps. It finds that districts with students facing the most severe challenges to high academic achievement are also the districts that have the most limited resources with which to address those challenges. Conversely, districts with students facing the fewest challenges are also the ones with the most resources.

A task force of the National Rural Education Association has prepared a report on school consolidation for the organization’s executive board. It presents an excellent summary of the history of the issue and summarizes research on the topic, concluding with a series of recommendations.

This report outlines the specifics of what the rural perspective on educational adequacy entails for policymakers, education leaders, and school finance advocates.  While the report embraces the thinking behind education adequacy, it urges researchers and school funding reform advocates to begin using the phrase "high quality education," because it more aptly describes quality schooling and it will resonate better with rural people and the broader public. 

This report examines the impact of Arkansas' Act 60 (2004) on the racial composition of the student population, elected school boards, and administrative leadership of 27 districts affected by consolidations involving one or more districts with an African-American majority.

Transcript of virtual news conference for Why Rural Matters 2005.

Why Rural Matters 2005 is the third in a series of reports analyzing the importance of rural education in each of the 50 states and calling attention to the urgency with which policymakers in each state should address the problems of rural education.

This special report issued in partnership with the USDA Economic Research Service and the Rural Trust explores the connections between rural education and local community well-being. The report includes three sections: Education, Human Capital, and the Local Economy; Links between Rural Schools and Communities; and Creating Successful Rural Schools and Students. Each section includes several articles and provides descriptive information, research data, and examples of promising programs.

This report highlights some of the leading policy issues faced by education stakeholders and presents rural-specific strategies to ensure both sound fiscal management practices and a high quality education for all students. To complement the report, the Rural Trust offers a workshop that can be tailored to both meet the needs of various constituencies and be responsive to context and need.

Nebraska school systems with the lowest test scores serve more students who face socio-economic barriers to academic achievement than do other Nebraska schools, but have to do it with less money, according to this analysis.

In Letters to the Next President, more than 30 education experts, elected officials, practitioners, students, community leaders, and parents wrote to our next president, offering suggestions on improving critical problems in public education such as equitable funding resources and saving small schools. Now you can share your own thoughts on the future of education in this country by going to http://www.letterstoprez.org. A coalition of organizations, including the Rural Trust, will work on getting the letters delivered to the next president in January 2005. The book is $14.95 and is available at http://www.teacherscollegepress.com.

Distance learning is here to stay. Its future appears to be unsure only in its direction or extent of growth. This paper focuses on the applicability and potential of two-way interactive television (I-TV) for small and rural K-12 schools as a primary asset in improving educational access and equity and calls for the adoption of enlightened distance learning policies and guidelines at the state and local levels. Appendices include: (1) Characteristics of Major Distance Learning Technologies; (2) Types of Distance Learning Technologies; and (3) a Categorization of State Videoconferencing Policies. The Appendices are followed by a glossary of technical terms and list of references.

This policy paper offers insights and policy recommendations from studying high-poverty, but also high-performing, rural, southern schools that will change perceptions of what is possible in small, low-wealth rural settings. The report focuses on findings from five rural schools in Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi and on the characteristics that the five schools shared. Among many others, each school: displayed a sense of mutual respect and shared expectation; viewed smallness as an asset; had positive, flexible and collegial leadership; and, their environments brought out -- and expected -- the best of everyone. The report was prepared for the Southern Rural High School Study Initiative, a joint venture of the Southern Governors' Association, Southern Regional Education Board, and The Rural Trust.

Even though states nationwide spend $30 billion annually on school facilities, rural schools are frequently ignored, neglected, or under-funded--a condition that negatively impacts student learning, according to this policy report from the Rural Trust. The report chronicles the challenges faced by rural school districts to build and maintain quality schools and offers policy options for fair and effective state school facilities programs.

There is a battle going on out there, and it’s not pretty and certainly not rational. Across the country, states are pushing to close their small rural schools with the mistaken hope of saving money. This struggle is currently happening in almost all regions of the country and includes states as diverse as Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Nebraska, South Carolina, and South Dakota (“Anything but research-based,” 2006).

