The Rural School and Community Trust

Rural Policy Matters: August 2010

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Coalition Releases Document Calling for "Opportunity to Learn" for all Students

This article appeared in the August 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. On July 28th, a coalition of eight civil rights organizations issued a “

Districts Headed by African-American Superintendents Lose Funding to Number-Weighting

This article appeared in the August 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Ninety-three high-poverty rural school districts headed by African-American superintendents received almost $8.2 million less Title I funding in school year 2008-09 than they would have received if the formula for distributing these funds did not contain a provision that favors large districts over small districts. The provision, known as & ...

Take Advantage of Congressional Break to Contact Representatives

This article appeared in the August 2010 Rural Policy Matters. The Congressional recess means that most U.S. senators and members of the House of Representatives are in their home districts. It’s a great time to contact them and tell them that they should fix the formulas that distribute Title I funding so that all poor children get equitable access to federal funding, no matter where they live. You do ...

Education Week Launches Rural Blog

This article appeared in the August 2010 Rural Policy Matters. In June, Education Week, launched a new blog devoted to rural education. In the opening post, writer Mary Schulken describes her youth growing up on a North Carolina tobacco farm and attending all twelve grades at the same small rural school. The

School Discipline: An Occasional Series on Developments in School Disciplinary Policies and Practices

Texas Internal Report Confirms Special Ed Students Punished More Often This article appeared in the August 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. The agency responsible for education oversight in Texas has confirmed that students receiving special education services are much more likely t ...

Congressional Action on Corporal Punishment in Schools

This article appeared in the August 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Just prior to the Congressional recess, U.S. Representative Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) introduced the “Ending Corporal Punishment in Schools Act” that aims to eliminate the use of corporal punishment in sc ...

North Carolina District Takes Steps to End Zero Tolerance

This article appeared in the August 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. The Wake County (Raleigh) School District in North Carolina has decided to amend its discipline policies that automatically remove students from school for lengthy terms in favor of alternative discipline strategies aimed at keep ...

RSFN Special Series: Financing Rural Schools: Characteristics of Strong Rural School Finance Systems

This article appeared in the August 2010 Rural Policy Matters. In this series, Rural School Funding News is reviewing general principles of school finance and sharing information about school funding systems that support rural schools and their unique characteristics and needs. While there are no easy answers to questions about how to fund schools, especially in this economic climate, we hope that these articles ...

Wyoming Debates Funding Accountability

This article appeared in the August 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Wyoming’s school finance process is unique in that it requires the state to recalibrate the funding model every five years. (See the June RSFN at ww ...

Class Size Caps Are Subject of Ballot, Lawsuits in Florida

This article appeared in the August 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Florida's Constitutional Amendment 8, passed in 2002 to cap class sizes, is scheduled to go into full effect this school year. But another initiative on the ballot this November could significantly alter the law. T ...

Ohio Governor Faces Criticism Over Education Claims

This article appeared in the August 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Ohio Governor Ted, campaigning four years ago, promised to “fix” school funding, a goal that has eluded Ohio policymakers, advocates, parents, and other stakeholders for years. Strickland, now running f ...

Kansas Responds to Threat of Lawsuit

This article appeared in the August 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. A forthcoming school finance lawsuit in Kansas is already having an impact, despite that fact that the suit has not yet been filed. Schools for Fair Funding notified the state earlier this summer of its plans to fil ...

Teacher Mobility by School Locale, 2008-09

This article appeared in the August 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. N ...

Facts and Figures About States With the Highest Percentage of Schools in Rural Communities

This article appeared in the August 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Question: Which state has the highest percentage of schools located in rural communities? Answer: South Dakota (76.9% of schools are located in rural communities), followed by Montana (74.9% of schools are rural); North Dakota (72.1% of schools are rural); Vermont (71.3% of schools are rural); and Maine (67.4% of schools are locat ...

Rural District's Successful Literacy Program Making a Big Difference

This article appeared in the August 2010 Rural Policy Matters. “We’ve seen our library check-out rates go up 300% in the last three years — and that doesn’t even count the books students read in their classroom libraries. There’s a marked difference in the attitudes of teachers and principals; everyone understands their responsibility to teach and improve literacy across the curriculum, ...

Annenberg Public Policy Center News

Working with the Annenberg Public Policy Center, the Rural School and Community Trust provides support for rural schools in the form of scholarships, and student-focused programs. The

I3 Update: Matching Funds for Competitive Preference Eight

The Rural School and Community Trust is in the process of reviewing highly-rated Investing in Innovation grant applications that included the rural Competitive Preference Eight in their applications. Our purpose is to determine whether funds available through our organization could assist you in meeting the 20 percent private match requirement. If you are in this category and wish to be considered for this source of matching funds, please email your application and contact in ...

Rural Policy Matters: July 2010

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Arkansas Groups Gear Up for Action on Formula Fairness Campaign

This article appeared in the July 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Arkansas Rural Education Association (AREA) and the Rural Community Alliance (RCA), both co-sponsors of the Formula Fairness Campaign, geared up for the Title I formula fight almost certain to be part of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act by asking Rural Trust Policy Director Marty Strange to address leadership gatherin ...

Formula Grant Successful in Rural Schools, Flexibility Key

This article appeared in the July 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Amid the rising battle over the role of competition in federal grant-making, a new report< ...

School Discipline: An Occasional Series on Developments in School Disciplinary Policies and Practices

Reports in Louisiana and Texas Document Overuse of Harsh Discipline This article appeared in the July 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. ...

Facts and Figures About States That Have More Than Half Their Schools in Rural Communities

This article appeared in the July 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Question: In which 15 states are more than 50% of schools located in rural communities? Answer: South Dakota (76.9% of schools are located in rural communities); Montana (74.9%); North Dakota (72.1%); Vermont (71.3%); Maine (67.4%); Alaska (65.5%); Nebraska (59.6%); Wyoming (57.0%); Arkansas (54.2%); Iowa (54.2%); Oklahoma (52.5 ...

West Virginia Community Story Tells Much About School Consolidation

This article appeared in the July 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Most school consolidations don’t happen out of the blue. Momentum builds over time as local politics, economic circumstances, and state policies change. This ebb and flow can become so much part of the life of the school and ...

Delaware Raises Minimum Reporting Age

This article appeared in the July 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. The state of Delaware has made a small but important change in its school crime reporting requirements. Previously, the law required schools to notify law enforcement upon certain actions by all students 9 years-old and older. School o ...

Connecticut Reduces Suspension Rate

This article appeared in the July 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Advocacy groups in Connecticut are praising the state’s schools for reducing the number of exclusionary discipline actions, even before a state law limiting conditions under which students can be suspended went in ...

Georgia Restricts Disciplinary Restraints

This article appeared in the July 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Georgia’s State Board of Education has banned seclusion rooms, chemical restraints (medications), and the use of prone restraints, in which a student is held face down on the floor. Under the new rules, parents must be notified w ...

RSFN Special Series:Financing Rural Schools: Characteristics of Strong Rural School Finance Systems

This article appeared in the July 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. In this series, Rural School Funding News is reviewing general principles of school finance and sharing information about school funding systems that support rural schools and their unique characteristics and needs. While there are ...

Second California Lawsuit

This article appeared in the July 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. As reported in June RSFN, a second school funding has been filed in California. Plaintiffs in the latest suit, Coalition for Quality Education v. California, are public interest and community organizations representing underserv ...

Arkansas Lawsuit Makes Agricultural Claims

This article appeared in the July 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Another lawsuit challenging the consolidation of a small school district has been filed in Arkansas, this time in federal court. Friends of Weiner School District have asked for a declaratory judgment to prevent the application of Act ...

Indiana Says No More Bus Fees

This article appeared in the July 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. A just-published Attorney General’s opinion states that charging students school bus fees violates the Indiana State Constitution because it is a form of tuition. Attorney General Greg Zoeller said that transportation has been de ...

Wisconsin Schools Stand to Gain in New Funding Formula Proposal

This article appeared in the July 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. A new school funding proposal could give Wisconsin schools an additional $900 million if it is successful in the next legislative session. Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers is the author of the proposal, which will probab ...

Montana Considers Draconian Cuts

This article appeared in the July 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. As the state’s budget crisis worsens, many in Wisconsin see the budget-cutting options as violating a court ruling on school finance. The Montana Legislative Services Fiscal Division (LFD) has recommended that the state&r ...

New Louisiana Law Offers Freedom From Many School Regulations

This article appeared in the July 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. The Louisiana Federation of Teachers has filed suit challenging a new Louisiana law that gives superintendents and school boards broad authority to waive many state laws and regulations. The “Red Tape Reduction Act,&rdquo ...

Washington Lawsuit Moves Forward

This article appeared in the July 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. A special education lawsuit in the state moved forward last month when the Washington Supreme Court heard oral arguments by the Alliance for Adequate Funding of Special Education, which brought the suit in 2004. The twelve member distr ...

Oklahoma Ballot Initiative Faces Opposition

This article appeared in the July 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. A significant battle is brewing over State Question 744, which will be on the ballot in November in Oklahoma. If approved by voters, the resulting constitutional amendment would require Oklahoma to increase per-pupil spending to at lea ...

Principal Mobility by School Locale, 2008-09

This article appeared in the July 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. NOTE: “Stayers&rdq ...

Investing in Innovation (i3) Grant

Rural School Districts Eligible for Federal i3 Grant Application Assistance Through a $1.4 million grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Rural School and Community Trust (Rural Trust) provides customized technical assistance for rural school districts regarding all aspects of the i3 grant program. The Rural Trust assists rural i3 applicants in identifying potential matching funds and other promising rural innovations and building long-term capacity to complete competitive gran ...

Full Service Community Schools Grants Due July 23

The U.S. Department of Education has released the Full Service Community Schools (FSCS) grant. Deadline for Notice of Intent to Apply is June 23; the application deadline is July 23, 2010. Access the application and more information at www2.ed.gov/programs/communityschools/applicant.html.

