Arizona School Using Culture and Innovative Math Project to Boost Student Success

As part of RPM's spotlight on rural education innovations, we feature STAR School in Arizona, where achievement in soaring, thanks to the school's emphasis on cultural appropriateness and its unique early childhood math program.

Alaska Rural Districts' Case Decided

After more than a decade, the Alaska legislature has implemented a funding formula that provides facilities funding for rural districts at levels equitable to urban districts.

Alaska Ballot Initiative on School Funding Successful

Voters approve a bond initiative that will build several new rural schools…

The Star with My Name: The Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative and the Impact of Place-Based Education on Native Student Achievement

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.

Engaged Institutions: Impacting Vulnerable Youth Through Place-Based Learning

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.