For those rural schools and communities across the country facing declining student enrollment, there are no easy answers. But there are steps policymakers and communities can take to help cushion the negative impact of declining enrollment on schools to ensure that “no child left behind” also means “no place left behind.” This report details 20 policies that provide students in communities experiencing declining enrollment with a high quality education and also buy time for communities to rebound, improve, or adjust to changes in population and revenue.

This special report issued in partnership with the USDA Economic Research Service and the Rural Trust explores the connections between rural education and local community well-being. The report includes three sections: Education, Human Capital, and the Local Economy; Links between Rural Schools and Communities; and Creating Successful Rural Schools and Students. Each section includes several articles and provides descriptive information, research data, and examples of promising programs.

Even though states nationwide spend $30 billion annually on school facilities, rural schools are frequently ignored, neglected, or under-funded--a condition that negatively impacts student learning, according to this policy report from the Rural Trust. The report chronicles the challenges faced by rural school districts to build and maintain quality schools and offers policy options for fair and effective state school facilities programs.

In many states, receiving state aid to build a new school--or renovate an existing one--is contingent on compliance with state policies that state the minimum acreage necessary for a particular type of school. This report finds that these minimum acreage requirements--imposed in 23 states--often create special problems for rural school districts. The report also explains the kinds of policies in effect in various states and outlines their impacts on small and rural school districts.

This policy brief describes the problem of deferred maintenance for school facilities, especially from the perspective of small rural districts. It examines the extent, causes, and consequences of deferred maintenance as well as recommendations for policy, practice, and funding that can help correct this national problem.

Dollars & Sense is a collaborative effort of the KnowledgeWorks Foundation, the Rural School and Community Trust, and Concordia, Inc. A team of nine researchers with expertise in education, architecture, and quantitative research challenge the common belief that big schools are cheaper to build and maintain than are small ones. Their conclusion: investing tax dollars in small schools makes good economic sense.

Lowering the Overhead by Raising the Roof provides strategies to help communities reduce the costs of maintaining, building, and renovating small schools, author Barbara Lawrence reports on specific strategies that rural communities have used and shares what she has learned from people throughout the country.

Offering new empirical and theoretical insights into school and district consolidation across the country, this study traces actual transportation costs across states and the relationship between transportation and instructional costs. They posit that the consolidation and transportation issues are linked and that together they have constrained instructional opportunities for rural children.

This report discusses particular forms of parent involvement and democratic empowerment now partially restored in the state of Kentucky which have become engendered as a result of the Kentucky Educational Reform Act (KERA) of 1990, a landmark attempt to reduce inequity statewide.

"If you want to have good relations and increase support for the schools, connect student learning to the good of the community," says Robert Chappell, Superintendent of Schools in rural Rappahannock County, Virginia.

This case study of Frederick Fraize High School, Cloverport, Kentucky using the Good Rural High School assessment rubric developed by the Rural School and Community Trust demonstrates effective high school improvement for other school leaders and policy makers.

This special report issued in partnership with the USDA Economic Research Service and the Rural Trust explores the connections between rural education and local community well-being. The report includes three sections: Education, Human Capital, and the Local Economy; Links between Rural Schools and Communities; and Creating Successful Rural Schools and Students. Each section includes several articles and provides descriptive information, research data, and examples of promising programs.

This case study of Siciliy Island High School, Sicily Island, Louisiana using the Good Rural High School assessment rubric developed by the Rural School and Community Trust reveals a rural high school that is yielding results.

This case study of Shaw High School, Shaw, Mississippi using the Good Rural High School assessment rubric developed by the Rural School and Community Trust provides an exemplar study in rural high school improvement.

This policy paper offers insights and policy recommendations from studying high-poverty, but also high-performing, rural, southern schools that will change perceptions of what is possible in small, low-wealth rural settings. The report focuses on findings from five rural schools in Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi and on the characteristics that the five schools shared. Among many others, each school: displayed a sense of mutual respect and shared expectation; viewed smallness as an asset; had positive, flexible and collegial leadership; and, their environments brought out -- and expected -- the best of everyone. The report was prepared for the Southern Rural High School Study Initiative, a joint venture of the Southern Governors' Association, Southern Regional Education Board, and The Rural Trust.