Rural Policy Matters: June 2010

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Expanding Your Borders, or: How to Grow Your Organization's Membership

This article appeared in the June 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Any grassroots group that wants to make a difference needs people. Obvious enough. But how do you get people involved, especially if your group is rural? After all, “rural” means a sparseness of people. Earlier this year the Rural Community Alliance (the Alliance) tackled this challenge and in the course of just two months doubled their ...

Rural Trust to Examine Effectiveness of Competitive Grants for Rural Schools

This article appeared in the June 2010 Rural Policy Matters. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has made competitive grants the centerpiece of his proposal for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The Department’s “Blueprint for Reform” uses the word “competitive” 30 times in 39 pages of text. It proposes new or expanded competitive grants in ...

Mississippi Commission Will Issue Consolidation Report

This article appeared in the June 2010 Rural Policy Matters. The Commission on Mississippi Education Structure is finalizing its report on district consolidation. Governor Haley Barbour formed the group in January and asked it to consider options for district closure following his proposal to reduce the number of districts from 152 to 100. The Commission has heard from consultants who recomm ...

RSFN Special Series:Financing Rural Schools: Characteristics of Strong Rural School Finance Systems

A Rural School Funding News Special Series This article appeared in the June 2010 Rural Policy Matters. In this series, Rural School Funding News is reviewing general principles of school finance and sharing information about school funding systems that support rural schools and their unique characteristics and needs. While there are no easy answers to questions about how to fund schools, especially in this ...

Rhode Island Gets School Funding Formula

This article appeared in the June 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. State legislators have passed a school funding formula for Rhode Island, which had been the only state without one. The formula is partially based on a district’s ability to raise taxes, and it includes an additional 40% weig ...

Arkansas Cases Challenge School and District Consolidation

This article appeared in the June 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Two legal cases suggest that a new strategy for challenging consolidation decisions may be emerging in Arkansas, even as state authorities expand their use of consolidation laws. In one case, the State Board of Education voted to dissolve the Twin Rivers School District in northeast Arkansas for accreditation violations. The district will be ...

School Funding Lawsuit Filed in Arizona

This article appeared in the June 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. A group of education organizations, school districts, and district representatives has filed a lawsuit in the Arizona Supreme Court against the State Treasurer. The Arizona Rural Schools Association is one of the ...

School Districts Intend to Sue Kansas

This article appeared in the June 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. A coalition of 74 Kansas school districts has notified the state that it will file a new school funding lawsuit. Schools for Fair Funding filed a notice of their intent to sue after the legislature approved its new three-year ...

Pennsylvania Districts Making Big Cuts

This article appeared in the June 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. A new study from the Pennsylvania School Funding Campaign sums up the grim financial forecast for school districts ...

Colorado Makes Demands on Districts Involved in Lawsuit

This article appeared in the June 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. State attorneys are asking 150 Colorado school districts to produce documents dating back to 2005 as part of the state’s defense in the Lobato school funding suit. The districts are those not involved in ...

Facts and Figures About States With the Highest Average Teacher Salaries in Rural Districts

This article appeared in the June 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Question: Which five states have the highest salary expenditures for instructional staff members in rural districts (essentially the highest average teacher salaries)? Answer: New York has the highest average expenditures for rural instructional staff at $74,800, followed by Alaska at $74,193, Connecticut at $73,632, Ne ...

Growing Your Membership: In a Nutshell

This article appeared in the June 2010 Rural Policy Matters. The RPM summary of how to create a successful membership drive, based on a June 2010 presentation by the Rural Community Alliance. (Read the full article here) Articulate a worthy cause that people care about. The Rural Community Alliance is com ...

Options for Fixing Title I Inequity: Tying Allocations to Average Local Salaries Makes Matters Worse

This article appeared in the June 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Some school districts get a lot more federal funding support than other districts to address the educational needs of very low-income students. Part of the reason is that the formulas used to distribute funding through Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act provide more funding per eligible student in large districts than in small districts. ...

Vermont Promotes District Consolidation

This article appeared in the June 2010 Rural Policy Matters. In Vermont, a redistricting commission has met to begin study of how consolidation in the state should occur. The group will meet through the summer and make recommendations to the State Board of Education. The State Board has promoted consolidation of districts and in January endorsed a report on consolidating districts. Members have expressed confidence ...

South Carolina Report Examines School Governance Structures

This article appeared in the June 2010 Rural Policy Matters. A recently released report in South Carolina discusses the hodgepodge of governance structures among the state’s 85 school districts, but concludes that despite home rule, the state maintains the most control over districts. “

California Lawsuit Challenges School Funding System

This article appeared in the June 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. A new funding lawsuit has been filed in California challenging the school finance system as unconstitutional. California schools have seen $17 billion in cuts in two years. The lawsuit says that the state should determine wha ...

Wyoming Recalibrating its Funding Formula

This article appeared in the June 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Wyoming’s school funding formula is undergoing recalibration, which is required every five years to review the current system and make needed adjustments. Lawmakers began meeting last month to hear from experts and prac ...

NCLB Lawsuit Remains Dismissed

This article appeared in the June 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. The lawsuit that charged that No Child Left Behind was an unfunded mandate for states ended this month when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to take up the case, effectively leaving a lower court’s dismissal of the action ...

Total Current Expenditures per Pupil in 2007-08, by Locale and Poverty Level

This article appeared in the June 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Source: NCES (2010). Condition of Education 2010. Retrieved from http://nces.ed. ...

The RPM-PX Take on a Report Exploring Practices in Successful "Turnaround" Schools

This article appeared in the June 2010 Rural Policy Matters. A recent report completed by WestEd for the U.S. Department of Education examines “policies, programs, and practices” in 11 elementary and middle schools that made dramatic improvements in student test scores after having been persistently low-performing for a number of years. In the report

Rural Policy Matters: May 2010

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Arkansas Community Revitalization Efforts Share Great Approaches

This article appeared in the May 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Overall enrollment in the nation’s rural schools is growing. But this happy trend has not reached many rural schools that are losing students. A tangle of public policies and national economic directions (few of which make the well-being of rural communities a high priority) mix with local factors to drain economic opportunity and local residents out ...

No Small Matter: Kagan, Stevens, Marshall and a Rural Child Named Kadrmas

This article appeared in the May 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Robin Lambert, Policy Analyst Rural School and Community Trust Note: Links are current when posted but may expire over time or require registration to view. Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan’s disagreement with Justice Thurgood Marshall, for whom she clerked in 1988, on an important equal protection case involving educati ...

State Spending Averages Skew Title I Allocations to Poor Districts

This article appeared in the May 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Jeniece attends school in Macon County, Alabama; her cousin Janelle* goes to school in Boston. Both girls are eight years old. Both are daughters of families that work at least some of the time, but both families struggle on incomes well below poverty level. Since 1965 the federal government has provided funding to local school districts, including Macon Co ...

High-Poverty, Low Graduation Rates in the Rural South

This article appeared in the May 2010 Rural Policy Matters. A new Rural School and Community Trust analysis of high-poverty school districts in 15 southern states reveals both low graduation rates and a racial and ethnic achievement gap that is troubling. The districts studied include 616 rural school districts that are among the 800 rural districts nationally with highest student poverty rates. Just ...

Citizens Call for Transparency in Mississippi Consolidation Recommendations

This article appeared in the May 2010 Rural Policy Matters. This winter Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour appointed a panel, the Commission on Mississippi Education Structure, to make recommendations for closing school districts in that state. Barbour indicated he would like to see a reduction of the state’s 152 districts to about 100, claiming the reduction would save the state millions of dollars. U ...

Rural School Funding News: May 2010

This article appeared in the May 2010 Rural Policy Matters. RSFN is on maternity leave. Welcome to Asa Henry Adler and Congratulations to happy parents Amanda Adler, Director of the Rural Education Finance Center, and Ken Adler and siblings Adam and Kathryn Adler. RSFN will be back with a full complement of school finance news in the June edition of RPM. Read more from the May 2010

Average Salary for Teachers in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools, 2007-08

This article appeared in the May 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Source: National Cente ...

The RPM Take on a Report Evaluating the Comprehensive School Reform Program

This article appeared in the May 2010 Rural Policy Matters. A recent report completed by WestEd for the U.S. Department of Education evaluates the implementation effectiveness and outcomes of the federal Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) program in the years 2002 to 2008. The findings suggest that few schools implemented all the program requirements or made significant progress in student achievement. CSR wa ...

Title I Update: Two New Analyses Point Up More Inequities in Title I Funding

Some school districts get a lot more federal support through Title I to educate very low-income students than other districts do. The Rural Trust’s Formula Fairness Campaign is leading the national effort to fix this inequity. This month the Campaign conducted two new analyses of Title I funding that demonstrate how and why some districts get more federal support than other districts for educating very low-in ...

U.S. Department of Education Holds Webinar on Reauthorization of ESEA and Rural Schools

John White, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Rural Outreach at the U.S. Department of Education, is inviting rural superintendents and principals to participate in a webinar on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and rural schools on Thursday, May 27, 2010, from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Hosted by the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), the webinar will explain the Obama Administration’s proposed blueprint for improvi ...

Facts and Figures About States With the Lowest Average Teacher Salaries in Rural Districts

This article appeared in the May 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Question: Which five states have the lowest salary expenditures for instructional staff members in rural districts (essentially the lowest average teacher salaries)? Answer: Alabama has the lowest average expenditures for rural instructional staff at $37,932, followed by North Dakota ($38,895), South Dakota ...

The Rural Dropout Problem: An Invisible Achievement Gap

Report

i3 Deadline Extended in Disaster Areas

The Department of Education has extended the i3 application deadline by seven days for eligible applicants under the Investing in Innovation Fund that are located in a Federally-declared disaster area, as determined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and adversely affected by the severe storms, flooding, straight-line winds, and tornadoes beginning on April 30, 2010, and continuing, in Tennessee. The extended application deadline for these applicants is 4:30 PM (DC Tim ...

Foundations Launch i3 Registry

Having committed $500 million to leverage the U.S. Department of Education's $650 million Investing in Innovation (i3) Fund, 12 foundations are launching the Foundation Registry i3, a new online application that aims to simplify the private funding application process for potential grantees and increase access and visibility for new, especially smaller, applicants. The i3 Registry also aims to improve the ability for foundations to examine investment opportunities and better coordinat ...

New Opportunity for Rural Communities

Does your rural community need literacy services for families? Completing this rural assessment survey may be the first step toward your community competing to receive funding and support for a state-of-the art family learning center. The National Center for Family Literacy is leading this initiative, and select survey respondents will be invited to apply for the opportunity to have a state-of-the art family learning cen ...

Education Official Visits Rural Schools Partnership Conference

The newly christened Ozarks Teacher Corps is an innovative partnership that will be worth watching to see if it can be replicated in other rural areas, said John White, a U.S. Department of Education leader who attended the annual Rural Schools Partnership conference on May 6, 2010 in Thomasville, Mo. White, the Department’s deputy assistant secretary for rural outreach, joined more than 120 rural educators and students in the tiny Oregon County community for a day of celebratin ...

Children's Defense Fund Calls for Overhaul of Title I Funding

This article appeared in the April 2010 Rural Policy Matters. The Children’s Defense Fund, a leading child advocacy organization lead by the venerable Marian Wright Edelman, has written Democratic and Republican leaders of the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee calling for broad reforms of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (a.k.a. No Child Left Behind). First on its list of needed changes is the ...

Two Analyses of Mississippi Achievement Data Produce Significant Findings for Policymakers

This article appeared in the April 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Smaller school districts reduce the impact of poverty on student achievement So-called higher achieving districts do no better than low-achieving districts at closing achievement gaps for Mississippi’s low-income, African American, or disabled students The state of Mississippi is considering clo ...

RSFN Special Series:Financing Rural Schools: Characteristics of Strong Rural School Finance Systems

This article appeared in the April 2010 Rural Policy Matters. School Finance Principles, Generally What does a good school finance system look like? A good system for funding schools should meet the following basic criteria: It provides a secure, stable and fair sources of revenue;

Facts and Figures About Which States Have the Most Rural Students Qualifying for Reduced-Price School Meals

This article appeared in the April 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Question: In which nine states do more than 50% of rural students qualify for free or reduced-price school meals? Answer: New Mexico (81.3% of students qualify), Louisiana (68.4%), Mississippi (63.8%), Arkansas (59.1%), Oklahoma (58.7%), South Carolina (57.3%), Kentucky (55.0%), West Virginia (52.6%), and Alabama (50.6%). The average ...

Rural Policy Matters: April 2010

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Formula Fairness Campaign Update

This article appeared in the April 2010 Rural Policy Matters. New Report Chock Full of Info The Rural Trust has published a report submitted to U.S. House and Senate education committees by Policy Director Marty Strange outlining how the use of a weighting system to inflate the count of disadvantaged students eligible for Title I funding systematically discriminates against high-poverty small ...

Save Alabama's Small Schools Hosts Statewide Meeting

This article appeared in the April 2010 Rural Policy Matters. The rural education advocacy group, Save Alabama’s Small Schools (SASS), held its first annual conference earlier this month. The group initially formed in 2003 to support the state’s small rural public schools and to advocate for state and local policies and programs that ensure the best educational opportunities for rural students. I ...

Connecticut High Court Rules in School Finance Case

This article appeared in the April 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Last month, Connecticut’s Supreme Court ruled that students have the right to more than just a “free” education. Ruling in Connecticut Coalition for Justice in Education Funding (CCJEF) v. Rell

Illinois' Economy Spurs Actions on Education Funding

This article appeared in the April 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. A new school funding lawsuit in Illinois claims discrimination against taxpayers based upon where they live. The suit claims that because property values in the state vary so widely, homeowners in property-poor communi ...

Alaska Judge Demands Action for Rural Schools

This article appeared in the April 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. The Alaska high court has ruled that the state is still not complying with a previous order to develop and implement improvement plans for chronically underperforming rural schools. On March 31, Judge Sharon Gleason ga ...

Percent Distribution of Students Within Public and Private School Types

This article appeared in the April 2010 Rural Policy Matters. (click graph for larger ima ...

Stopping Bullying: Effective Approaches

This article appeared in the April 2010 Rural Policy Matters. A recent review of research on school bullying and school-based bully-prevention programs yields both useful information and more questions about what types of programs actually help. The article, in Educational Researcher, is “What Can Be Done About School Bullying? Linking Resear ...

Rural School Districts Eligible for Federal i3 Grant Application Assistance

For Immediate Release Apri ...

Rural Policy Matters: March 2010

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Formula Fairness Campaign Gaining Momentum

This article appeared in the March 2010 Rural Policy Matters. The campaign to bring fairness to the Title I funding formulas is gaining strength and attention. Nearly a thousand visitors have already logged on to the website at www.formulafairness.com, and nearly 200 people have signed the petition to fix the formulas. If you haven’t

Quick and Dirty: The RPM Take on A Blueprint for Reform

Facts and Figures About States With High Percentages of Minority Students in Rural Schools

This article appeared in the March 2010 Rural Policy Matters. QUESTION: In which 16 states do minority students make up more than 25% of rural enrollment? ANSWER: New Mexico (81.6%), Alaska (56.2%), California (50.3%), Louisiana (43.9%); South Carolina (42.9%), Texas (41.4%), Mississippi (40.0%), Oklahoma (36.7%), North Carolina (36.0%), Florida (34.9%), Delaware (33.9%), Georgia (31.2%), Color ...

Consolidation Fightback Toolkit Now Available

This article appeared in the March 2010 Rural Policy Matters. The Rural Trust has collected its most useful studies and reports on school and district consolidation in one location on our website. Check out our Consolidation Fightback Toolkit. The Toolkit includes research on fiscal and academic impacts of consolidation, alternatives to consolidation, and pr ...

Mississippi's Smaller School Districts Reduce the Impact of Poverty on Student Achievement

This article appeared in the March 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Low-income students who attend school in one of Mississippi’s smaller school districts are less likely to fall behind their more affluent peers, on average, than low-income students in larger districts. In other words, the s ...

The Charmed Prince of Good Deals

This article appeared in the March 2010 Rural Policy Matters. There are good deals, and then there are really good deals in the Title I formula. There is no deal better than Chicago's. Chicago has a lot of poverty, no doubt about it. But at 27%, Chicago's poverty rate (that is, Title I eligibility rate) is only moderately high. It's 10 percentage points lower than either Detroit's or the average pove ...

Petition to Eliminate Unfair Treatment of Small and Rural Districts in Title I Funding

This article appeared in the March 2010 Rural Policy Matters. The following petition is available on the Formula Fairness Campaign website, where you can learn much more about Title I funding and the Fairness Campaign… To Eliminate the Unfair Treatment of Small and Rural School Districts Caused by Certain Provisions in th ...

Finance Team Buckles to Governor's Commission

This article appeared in the March 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Earlier this month the school finance consulting firm Augenblick, Palaich and Associates, Inc. presented criteria for choosing Mississippi districts consolidate. The venue was a meeting of the Commission on Mississippi Education S ...

The RPM Run-Down of Formula and Competitive Grants Proposed in Blueprint

This article appeared in the March 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Blueprint suggests a number of programs that will be available to schools through grants. RPM has categorized those programs based on whether Blueprint identifies the program as available on a formula or competitive basis. Formula Grants Some federal grants that are currently allocated by formula will remain formul ...

RPM's Take on the Data Provisions of Blueprint for Reform

This article appeared in the March 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Although Blueprint doesn’t announce its new data requirements with much fanfare, these requirements seem to be its core. Almost everything else prescribed in Blueprint goes back in some way to student test scores. There will be new rating systems for schools, districts, and states (see Reward and Challenge), and, a new sys ...

RPM's Take on the Teacher and Principal Provisions of Blueprint for Reform

This article appeared in the March 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Blueprint opens its section on teachers by saying it will elevate the teaching profession. But the only provisions related to teachers are requirements that states rate teachers and principals based on the test score growth of their students. In fact, Blueprint would require states to differentiate the “effectiveness” of a ...

RPM's Take on the Reward/Challenge Provisions of Blueprint for Reform

This article appeared in the March 2010 Rural Policy Matters. REWARD schools, districts, states. Blueprint proposes rewarding schools, districts, and states that reach their performance targets, significantly increase student performance, close achievement gaps, or turn around lowest-performing schools. States will receive funding to design innovation programs to reward high-poverty Reward schools and d ...

RPM's Take on the English Language Learner (ELL) Provisions of Blueprint for Reform

This article appeared in the March 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. States must develop and adopt statewide English language proficiency standards for ELL students, aligned so that they reflect the academic language necessary to master the state’s college and career ready content standards. ...

RPM's Take on Rural Language in Blueprint for Reform

This article appeared in the March 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Blueprint will continue to make formula grants for rural school districts through the Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP) in both the SRSA and RLIS categories. In addition, RLIS districts will get the same teacher quality flexibility that SRSA districts have had. RLIS districts are larger and generally poorer and more racially diverse ...

Rhode Island Funding Formula Proposed

This article appeared in the March 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. As predicted, a new funding formula has been developed in Rhode Island, the only state operating its school finance system without one. The old formula expired 15 years ago, and the state has struggled with methods for funding s ...

Consolidation Plans Being Pushed in Kansas

This article appeared in the March 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Last month a Kansas Legislative Post Audit report encouraged additional school district consolidation in the state, and lawmakers have quickly responded with legislation. One bill introduced would have financially penalized small ...

Colorado School Funding Lawsuit Moving Ahead

This article appeared in the March 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Additional plaintiffs have joined Colorado’s Lobato school funding lawsuit, which claims that the current school finance system is unconstitutional under the state’s “thorough and efficient” standard ...

South Dakota Funding Fight Update

This article appeared in the March 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. In a step that brings the school finance lawsuit closer to hearing before the South Dakota Supreme Court, plaintiff districts’ attorneys have filed their appeal brief. The state’s attorneys have 85 days to respond. P ...

Wisconsin Rural Schools Banking on Local Voters

This article appeared in the March 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. The fate of many rural school in Wisconsin rests on referenda scheduled for early April as districts struggle to cope with declining enrollments, falling state aide, healthcare costs, and revenue caps. Districts in the state must ...