Rubric-based assessment system for high schools developed by the Rural School and Community Trust.

Principles and standards for good high schools developed by the Rural School and Community Trust.

In Letters to the Next President, more than 30 education experts, elected officials, practitioners, students, community leaders, and parents wrote to our next president, offering suggestions on improving critical problems in public education such as equitable funding resources and saving small schools. Now you can share your own thoughts on the future of education in this country by going to http://www.letterstoprez.org. A coalition of organizations, including the Rural Trust, will work on getting the letters delivered to the next president in January 2005. The book is $14.95 and is available at http://www.teacherscollegepress.com.

States have some flexibility in how they implement the specific provisions of the federal "No Child Left Behind" Act. The way states write their implementation plans can make all the difference to rural schools and the kids who attend them. In this new report, Rural Trust policy analyst Lorna Jimerson evaluates how 15 different states are implementing NCLB, and highlights the most "rural sensitive" practices.

This report finds that states should use statistical confidence intervals to interpret test scores as a measure of “adequate yearly progress” for small schools under the No Child Left Behind Act.

With funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Rural Trust sponsored several researchers to develop case studies examining the connections between higher education institutions and vulnerable youth in communities that have chosen place-based education as a framework for student learning and community growth. The report explores the development of rural Education Renewal Zones in Missouri, an aquaculture project in northeastern Maine that is helping revitalize a small town's fishing economy, and a project in New Mexico focused on water use and conservation through using an "acequia" irrigation system. Engaged Institutions also features in-depth studies on other place-based learning partnerships including initiatives to preserve Navajo culture in Indian schools in Arizona, unique media arts projects in Appalachia, and a project aimed at improving writing skills using local culture in the Mississippi Delta.

The 2004-2005 report on the progress of the first year of the Rural Civic Engagement Initiative.

This special report issued in partnership with the USDA Economic Research Service and the Rural Trust explores the connections between rural education and local community well-being. The report includes three sections: Education, Human Capital, and the Local Economy; Links between Rural Schools and Communities; and Creating Successful Rural Schools and Students. Each section includes several articles and provides descriptive information, research data, and examples of promising programs.

Lights, Camera...Leadership! is a high school credit-bearing curriculum that develops leadership and academic skills through the process of making and premiering a Community Video.

This white paper from the Rural Trust's capacity building program shows how place-based learning has led to favorable academic outcomes for students in rural Alaska. "The Star With My Name" recounts the methods and successes of the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative using place-based learning with Alaska Native students in the state's small rural schools.

Contrary to its Spanish name, East Feliciana has never been a “happy land” for public education. Located in southeastern Louisiana, East Feliciana Parish School District was carved out as a result of consolidations, closures, mergers and chronic poor school performance. The district serves approximately 3,000 students, 2,400 of them in grades K-8. In a parish where African Americans comprise only 47.1% of the population, they represent more than 80% of the public school students; most, 84.8%, qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

To enhance and promote place-based learning, the Rural Trust set about the task of creating tools and strategies capable of documenting and measuring the full impact of learning that unfolds both inside and outside a school’s walls, and for using the evidence that these strategies yield to improve place-based learning efforts. These tools and strategies evolved into the Place-Based Learning Portfolio, a self-evaluation system in which school and community groups gather evidence of their place-based learning efforts, tell the story of their work while drawing on that evidence, and then analyze and reflect on their progress toward their goals.

With funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Rural Trust sponsored several researchers to develop case studies examining the connections between higher education institutions and vulnerable youth in communities that have chosen place-based education as a framework for student learning and community growth. The report explores the development of rural Education Renewal Zones in Missouri, an aquaculture project in northeastern Maine that is helping revitalize a small town's fishing economy, and a project in New Mexico focused on water use and conservation through using an "acequia" irrigation system. Engaged Institutions also features in-depth studies on other place-based learning partnerships including initiatives to preserve Navajo culture in Indian schools in Arizona, unique media arts projects in Appalachia, and a project aimed at improving writing skills using local culture in the Mississippi Delta.

A valuable collection of oral histories assembled by students in rural communities across the country, this unbound volume designed for a three-ring binder seeks to both celebrate this outstanding work and also encourage teachers and students to design oral history projects of their own. It includes samples of oral histories gathered from around the country, a review of an oral history project from planning through to completion, and an extensive annoutated bibliography, detailing oral history resources for teachers and students.

An update of the earlier Assessment Monograph, this report discusses the limitations of standardized testing in evaluating student progress and offers alternative methods to assess project and place-based student work.

Describes the challenges facing low-wealth rural school districts in eastern North Carolina as they relate to issues of teacher quality and summarizes the rural-specific strategies going on around the country to respond to these challenges. The report also covers how North Carolina is doing in each strategy, and provides additional recommendations based on the specific circumstances in North Carolina that would help address the pressing issue of providing all children in North Carolina the teachers they deserve.

This report reveals a number of areas of significant deficiencies as it examines the characteristics of the teaching environment and the teacher corps in rural Texas schools--where almost half a million students go to school each day.

To enhance and promote place-based learning, the Rural Trust set about the task of creating tools and strategies capable of documenting and measuring the full impact of learning that unfolds both inside and outside a school’s walls, and for using the evidence that these strategies yield to improve place-based learning efforts. These tools and strategies evolved into the Place-Based Learning Portfolio, a self-evaluation system in which school and community groups gather evidence of their place-based learning efforts, tell the story of their work while drawing on that evidence, and then analyze and reflect on their progress toward their goals.

This is the second in a two-part series intended to give public voice to school leaders in the South. The report comes from discussions of the Rural School Leaders Working Group, a group of 20 principals, superintendents and instructional supervisors from Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, who met to discuss the issues, challenges and opportunities for school leadership. This report outline the features of a practitioner-led, research oriented professional development plan for the participating leaders to strengthen their capacity to meet the critical challenges and opportunities of rural school leadership.The report is available for free from the Rural Trust electronically or in hard copy.

There are legitimate concerns about the administrative costs of running small school districts.  It has been widely assumed that the only way to reduce these costs is to achieve economies of scale by eliminating school districts through consolidation. Proposals to consolidate districts often include assurances that closing districts does not mean that schools have to close.  The idea is that we can reduce administrative costs without losing the educational benefits of small schools.

This is the first in a two-part series intended to give public voice to school leaders in the South. The report comes from discussions of the Rural School Leaders Working Group, a group of 20 principals, superintendents and instructional supervisors from Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, who met to discuss the issues, challenges, and opportunities for school leadership. The report outlines what participants considered the most important topic areas for their personal learning and professional development, and what they indicated they need to lead school districts to greater student achievement and overall performance. The report is available for free from the Rural Trust electronically or in hard copy.

An update of the earlier Assessment Monograph, this report discusses the limitations of standardized testing in evaluating student progress and offers alternative methods to assess project and place-based student work.

"If you want to have good relations and increase support for the schools, connect student learning to the good of the community," says Robert Chappell, Superintendent of Schools in rural Rappahannock County, Virginia.

The 2004-2005 report on the progress of the first year of the Rural Civic Engagement Initiative.

This special report issued in partnership with the USDA Economic Research Service and the Rural Trust explores the connections between rural education and local community well-being. The report includes three sections: Education, Human Capital, and the Local Economy; Links between Rural Schools and Communities; and Creating Successful Rural Schools and Students. Each section includes several articles and provides descriptive information, research data, and examples of promising programs.

Since further consolidation is presently being proposed statewide in West Virginia, the lack of solid data about the impact of current consolidation is problematic. This research by the Rural School and Community Trust (Rural Trust) is an effort to fill some of those gaps.

There is a battle going on out there, and it’s not pretty and certainly not rational. Across the country, states are pushing to close their small rural schools with the mistaken hope of saving money. This struggle is currently happening in almost all regions of the country and includes states as diverse as Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Nebraska, South Carolina, and South Dakota (“Anything but research-based,” 2006).