Washington Districts Will Look Locally to Meet Funding Gap

This article appeared in the March 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. A controversial proposal reported in February RSFN (See http://www.ruraledu.org/articles.php?id=2414) has passed the Washington legislature and many education advocates in ...

Zero Tolerance Reform Bill Advances in Georgia

This article appeared in the March 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. As reported in January RSFN, Georgia legislators are taking steps to limit the use of zero tolerance policies by school officials against students in the state. A bill th ...

Restraint and Seclusion Bill Passes U.S. House

This article appeared in the March 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. A bill that would strictly limit the use of physical restraints or locked seclusion of students has passed the U.S. House of Representatives and is headed for the Senate. HR 4247, also known as the Keeping All Students Safe ...

Mississippi Department of Education, Percent Student Poverty Rate (2006) and School District Accountability Status (2009-2010)

This article appeared in the March 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Click here for larger image (PDF) ...

Indian Education Policies in Five States

This article appeared in the March 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Enrollment of American Indian/Native Alaskan students in the U.S. in 2007–08 ranged from 0.11% of students in West Virginia to almost 24% of students in Alaska, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NC ...

Meet the April 1st i3 "Intent to Apply" Deadline!

This article appeared in the March 2010 Rural Policy Matters. The Investing in Innovation (i3) Grant was established under section 14007 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) and provides funding to support local educational agencies (LEAs) and nonprofit organizations in partnership with one or more LEAs or a consortium of schools. April 1, 2010 is the deadline to send an email stat ...

Join the Formula Fairness Campaign

Become a Co-Sponsor and Help End Discrimination Against Disadvantaged Rural Students in the Title I Funding Formula Sign a Petition to Education Leadership in Congress and the Obama Administration Go to www.formulafairness.com ...

Consolidation Fight-Back Toolkit

Are you a citizen activist facing the threat of school closure or consolidation? As you address proposed consolidation on a local or state level, your most potent weapon is good information. The documents in this Consolidation Toolkit, prepared by the policy staff of the Rural School and Community Trust, can help you educate your fellow citizens and the policymakers who have the final say in consolidation decisions. If you have questions about these documents, please send an e-mai ...

Investing in Innovation (i3): A Rural School Technical Assistance Initiative Webinar

i3 Webinar Investing in Innovation (i3): A Rural School Technical Assistance Initiative was the theme of this March 19, 2010 webinar from the Rural School and Community Trust. The presentation provided an up-to-date overview of the i3 grant program with a particular focus on why it's so important for rural schools and districts to understand what it’s all about. Dr. Doris Williams, Exec ...

Rural Schools Partnership Newsletter: March 15, 2010

www.ruralschoolspartnership.org March 15, 2010 Place-Based Education Grants Webinar Slated for Thursday, March 18th, @ 10:00 A.M. ...

i3 Grant for Appalachian School Districts

A grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) to the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) is designed to support school districts in Appalachia and/or their partners in the development of competitive i3 proposals. Register for i3 Workshops Today! Workshops and Webinars are scheduled for March 19, 24, and 30.

Register Now for Investing in Innovation Grant Webinar: March 19, 2010

Register now for the next Rural School and Community Trust webinar: Friday, March 19, 2010, at 11:00 am EDT. This no-cost presentation will provide an up-to-date overview of the i3 grant program with a particular focus on why it’s so important for rural schools and districts to understand what it’s all about. Presenter: Dr. Doris Williams, Executive Director, Rural School and Community Trust. To register for this special no-cost webi ...

Rural Policy Matters: February 2010

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New Use of Federal Education Money Brings Broadband to Rural North Carolina County

This article appeared in the February 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Students in rural Bertie County, North Carolina will be getting broadband Internet at their homes beginning next fall, thanks to an innovative new use of federal education dollars. “Schools have used their ...

A Rural Trust Guide to Title I Formulas

This article appeared in the February 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Title I is the federal program that provides funds to local school districts to improve the educational achievement of disadvantaged students. Since 2002 the formula ...

Facts and Figures About States With the Largest Number of Rural Students

This article appeared in the February 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Question: Which state enrolls the largest number of students in rural districts? Answer: North Carolina. With 677,000 students in rural districts, North Carolina enrolls more students in rural districts than any other state. Following North Carolina is Texas with 560,380 students in rural districts. Georgia (525,500), ...

Rural Trust Launches Title I Formula Fairness Campaign

This article appeared in the February 2010 Rural Policy Matters. For months the Rural Trust has been reporting on severe inequities in the Title I funding formula. Title I is the primary source of federal funding for disadvantaged students. Beginning in 2002 the formulas used to distribute money have sent more money per disadvantaged child to large districts than to poor districts. That’s just wrong. < ...

National Reports Spotlight Title I Formula Inequities

This article appeared in the February 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Two reports recently published by prominent Washington, DC think tanks reinforce what RPM readers have learned about the formula for distributing Title I funds — it discriminates against disadvantaged students in small, ...

Rural Education Advocacy Group Speaks Out on Charters

This article appeared in the February 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Save Alabama’s Small Schools (SASS) took a stand earlier this month in response to the controversial provision in the federal Race to the Top (RTT) grant program that states endorse charter schools. Alabama is one of t ...

Arkansas State Board Denies Innovative Consolidation Approach

This article appeared in the February 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. The state school board of Arkansas has denied a request by two small high-achieving school districts to merge with each other. Delight, in southwest Arkansas, and Weiner, in the northeast portion of the state had both fallen ...

Big Congrats to Arkansas's Rural Community Alliance

This article appeared in the February 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. The Rural Community Alliance (formerly Advocates for Rural and Community Education/ACRE) passed the 1,000-member mark this month. The group, which works in a variety of ways to help rural schools and communities survive and t ...

Mississippi Corporal Punishment Lawsuit

This article appeared in the February 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. A federal lawsuit filed on behalf of a Tate County high school student asks for a ban on paddling in the state, claiming the punishment is unfairly applied based on gender and race. The plaintiff student, a 16 ...

Washington Plaintiffs Victorious in School Funding Lawsuit

This article appeared in the February 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. A Washington trial judge has ruled that the state is in violation of its constitutionally mandated "paramount duty" to amply provide for the education of all children. Washington’s constitutional education cla ...

Kansas Plaintiff Districts Will Begin a New Lawsuit

This article appeared in the February 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. The Kansas Supreme Court has decided not to reopen the Montoy funding case to address severe underfunding of schools, saying that such a move is only to be used “in extraordinary circumstances” and “a ...

Ohio Districts Targeted for Consolidation by Report

This article appeared in the February 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. A recent report has recommended consolidation for at least 200 of the state’s school districts. Previous task forces and other groups have studied the issue in Ohio without resolution. The Brookings Inst ...

Rhode Island Lawsuit Filed

This article appeared in the February 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Two of the state’s poorest municipalities have filed a funding lawsuit alleging that poor children are being discriminated against because they are not receiving educational opportunities and the state is failing to provide ...

Alaska Rural School Facilities Receiving Attention by Policymakers

This article appeared in the February 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Lawmakers in Alaska could be nearing a resolution of a ten-year old facility funding case. Earlier this month, state legislators toured remote districts serving primarily Alaska Native children where crumbling schools are at doub ...

Consolidation Proposals in Vermont

This article appeared in the February 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Two companion bills have been introduced in the Vermont legislature to reduce the number of school governing units to 14–16 regional districts, each with a single superintendent and a single school board. Vermont c ...

Percentage of Public and Private School Teachers Whose Teaching Was Affected By Student Misbehavior

This article appeared in the February 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time.

Some Surprising Aspects of Successful Turnaround Schools

This article appeared in the February 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. With the implementation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), schools whose students do not make required progress on state tests enter an increasingly stringent set of consequences culminating in “re-structuring.” A r ...

Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Scholarships

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Young Scholars Program supports hundreds of high-achieving students with financial need across the United States. The Foundation is currently looking for 7th graders who value academic excellence, determination, leadership, and public service to apply for the Jack Kent Cooke Young Scholars Program. Applicants must have demonstrated financial need -- typically, a family income below $60,000. Up to 75 students will be selected across the nation in 2010. Ap ...

Find Out How the Title I Number Weighting Option Affects Your School District

This searchable database allows you to find out how much Title I money your school district (or any other) receives and how it is affected by number weighting, according to an analysis by the Congressional Research Service.

Rural Schools Partnership Newsletter: February 22, 2010

www.ruralschoolspartnership.org February 22, 2010 Place Based Education Deadline Is April 15th ... R ...

Annenberg Scholar to Attend Boston College

Lydia Ducharme, the 2009 Rural School and Community Trust recipient of the Leonore Annenberg Scholarship and a senior at Hazen Union School in Hardwick, Vermont, will attend Boston College in Fall 2010. Ducharme said that winning the Annenberg Scholarship meant that she was free to choose a school that she wanted to attend, instead of one that she needed to attend because of costs. The top-ranked student in her class, Ducharme hopes to study chemistry or mathematics ...

Fund for Teachers

Fund for Teachers enriches the personal and professional growth of teachers by recognizing and supporting them as they identify and pursue opportunities around the globe that will have the greatest impact on their practice, the academic lives of their students and on their school communities. The application d ...

Rural Policy Matters: January 2010

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Title I Formula Reverses Robin Hood

This article appeared in the January 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Small, high poverty cities like Rochester, New York, Edinburg, Texas, and Flint, Michigan, turn out to be the biggest victims — in sheer dollar amounts — of the “number weighting” scheme used in the Title I formula to boost funding levels for the very largest districts. And much of what they lose goes to low poverty suburban distri ...

West Virginia Legislative Audit: Big Schools Push Students Out

This article appeared in the January 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. A West Virginia legislative audit report has found that district size exerts greater influence over whether students graduate than other factors including socioeconomic status and academic performance. It concludes that the state ...

Fact and Figures About English Language Learners and Rural Students

This article appeared in the January 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Question: In nine states, more than 10% of rural students are English Language Learners. What are the nine states? Answer: New Mexico (33.8%), California (26.7%), Arizona (24.3%), Texas (19.0%), Nevada (17.0%), Alaska (15.1%), Florida (14.0%), Washington (12.5%), Colorado (11.1%). Read more from th ...

Commission Formed to Recommend Consolidation in Mississippi

This article appeared in the January 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, embroiled in a battle over education funding cuts (see “Education Spending…”), has formed a commission to set up standards and priorities for the State Board of Education to u ...

A Long Distance Relationship is Proposed Between Weiner and Delight:Why they want it and how they got there

This article appeared in the January 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Arkansas’ Act 60, which sets a minimum enrollment for a school district at 350, has two recent casualties looking to join forces. Delight in southwest Arkansas and Weiner in northeast Arkansas, about 200 miles apart, hav ...

A Great Leader and Friend Passes Away

This article appeared in the January 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Calvin Morris passed away January 14, 2010 at the age of 55 after a short illness. He was the Vice President of South Carolina Rural Education Grassroots Group. He hosted the Rural Education Working Group (REWG) conference in Charleston in 2007 a ...

Rural Education Featured in Work of Civil Rights Award Winner

This article appeared in the January 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Bud Ferillo, creator of the documentary film “Corridor of Shame: The Neglect of South Carolina’s Rural Schools,” is this year’s winner of the 25th annual Harvey Gantt Triumph Award. The award, sponsored by ...

South Carolina Begins Addressing Expected Teacher Shortage

This article appeared in the January 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Facing a potentially massive teacher shortage as many educators reach retirement age in South Carolina, the state as well as several local school districts are developing a variety of strategies to recruit and retain teachers, esp ...

Two Stimulus Programs Attempt to Push School Reform

This article appeared in the January 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. All but ten states filed applications this month for federal Race to the Top (RTTT) grants. The competitive $4.35 billion program is intended to move states toward making significant changes to their education systems and requires ...

Harsh School Discipline Practices Challenged

This article appeared in the January 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Zero tolerance and other harsh school discipline practices are getting a second look in two states. Policies that impose stringent punishments without consideration of circumstances are coming under increased scrutiny nationally.< ...

Kansas Districts Will Go Back to Court

This article appeared in the January 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. The school district coalition, Schools for Fair Funding, has decided to ask the Kansas Supreme Court to reopen the Montoy school funding lawsuit. The coalition represents more than 140,000 students and is comprised of some ...

Plans for Implementing New Funding System in Ohio

This article appeared in the January 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. The Ohio School Funding Advisory Council has begun meeting to make recommendations for schools on various aspects of the new funding system, enacted last year (see http://www. ...

Percent Public School Districts Offering Distance Learning Opportunities, By Locale and Grade Level

This article appeared in the January 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. (click graph for lar ...

Teaching Performance Assessments: A Discussion of Review of Teaching Performance Assessments for Use in Human Capital Management

This article appeared in the January 2010 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. The vexing question of how and why to assess teacher performance has always been of concern to school administrators, parents, and policymakers. But there has been little agreement over how to determine fairly and accurately how wel ...

REWG Conference Cancelled for 2010

In light of the Rural Trust's current limited financial resources, we regret to announce that the Rural Education Working Group annual gathering will not be held in 2010. The Rural Trust staff will deeply miss spending time in person with such a wonderful group, sharing experiences and ideas, and learning about your great work. Our hope is to resume this important meeting in the future. The best way to stay in touch is through Rural Policy Matters and we hope you will maintain your ...

Rural Schools Partnership Newsletter: January 25, 2010

www.ruralschoolspartnership.org January 25, 2010 Regional Arts Event Offered on February 27th

Rural Schools Partnership Newsletter: January 18, 2010

www.ruralschoolspartnership.org January 18, 2010 Bradleyville School Foundation Receives $10,000 Mat ...

Rural Schools Partnership Newsletter: January 11, 2010

www.ruralschoolspartnership.org January 11, 2010 Congratulations in Order!

Rural Schools Partnership Newsletter: January 4, 2010

www.ruralschoolspartnership.org January 4, 2010 New Funds Established & ...

Rural Policy Matters: December 2009

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Race to Top Revisions Slightly Better for Rural Schools

This article appeared in the December 2009 Rural Policy Matters. New guidelines for Race to the Top grants were issued by the U.S. Department of Education in November and are somewhat better for rural schools than were the proposed priorities for the program published in July. The new guidelines respond to public comments about the original priorities. Race to the Top (RTTT) is a port ...

Fact and Figures About Rural Schools in Non-Rural School Districts

This article appeared in the December 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Question: What percentage of students attend a school that is designated as rural (the school is located in a rural community) but the district is NOT designated rural? Answer: 31%. A rural district is classified by the National Center for Education Statistics as one in which the number ...

Large Very Low Poverty Districts Benefit in Title I Formula at Expense of High Poverty Districts Large and Small

This article appeared in the December 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Imagine a formula for distributing public funds to schools that is supposed to send more money to schools with “high concentrations” of students living in poverty, but actually on average reduces funding to the highest poverty districts and increases it for all others, especially the very largest districts with the lowest p ...

Race to the Top Criteria: The RPM Analysis

This article appeared in the December 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Race to the Top (RTTT) grants will be made to states to implement specific education reforms spelled out in the following criteria. Each criterion is weighted to reveal its relative value to the overall proposal. The following chart identifies the six categories and 19 criteria on which RTTT grant decisions will be made. The ...

Here and There Across the Rural U.S.

This article appeared in the December 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Note: Links are active when posted but may expire over time and may require registration. Teacher Salary Gap Getting Wider in Arkansas As in almost every state, some teachers in Arkansas make considerably more than others with similar experience and responsibility. And, as in most states it is teachers in rura ...

Nebraska Cuts Likely to Hit Rural Districts Harder

This article appeared in the December 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Nebraska Cuts Likely to Hit Rural Districts Harder In Nebraska, budget shortfalls will likely fall ...

Adequacy Lawsuit File in Florida

This article appeared in the December 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. A new adequacy funding lawsuit has been filed in Florida on behalf of eight plaintiff students. In Citizens for Strong Schools v. Florida State Bd. of Educ., lawyers for the students along with two nonprofit organiz ...

Map of States With Especially High Numbers of Rural Students

This article appeared in the December 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Eleven states have especially high numbers of rural students. Together these students represent much of the rural diversity characteristic of the nation as a whole: areas of extreme poverty, racial/ethnic diversity, a variety of economic bases, and a range of school and district configurations. Conditions in rural schools in these states, ...

Rural Low-Graduation Rate Districts Are High-Poverty, High-Minority

This article appeared in the December 2009 Rural Policy Matters. High-poverty rural districts with the lowest graduation rates tend to serve high-minority student populations. A soon-to-be-released report by the Rural School and Community Trust investigates high school graduation rates among high poverty rural districts in fifteen southeastern and southwestern states. On average, low grad ...

Helping Students Prepare for College

This article appeared in the December 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Schools serving large numbers or percentages of students living in poverty and/or students whose families did not attend college face many challenges in helping their students consider, plan for, and make a successful transition to two or four-year college. Students in these schools generally have fewer resources and connections to inform their deci ...

Northern State University Seeking Dean School of Education

South Dakota's Northern State University has posted an employment opportunity for Dean, School of Education. The successful candidate will possess: (1) an earned doctorate in education or a related field with K-12 experience; (2) a record of outstanding teaching and research; (3) at least two years of successful administrative experience with budget and personnel responsibility as a dean, associate dean, chair, or K-12 senior administrator; (4) a thorough understanding of th ...

Rural Schools Partnership Newsletter: December 14, 2009

www.ruralschoolspartnership.org December 14, 2009 Congratulations to Cooper Phase II Participants

Why Rural Matters 2009: An Interview with Co-Author and Researcher Jerry Johnson

This article appeared in the November 2009 Rural Policy Matters. RPM: You’ve been lead research on the last three editions of Why Rural Matters, what stands out to you in this year’s findings? Jerry Johnson: Regardless of what it is — whether it’s funding for schools or school and district size, or teacher ...

Rural Schools Partnership Newsletter: December 7, 2009

www.ruralschoolspartnership.org December 7, 2009 Student-Led Projects Receive Funding

Rural Policy Matters: November 2009

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Formula Fairness Campaign

This article appeared in the November 2009 Rural Policy Matters. It’s Accountability Time As the Obama Administration and Congress begin considering the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind, it’s time to hold them accountable for a formula that distributes federal funds for the education of disadvantaged students under Title I of ...

Rural Schools Partnership Newsletter: November 30, 2009

www.ruralschoolspartnership.org November 30, 2009 Cooper Challenge Grant Deadline Is December 1st

Why Rural Matters 2009: State and Regional Challenges and Opportunities

This article appeared in the November 2009 Rural Policy Matters. More than 10 million students attend rural schools in the United States, a number that is growing, according to Why Rural Matters 2009 (WRM), the newly-released biennial report from the Rural Trust on the condition of rural education in all 50 states. < ...

From the "Believe It Or Not" Basket:The Cost of Being Small and Poor, the Charm of Being Big and Rich

This article appeared in the November 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Almost 800 of the 900 rural districts with the highest rates of student poverty actually lose federal funding intended to address the educational needs of disadvantaged students due to a provision in the formula that discriminates against small school districts. In 2008-09, this provision cost these “Rura ...

Map of the 900 Poorest Rural Districts

This article appeared in the November 2009 Rural Policy Matters. See

Maine Consolidation Repeal Effort Goes Down to Defeat

This article appeared in the November 2009 Rural Policy Matters. “We are disappointed that we did not have $300,000 to tell our side of the story on radio and TV,” said Skip Greenlaw, chairman of Maine Coalition to Save Schools (MCSS), in a news release following a November vote to leave in place a state law that forces smaller school districts to consolidate. &nbs ...

Rural Education Finance Center Director Amanda Adler Published in Award-Winning Book

This article appeared in the November 2009 Rural Policy Matters. USA Book News recently announced its National Best Books Awards and A Quality Education for Every Child: Stories from the Lawyers on the Front Line was named a finalist in the category Education: Academic. Amanda Adler, Director of the Rural Education Finance Center and author of the Rural Education Finance News secti ...