Some policymakers and other advocates of reorganizing Arkansas’ public education system have insisted that the minimum district size requirements included in Act 60 and the district closings authorized under the Omnibus Education Act are aimed at closing school districts only, for the sake of “administrative” efficiency. They argue that the forced reorganization of districts is not intended to close schools. Some tease the issue a bit, adding that at the very least it doesn’t have to happen, and in their view, probably will not happen. This analysis of the ways that reorganization has played out over the past two years strongly suggests otherwise.

"If you want to have good relations and increase support for the schools, connect student learning to the good of the community," says Robert Chappell, Superintendent of Schools in rural Rappahannock County, Virginia.

This report presents findings from an investigation into relationships between academic achievement and the distribution of fiscal resources among rural school districts in Oregon. The investigation was prompted by earlier-reported findings suggesting the critical nature of both achievement gaps and resource gaps among rural school districts in the state. A variety of statistical procedures yielded consistent findings indicating that there is considerable disparity in the distribution of fiscal resources among rural districts, and that the level of fiscal resources available to districts significantly influences educational outcomes.

Small school districts are an “achievement blessing” in Iowa, according to More Doesn’t Mean Better. In Iowa, consolidation proponents contend that small schools in small districts cannot offer a sufficiently broad curriculum, and that offering more courses would lead to higher achievement levels. This study finds just the opposite: Bigger schools and broader curriculum do not boost student achievement. In fact, smaller districts with fewer course offerings and higher poverty produced a slightly higher—but not statistically significant—percentage of students who scored “proficient” on state achievement tests than larger districts.

For those rural schools and communities across the country facing declining student enrollment, there are no easy answers. But there are steps policymakers and communities can take to help cushion the negative impact of declining enrollment on schools to ensure that “no child left behind” also means “no place left behind.” This report details 20 policies that provide students in communities experiencing declining enrollment with a high quality education and also buy time for communities to rebound, improve, or adjust to changes in population and revenue.

This report suggests that the distribution of both school funding and qualified teachers are primary forces behind Mississippi's achievement gaps. It finds that districts with students facing the most severe challenges to high academic achievement are also the districts that have the most limited resources with which to address those challenges. Conversely, districts with students facing the fewest challenges are also the ones with the most resources.

This report outlines the specifics of what the rural perspective on educational adequacy entails for policymakers, education leaders, and school finance advocates.  While the report embraces the thinking behind education adequacy, it urges researchers and school funding reform advocates to begin using the phrase "high quality education," because it more aptly describes quality schooling and it will resonate better with rural people and the broader public. 

This special report issued in partnership with the USDA Economic Research Service and the Rural Trust explores the connections between rural education and local community well-being. The report includes three sections: Education, Human Capital, and the Local Economy; Links between Rural Schools and Communities; and Creating Successful Rural Schools and Students. Each section includes several articles and provides descriptive information, research data, and examples of promising programs.

This report highlights some of the leading policy issues faced by education stakeholders and presents rural-specific strategies to ensure both sound fiscal management practices and a high quality education for all students. To complement the report, the Rural Trust offers a workshop that can be tailored to both meet the needs of various constituencies and be responsive to context and need.

Nebraska school systems with the lowest test scores serve more students who face socio-economic barriers to academic achievement than do other Nebraska schools, but have to do it with less money, according to this analysis.

Even though states nationwide spend $30 billion annually on school facilities, rural schools are frequently ignored, neglected, or under-funded--a condition that negatively impacts student learning, according to this policy report from the Rural Trust. The report chronicles the challenges faced by rural school districts to build and maintain quality schools and offers policy options for fair and effective state school facilities programs.

This report shows that New Mexico school systems suffering from low student achievement serve students who face the greatest social and economic barriers, but receive less money to work with than do other New Mexico districts.

School size is a critical factor in determining educational outcomes.  Research links small school size with higher levels of achievement and cost effectiveness.  Small size also makes other school improvements more effective. Many urban systems have recently improved education for all students by breaking large schools into smaller units.  Small schools have long been more common in rural areas, and when population is sparse, they sometimes need to be even smaller than would be appropriate in more densely populated areas.   But the advantages of small schools can be undermined if they are under funded or forced to organize and operate the way larger schools do.   Moreover, the advantages of smallness can be used to justify schools that segregate students by income, race, or social background, denying all students essential educational opportunities, compromising constitutional rights, and diminishing social justice.  But when well motivated and properly funded, small schools can provide strong education for rural students.  Here is what researchers have found about school size.