Colorado Court Says Case Can Move Forward

This article appeared in the November 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. In a positive step for rural and poor students in the state, the Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that the Lobato school finance adequacy case can be heard in a district ...

Mississippi Eyes District Consolidation

This article appeared in the November 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. A school improvement task force in Mississippi is forming a subcommittee to examine school district consolidation as a means for reducing education costs in the state in light ...

Idaho Looking for Ways to Cut Spending

This article appeared in the November 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. State leaders in Idaho are searching for ways to deal with a statewide budget shortfall of $151 million and still meet the needs of schools. Despite stimulus funding and &ldquo ...

Kansas Faces Multiple School Funding Issues

This article appeared in the November 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Kansas is facing additional state cuts in education and some legislators are considering consolidation as a cost-saving measure. A former state education commissioner has warne ...

Washington Funding Ruling Overturned

This article appeared in the November 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. The Washington Supreme Court has overturned a ruling for one of the largest urban districts in the state, Federal Way. That equity case, supported by a number of small rural di ...

Percent Children Receiving Pre-School Services in a Public Elementary School, 2005-06

This article appeared in the November 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Source: Pre-Elementary Education Longitudinal Study (PEELS), Wave 3 (2005-06) ...

Achievement Gap Study Offers More Data for Understanding How Schools and Policymakers Can Respond

This article appeared in the November 2009 Rural Policy Matters. In the previous two issues of RPM-PX, we have looked at recent reports on the achievement gap. Lost Opportunity: A 50 State Report on the Opportunity to Learn in America demonstrated that low-income students and students of color have many fewer in-school opportunities and resources than their more affluent and ...

Fact and Figures About Student Enrollment in Rural School Districts

This article appeared in the November 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Question: Which five states have the highest percentage of students enrolled in rural school districts? Answer: Maine (54%), Vermont (53%), South Dakota (51.3%), North Carolina (47.8%), and Mississippi (47.1%). Alabama is a close sixth with 41.4% of public school students attendin ...

Education Week Reports on Why Rural Matters 2009

Education Week features Why Rural Matters 2009 in this October 28, 2009 article. In "Study Urges Regional Focus on Rural Schools," Education Week's Michelle R. Davis talks with Jerry D. Johnson ...

Rural Schools Partnership Newsletter: November 23, 2009

www.ruralschoolspartnership.org November 23, 2009 Cooper Challenge Grant Deadline Is December 1st

Rural Schools Partnership Newsletter: November 16, 2009

www.ruralschoolspartnership.org November 16, 2009 Today Is the Deadline!

Rural School and Community Trust Capitol Hill Briefing

Why Rural Matters 2009: State and Regional Challenges and Opportunities Monday, November 16, 2009, 3:00-4:00pm EST, the Rural School and Community Trust will present a Capitol Hill briefing to discuss findings from its recent research report Why Rural Matters 2009. This biennial analysis is based on 25 statistical indicators regarding the current state of rural education, ad ...

Rural Schools Partnership Newsletter: November 9, 2009

www.ruralschoolspartnership.org November 9, 2009 Please Note Grant Deadline Is Approaching!

Rural Schools Partnership Newsletter: November 2, 2009

www.ruralschoolspartnership.org November 2, 2009 Please Note Grant Deadline Is Approaching! Apply No ...

Why Rural Matters 2009: State and Regional Challenges and Opportunities

By Jerry Johnson, Policy Research and Analysis Manager and Marty Strange, Policy Director

Rural Policy Matters: October 2009

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Same Old Consolidation Claims at Issue in Maine Vote

This article appeared in the October 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Voters in Maine will decide next month whether to repeal the state law that forces many school districts to consolidate. At stake are common issues that plague consolidation mandates in other parts of the country, including whether or not consolidation actually saves money, who loses ...

Title I Inequities in Plain Language

This article appeared in the October 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Anthony Clark, a member of the North Carolina Rural Education Working Group, recently asked Secretary of Education Arne Duncan a tough question during his Rural Tour stop in Richmond County, North Carolina. Why, Mr. Clark wanted to know, did the small, rural Richmond County School District with a 32% poverty rate ...

New NSBA Publication May Help Rural Districts with Growing ELL Populations

This article appeared in the October 2009 Rural Policy Matters. The National School Board Association, in a joint effort with the National Education Association and other school law organizations, has released a guide for schools on serving their English Language Learners, specifically students who may lack proper immigration documentation.

Charter School Funding Suits

This article appeared in the October 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. North Carolina Charter Schools Bring Funding Lawsuit: A coalition representing seven charter schools and 50 students has sued the state and other defen ...

New Mexico Districts Contemplating Lawsuit

This article appeared in the October 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. School districts across New Mexico are considering a lawsuit that could force a change to the state's public school funding formula, resulting in more money for educ ...

Kansas School Funding Coalition Reorganizing

This article appeared in the October 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. The coalition of school districts that brought the Montoy school funding suit in Kansas wants to reopen the lawsuit in an attempt to stop continued decreases in s ...

Oklahoma Funding Battle Heating Up

This article appeared in the October 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. The battle over school funding in Oklahoma is heating up. After the State Supreme Court threw out a school finance lawsuit in 2007, public school advocates and the Oklah ...

New Georgia Funding Organization Speaks Out

This article appeared in the October 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. The new coalition working for school finance reform in Georgia has issued a comprehensive report, "

Total Number of Regular Public Schools in the United States, 2006-07

This article appeared in the October 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Source: National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data, Public Elementary and Secondary School Univer ...

The Achievement Gap: Further Exploration of Factors That Undermine Achievement

This article appeared in the October 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Last month RPM-PX looked at a Schott Foundation report examining some of the causes of the achievement gap, the difference on average in academic outcomes between White students and students of color and between students in poverty and middle/upper income students. That report ...

Fact and Figures About Rural Schools in the United States

This article appeared in the October 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Question: What percentage of schools in the U.S. are rural? Answer: 32.3% (Why Rural Matters, 2009, Sneak Preview). Read more from the October 2009 Rural Policy Matters. ...

RSIN Webinar: Why Rural Matters 2009

The October 28, 2009 Rural School and Community Trust webinar, Why Rural Matters 2009, built on our June 2009 preview and highlighted results of the 2009 report, presenting all-new data essential for rural schools. RSIN Members:

Registration Closed: October 2009 RSIN Webinar: Why Rural Matters 2009

Registration is closed for the October 28, 2009, Rural School and Community Trust webinar Why Rural Matters 2009. RSIN members can view the PowerPoint presentation that accompanied this event in the RSIN Members Section.

Rural Schools Partnership Newsletter: October 26, 2009

www.ruralschoolspartnership.org October 26, 2009 Webinar for RSP Rural Schools Innovation Network Co ...

Rural Schools Partnership Newsletter: October 19, 2009

www.ruralschoolspartnership.org October 19, 2009 Rural School Innovation Network Pilot Members Selected

Rural Schools Partnership Newsletter: October 12, 2009

www.ruralschoolspartnership.org October 12, 2009 The Purpose of This Newsletter

Rural Schools Partnership Newsletter: October 5, 2009

www.ruralschoolspartnership.org October 5, 2009 The Purpose of This Newsletter

The RSIN Blog

Welcome to the Rural School Innovation Network blog. Add your comments below. ...

About the Rural Trust's Capacity Building Program

The Rural School and Community Trust's Capacity Building staff help build the capacity of grassroots leaders and community-based organizations to engage in local school reform in vulnerable rural communities, create strong out-of-school supports for student learning, and establish a network of rural activists who will develop and advocate for policies and practices to improve education for students. The goal is to build community-based infrastructures and prog ...

Rural Policy Matters: September 2009

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Rural North Carolinians Raise Essential Issues with Secretary Duncan

This article appeared in the September 2009 Rural Policy Matters. When U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was in Hamlet, North Carolina last month, members of North Carolina Rural Education Working Group were there, too. They put some tough questions to the secretary and got some specific responses. “I spoke about the unfair treatment related to ...

Why Rural Matters 2009: Sneak Preview

This article appeared in the September 2009 Rural Policy Matters. An exploration of diversity in the nation’s rural schools is a hallmark of the soon-to-be-released Why Rural Matters 2009, the Rural Trust’s signature biennial report on rural education. The report analyzes data on rural schools from a variety of sources and pe ...

Race to Where?

This article appeared in the September 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Commentary by Rural Trust Policy Director Marty Strange There is a lot of pining these days for compromise and consensus instead of ugly partisan divides. But deals made when two philosophies collide can simply mean that both sides have lost their senses. The more extreme the competing ide ...

Bus Rides at Issue in Arkansas Legal Appeal

This article appeared in the September 2009 Rural Policy Matters. How long students may ride a school bus is at the heart of an appeal filed in the Arkansas Supreme Court. Several students of the Fourche Valley Elementary and High schools, along with their parents, will ask the high court to void decisions by State Board of Education and a lower court of to ...

New Name, Expanded Mission for Arkansas's ACRE

Arkansas’s ACRE is branching into new work and has taken a new name that reflects its development This article appeared in the September 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Rural Community Alliance is the new name for an organization that has proven its capacity to organize rural residents for the purpose of improving educational opportunities. I ...

Missouri Court Says Education Not a Fundamental Right

This article appeared in the September 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. This month, the Missouri Supreme Court ended a four-year-long school finance lawsuit, Committee for Educational Equity (CEE) v. State, by ruling that education is not ...

Kansas May Take Up School Consolidation

This article appeared in the September 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. School consolidation may be on the agenda in the next Kansas legislative session. The Republican-led House Appropriations committee has been working during the interim betwee ...

Ratio of Dollars Spent on Instruction for Every One Dollar Spent on Transportation

This article appeared in the September 2009 Rural Policy Matters.

Understanding and Addressing the Achievement Gap

This article appeared in the September 2009 Rural Policy Matters. It is time to implement accountability standards that guarantee that all students have the educational resources that provide them a fair and substantive opportunity to learn and to achieve strong and equivalent educational outcomes, charges a recent report from the

Fact and Figures About U.S. Students Attending Schools in Rural Communities

This article appeared in the September 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Question: What percentage of U.S. students attends schools located in rural communities? Answer: 19.4% (Why Rural Matters 2009, Sneak Preview) Read more from the September 2009 Rural Po ...

Rural Schools Partnership Newsletter: September 15, 2009

www.ruralschoolspartnership.org September 15, 2009 The Purpose of This Newsletter

Rural School and Community Trust Policy Strategy

Focus on Rural Mission We promote: political, professional, policy, and public environments that will enable rural schools to survive and thrive a powerful and sustainable rural school reform movement that actively engages and involves families, communities and the public, as well as education professionals.

Links to Other Rural Education Resources

The following websites are good sources of information with regard to rural schools and school districts. Center for Rural Affairs The Center for Rural Affairs works to establish strong rural communities, social and economic justice, environmental stewardship, and genuine opportunity for all while engaging people in decisio ...

Rural Trust Awarded Learn and Serve Grant; Will Create Youth Network in 7 Rural Communities

The Rural School and Community Trust has been awarded a Learn and Serve America Community-Based grant by the Corporation for National and Community Service, a 3-year award valued at up to $580,000. For 13 years, the Rural T ...

North Carolina Voices: Radio Series Addresses Rural Education Issues

WUNC Reporter Dave DeWitt visits Warren County to bring listeners the latest edition of the award-winning North Carolina Voices series. He tells the stories of students with big dreams — and even bigger challenges; teachers who take less money to try to make a dent in the achievement gap; and the innovative efforts underway that are showing promise. Nearly half of the students in North Carolina attend rural schools — only one state in the country has more. For dec ...

Rural Schools Partnership Launched

...

Rural Policy Matters: August 2009

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High-Poverty Rural, Small Town Districts Concentrated in Distinct Regions

This article appeared in the August 2009 Rural Policy Matters. More than 13 million children and adolescents attend school in rural communities and isolated towns. Of these, over nine million go to school in rural communities with fewer than 2,500 people. Another 4.2 million more go to school in towns so small and so remote from urbanized areas that anyone from one of our nation’s ...

Groups Address School Pushout Crisis

This article appeared in the August 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Across the country community groups and others concerned about young people have begun to push back against the growing trend for schools to use severe and punitive discipline in response to non-violent student misbehavior. It is even possible to use federal stimulus funding for a program to imp ...

Fact and Figures About Parent Involvement in Children's Homework

This article appeared in the August 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Question: In what locales are parents most likely to check their children’s homework? Answer: Rural parents are mostly likely to check their children’s homework in elementary school (96.3%), followed by parents in urban, town, and suburban settings. At the high school l ...

Identifying the Poorest Rural Schools

This article appeared in the August 2009 Rural Policy Matters. The Rural Trust has identified the 10% of rural and distant/remote small town schools that have the highest percentage of student poverty. These districts serve almost 1.3 million students and have poverty rates higher than many high-poverty urban districts. Yet poor rural districts and their students are generally ignored an ...

Getting Real About Rural Schools

This article appeared in the August 2009 Rural Policy Matters. The Rural Trust has recently identified the poorest rural and remote small town school districts. We have also conducted extensive analysis of the impact of changes to Title I formulas and demonstrated that federal funding has been systematically reallocated from high-poverty small and medium sized districts, inclu ...

Ohio Gets New School Finance System

This article appeared in the August 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. The Ohio Legislature has passed a two-year budget bill containing most elements of Governor Ted Strickland’s evidence-based school funding reform plan. The funding appro ...

Rural South Dakota Schools Win Major Victory

This article appeared in the August 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. A coalition of primarily rural school districts suing the state over its funding system has won a major victory in the South Dakota Supreme Court. Last month, the Court held tha ...

Percentage of Public School Students Whose Parents Check That Homework Is Done

This article appeared in the August 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Source: U.S. Department of ...

Rural Students Less Likely to Aspire to or Attend College

This article appeared in the August 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Rural students are less likely to aspire to college as an educational goal than their counterparts in urban and suburban places. They are also less likely to attend. The reasons are myriad. Rural students tend to live in families with lower incomes. They are less likely to have parent ...

New Leadership at the Rural School and Community Trust

Doris Terry Williams, Ed.D., Director of Capacity Building and a veteran staff member of the Rural School and Community Trust, became the organization’s Executive Director following the retirement of Rachel B. Tompkins, Ed.D., who served as president for more than a decade and will retain the title of Senior Fellow. In lieu of hiring a new president, the Board of Trustees approved establishment of the Leadership Council, which will be chaired by Dr. Williams. The C ...

Rural Policy Matters: July 2009

Facts and Figures About Education Funding for Rural Districts: States With Least Inequality

Searching for Hamlet: To be or not to be for rural education

White House Meeting on Rural Education Identifies Important Topics

Rural Parents in Arkansas Sue Over Consolidation

Indiana Funding Declining and Unlikely to Improve

Georgia Cutting Funding for Low Wealth Districts

Cuts and Consolidation on Table in Pennsylvania Budget

Recommendations on Changes to NCLB

9th Annual Quality Education Conference

Special Education Ruling

ELL Funding in Arizona

Medicaid Rural Change

Washington State Enacts Reforms During Recession

Percentage of Rural People Aged 5 and Older Who Speak English "Less Than Very Well"

Teacher and Administrator Knowledge and Attitudes about the Dropout Problem

Voices from the Fisheries Handbook

Preserving Local Fisheries Knowledge, Linking Generations, and Improving Environmental Literacy Voices From the Fisheries Handbook is an oral history handbook written for teachers as well as marine-oriented and other community organizations. The handbook includes information of how to d ...

Rural Policy Matters: June 2009

Rural North Carolinians Get Involved in State Budget Process

This article appeared in the June 2009 Rural Policy Matters. The North Carolina Rural Education Working Group (NC REWG) wants state budget cuts to be made in ways that will do the least harm to students in the most challenging rural settings. “Unless rural people develop a voice to address their issues and concerns they will be left out of the discussion and ...

Deep Cuts Go Deepest in Poorest Rural Places

This article appeared in the June 2009 Rural Policy Matters. When states slash education budgets — as most states are now doing — it’s low-wealth rural districts that often take the biggest hits, even though they are usually the districts with the lowest levels of per-pupil spending to begin with. The primary culprit in this double ineq ...

Search for Resources by State

Click on the map below to see a listing of resources by individual state.

Facts and Figures About State Education Funding Inequality for Rural Districts

This article appeared in the June 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Question: Which five states have the greatest inequality in per pupil school funding among rural districts? Answer: Arizona, Idaho, Massachusetts, Nebraska, and Ohio have the most inequality in combined state and local revenue per pupil among rural districts (

Rural South Carolina Middle School Gets Donation of Furniture

This article appeared in the June 2009 Rural Policy Matters. J.V. Martin Middle School has a received a quarter-million dollars of school furniture donated by Sagus International, a school furniture supplier. Community volunteers and Sagus employees installed the furniture and painted the building’s interior. The rural South Carolina school s ...

Percentage of Schools Reporting That Student Acts of Disrespect for Teachers (Other Than Verbal Abuse) Happen at Least Once a Week, SY 2007–08

This article appeared in the June 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Source: Neiman, S., and DeVoe, J.F. (2009). Crime, Violence, Discipline, and Safety in U.S. Public Schools: Findings From the School Survey on Crime and Safety: 2007–08 (NCES 2009-326). Nati ...

Helping Middle Grade Students Stay — Or Get — On Track for Graduation

This RPM Premium Exclusives article appeared in the June 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Sixth graders who failed math or English/reading, or attended school less than 80% of the time, or received an unsatisfactory behavior grade in a core course had only a 10%–20% chance of graduating on time, according to a recently released study of middle school students in Philadelphia. A Denver study found ...

Rural Trust Capacity Building News

New! Voices from the Fisheries Handbook is an oral history handbook written for teachers as well as marine-oriented and other community organizations. The handbook includes information of how to develop projects and conduct oral his ...

The Leonore Annenberg Scholarship Fund 2009 Recipient

Lydia Ducharme, a rising senior at Hazen Union School in Hardwick, Vermont has been named the 2009 Rural School and Community Trust recipient of the Leonore Annenberg Scholarship. Lydia is an exceptional student with a host of accomplishments inside and outside the classroom and sees "learning as a big part of her life." She is currently ...

The Leonore Annenberg School Fund

Two rural South Carolina elementary schools working with the Rural School and Community Trust have won grants of $100,000 each to develop and implement math programs for their pre-k through 5th grade students. Summerton Early Childhood Center and St. Paul Elementary School — both in Summerton, SC — will receive funding to support the schools’ purchase of computer-based, hands-on math programs and other project needs. The purpose of the School Fund is to provide educa ...

Rural Education Finance Center

The Rural Education Finance Center works on all levels to improve educational opportunity for rural children by reducing inequities in state school finance systems, strengthening the fiscal practices of rural schools, and insuring the adequacy of funding to rural schools. We do this by: Leading the national effort to assure high quality education for every rural student in a good school, close to home. Working with grassroots ...

What is the Targeted Reading Intervention?

Through a partnership with the National Research Center for Rural Education Support, located at the University of North Carolina, the Rural Trust can offer evidence-based reading strategies delivered by the classroom teacher, called the Targeted Reading Intervention (TRI). These diagnostically based strategies have proven to significantly improve early reading in struggling and non-struggling readers in rural schools.

South Carolina Court Orders Gov. Sanford to Let His People Go

Editorial, Marty Strange, Policy Director, Rural School and Community Trust The South Carolina Supreme Court has ordered Governor Mark Sanford to apply for federal stimulus money Sanford had insisted on not accepting because the federal government required it be used to help offset state budget cuts affecting schools and other public services. Sanford wanted to accept the money but use it to reduce the state’s debt ...

RSIN Webinar: "Why Rural Matters 2009," June 3, 2009

Why Rural Matters 2009 was the theme of the June 2009 Rural School Innovation Network webinar. The conference call and slide presentation featured a preview of Why Rural Matters 2009, to be released in Fall 2009. The fifth report in this series, Why Rural Matters 2009 analyzes the importance of rural education in each of the 50 states and calls attention to the urgency with which policymakers address the challenges of rural education.