In response to an Arkansas Supreme Court order to alter the state's school funding system, Governor Mike Huckabee and others have proposed consolidating many small school districts.  This report analyzes financial and academic data of all Arkansas districts and evaluates several approaches to district consolidation. 

The following is intended to be a thought-provoking, but non-prescriptive, look at the future of Regional Education Service Cooperatives in Arkansas.  The decisions reached, however, must be made with the full and equal involvement of the existing co-ops, the districts they serve, and the Arkansas Department of Education.

There are legitimate concerns about the administrative costs of running small school districts.  It has been widely assumed that the only way to reduce these costs is to achieve economies of scale by eliminating school districts through consolidation. Proposals to consolidate districts often include assurances that closing districts does not mean that schools have to close.  The idea is that we can reduce administrative costs without losing the educational benefits of small schools.

This policy brief describes the problem of deferred maintenance for school facilities, especially from the perspective of small rural districts. It examines the extent, causes, and consequences of deferred maintenance as well as recommendations for policy, practice, and funding that can help correct this national problem.

Consolidation proponents often argue that consolidating schools and/or districts will lower per pupil costs.  But a stream of studies over half a century casts doubts on this assumption. 

There is a battle going on out there, and it’s not pretty and certainly not rational. Across the country, states are pushing to close their small rural schools with the mistaken hope of saving money. This struggle is currently happening in almost all regions of the country and includes states as diverse as Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Nebraska, South Carolina, and South Dakota (“Anything but research-based,” 2006).

This report presents findings from an investigation into relationships between academic achievement and the distribution of fiscal resources among rural school districts in Oregon. The investigation was prompted by earlier-reported findings suggesting the critical nature of both achievement gaps and resource gaps among rural school districts in the state. A variety of statistical procedures yielded consistent findings indicating that there is considerable disparity in the distribution of fiscal resources among rural districts, and that the level of fiscal resources available to districts significantly influences educational outcomes.

Small school districts are an “achievement blessing” in Iowa, according to More Doesn’t Mean Better. In Iowa, consolidation proponents contend that small schools in small districts cannot offer a sufficiently broad curriculum, and that offering more courses would lead to higher achievement levels. This study finds just the opposite: Bigger schools and broader curriculum do not boost student achievement. In fact, smaller districts with fewer course offerings and higher poverty produced a slightly higher—but not statistically significant—percentage of students who scored “proficient” on state achievement tests than larger districts.

The consolidation of schools and school districts is an ongoing issue in most of rural America. Each year hundreds of communities face the closure of their local school or the loss of their local school district-and the school governance positions associated with the district. State policies promoting consolidation have existed for most of the 20th and now 21st centuries. Indeed, the numbers of schools and districts in this country have been drastically reduced, despite burgeoning school populations.

Distance learning is here to stay. Its future appears to be unsure only in its direction or extent of growth. This paper focuses on the applicability and potential of two-way interactive television (I-TV) for small and rural K-12 schools as a primary asset in improving educational access and equity and calls for the adoption of enlightened distance learning policies and guidelines at the state and local levels. Appendices include: (1) Characteristics of Major Distance Learning Technologies; (2) Types of Distance Learning Technologies; and (3) a Categorization of State Videoconferencing Policies. The Appendices are followed by a glossary of technical terms and list of references.

School size is a critical factor in determining educational outcomes.  Research links small school size with higher levels of achievement and cost effectiveness.  Small size also makes other school improvements more effective. Many urban systems have recently improved education for all students by breaking large schools into smaller units.  Small schools have long been more common in rural areas, and when population is sparse, they sometimes need to be even smaller than would be appropriate in more densely populated areas.   But the advantages of small schools can be undermined if they are under funded or forced to organize and operate the way larger schools do.   Moreover, the advantages of smallness can be used to justify schools that segregate students by income, race, or social background, denying all students essential educational opportunities, compromising constitutional rights, and diminishing social justice.  But when well motivated and properly funded, small schools can provide strong education for rural students.  Here is what researchers have found about school size.