Registration Closed: RSIN Webinar: "Why Rural Matters 2009," June 3, 2009

Register now for the next Rural School and Community Trust webinar: Wednesday, June 3, 2009, at 2:00 pm EDT. The conference call and slide presentation will feature a preview of Why Rural Matters 2009. The fifth report in this series, Why Rural Matters 2009 analyzes the importance of rural education in each of the 50 states and calls attention to the urgency with which policymakers address the challenges of ...

Rural Policy Matters: May 2009

Creating Testing (And Other Performance) Environments that Can Help Students Beat Negative Expectations in High-Stakes Events

This RPM Premium Exclusives article appeared in the May 2009 Rural Policy Matters. When people are asked to perform a task in an environment that they perceive expects them to perform relatively poorly, most people will, in fact, perform more poorly than when immediate environmental influences communicate positive expectations. Two studies just released demonstrate this relationship. A ...

Healthy Rural Schools, Healthy Rural Communities: 2009 REWG Brings Rural Education Activists Together

This article appeared in the May 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Don't miss additional REWG coverage ♦ REWG Photo Gallery ...

Participate in Survey on School Siting

This article appeared in the May 2009 Rural Policy Matters. The Institute of Transportation Engineers is sponsoring the development of an informational report regarding the selection and design of school sites for the purpose of safe and efficient transportation. Please assist in this effort by clinking on the link below and completing the survey no later than June 1, 2009. This survey shoul ...

College Offers New Major in Rural Studies

This article appeared in the May 2009 Rural Policy Matters. One of the purposes of the new Bachelors in Rural Studies degree at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC) is to build more opportunities for rural students to return to their home communities after earning a degree, according to College officials. “Our students are predominantly from rural areas,” says Ni ...

Rural-Urban Funding Gap Grows in Nebraska

This article appeared in the May 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. State funding formula changes in Nebraska will reduce state aid to rural districts while urban districts will see increases in the coming year. Most rural districts have already experie ...

Wisconsin Considers Funding Changes for Rural Schools

This article appeared in the May 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Two Wisconsin state legislators have introduced a bill intended to help rural districts facing serious financial challenges. The Rural Schools Initiative would cushion the financial impact for districts with rap ...

Missouri Arguments Heard

This article appeared in the May 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. The Missouri Supreme Court heard arguments earlier this month in the Committee for Excellence in Education school funding lawsuit. Plaintiff school districts are appealing a 2007 decision upholding the st ...

Ohio Funding Reform Faces Opposition

This article appeared in the May 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Governor Ted Strickland’s school funding reform plan passed the state House but faces serious opposition in the Senate. Strickland, who campaigned on the issue of school finance reform, unveiled his plan e ...

Teacher Turnover, 2003-04 to 2004-05 School Years

This article appeared in the May 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), Characteristics of Stayers, Movers, and Leavers: Results ...

Facts and Figures About State Education Funding for Rural Districts

This article appeared in the May 2009 Rural Policy Matters. QUESTION: On average, what percentage of state education funds go to rural districts? ANSWER: 18.4%. Among U.S. students, 21.4% attend schools located in rural places, and 28.6% of all U.S. public schools are located in rural communities. (Why Rural Matters< ...

Guide to Session Materials: Rural Education Working Group 2009

Download selected handouts and PowerPoint presentations from REWG-2009 workshops. All documents are available as PDFs. Note: Some workshops were discussion or activity-based and do not have downloadable materials. Click here ...

REWG 2009 Photo Gallery

Session materials are available for many of the 2009 REWG workshops. You can access those materials by clicking here.

Rural Education Working Group 2009 Wrapup

Healthy Rural Schools, Healthy Rural Communities: 2009 REWG Brings Rural Education Activists Together More than 100 rural education activists from 17 states gathered in North Carolina in April for the 8th annual Rural Education Working Group (REWG) national meeting.

Rural Policy Matters: April 2009

Facts and Figures About States and Rural Student Enrollment

This article appeared in the April 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Question: In how many states do rural students comprise more than 36% of total enrollment? Answer: Twelve. Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Carolina, South ...

Gross Disparity: Some Poor Pennsylvania Students Get Much More Title I Funding Than Others

This article appeared in the April 2009 Rural Policy Matters. A recent analysis of Title I funding by the Rural Trust finds that two of the four formulas that are used to provide extra funding for poor students provide much more federal funding per eligible student to some districts than to others with similar or higher poverty rates. < ...

Lack of Sleep Linked to Poorer Academic Performance, Behavior

This article appeared in the April 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Rural students with long commutes face a number of documented barriers to school success. The commute — and the long distance between home and school that necessitate the long commute — makes participation in co-curricular activities all but impossible for most students. Parents can’t participate extensively in the school becau ...

Governor Refusing Education Stimulus Funding

This article appeared in the April 2009 Rural Policy Matters. South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford is refusing to use $700 million in federal stimulus funding for schools and other state agencies to avoid budget cuts and layoffs. The funding is part of the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, a portion of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act that governors must request. Much of t ...

Arizona Court Strikes Voucher Program

This article appeared in the April 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. The Arizona Supreme Court has upheld an appellate court decision striking down two private school voucher programs as unconstitutional. The challenge to the state’s school voucher prog ...

Obama Administration Files Amicus Brief in Arizona ELL Case

This article appeared in the April 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. The politics surrounding Arizona’s long-running Flores English-Language Learner (ELL) lawsuit continue to heat up in advance of its hearing before the United States Supreme Court. T ...

South Dakota Judge Rules Funding Not Unconstitutional

This article appeared in the April 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. In a ruling that runs over 300 pages, a South Dakota judge has found that the state’s funding system needs improvement but is not unconstitutional. Judge Lori Wilbur reviewed st ...

Georgia Attorney General Rules School Group Illegal

This article appeared in the April 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. The organization that brought a school finance lawsuit in Georgia has been declared illegal by the state’s attorney general in an opinion solicited by the governor. The Consorti ...

Rural Trust Joins in Friend of the Court Brief in Missouri Lawsuit

This article appeared in the April 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. The Rural Trust, along with Missouri School Boards Association, Education Justice at the Education Law Center and the National School Board Association have filed a friend of the cour ...

Percentage of Rural School Districts with Reading Performance Above State Median, Per NCLB

This article appeared in the April 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Data source: New America Foundation, Education Policy Program, Federal Education Budget project.

Improving Adolescent Reading Will Take More Than Top-Down Technocratic Solutions

This RPM Premium Exclusives article appeared in April 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Improvement of students’ reading skills should be the top priority in middle and high schools, according to a report recently issued by the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB). The report, A Critical Mission: Making Adolescent Read ...

RSIN Webinar: Ways for Rural Schools to Invest Title I Stimulus Funds, April 29, 2009

"Innovative Ways for Rural Schools to Invest Title I Stimulus Funds" was the topic of the April 2009 Rural School Innovation Network webinar. RSIN members can click here to view a copy of the event presentation. ...

Many Children Left Behind

By Marty Strange, Jerry Johnson, and Ashton Finical

Rural Policy Matters: March 2009

Understanding and Developing Programs for English Language Learners in Rural Districts

This RPM Premium Exclusives article appeared in the March 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Across the country rural schools are experiencing a surge in the numbers of students who do not speak English as their first language. More than half of English Language Learners (ELL) are enrolled in rural schools and districts. Many of those districts have not previously taught a student who is not fluent in English. As the number ...

Give Every Child More than the Best Seat in the House (Chamber)

This article appeared in the March 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Editorial by Dr. Rachel B. Tompkins President Rural School and Community Trust February 24, 2009 Ty’Sheoma Bethea from rural Dillon, South Carolina, had the seat of honor ...

2008 Rural School and Community Trust / Fund For Teachers Grant Recipients

The Rural School and Community Trust partners with Fund for Teachers to provide grants for self-directed national and international learning opportunities to teachers at Rural Trust affiliated schools in several states. Curriculum developed by the 2008 Fund fo ...

Rural South Carolinians Help District Rethink Consolidation

This article appeared in the March 2009 Rural Policy Matters. “An agenda of consolidation and making mega-schools is a virus across the country, and there’s no exception here,” says Calvin Morris of Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina. “To rural communities, it’s a death knell.” Residents of Wadmalaw and Johns Islands were on the front ...

WKCD Speech Contest 2009: Crisis and Hope

Young people today are living through a time of economic and world crisis. But crisis also gives birth to hope and opportunity. As Graduation Day approaches, What Kids Can Do (WKCD) invites students across the country—age 12 to 19—to raise their voice and let others know what matters most to them, in this moment and in the years ahead. Stude ...

South Carolina Changes Rules to Accommodate Shortfall

This article appeared in the March 2009 Rural Policy Matters. South Carolina is one of many states struggling to find ways to deal with the financial free fall that is forcing school districts to make cuts in every area. Legislators in the state House have passed a flexibility bill that relaxes some of the state’s program requirements. If the bill passes, districts would be allowed to furlough employees, opt o ...

Wisconsin Network Proposes New Funding Plan

This article appeared in the March 2009 Rural Policy Matters. The School Finance Network, a coalition of nine education organizations, has been presenting its plan to overhaul Wisconsin’s school finance system in a series of events across the state. The state Assembly and Senate will hear the plan as well. Among the Network’s members are the School Administrator’s Alliance, the Wisconsin Associatio ...

Poorer Smaller Districts Lose Out in Stimulus

This article appeared in the March 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Some $10 billion for schools in the federal stimulus package is being distributed through formulas that provide less funding per poor student to some school districts than others. Rubbing salt in that open sore is the fact that many of the districts that get less actually need more support for students because they have higher poverty ...

Percent Schools with Formal After-School Programs*

This article appeared in the March 2009 Rural Policy Matters. *This includes Fee-based stand-alone daycare, stand-alone academic instruction/tutoring program, 21st Community Learning Center, and other types of formal stand-alone or broad-based after-sch ...

Facts and Figures About Student Enrollment by School District

This article appeared in the March 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Question: How many U.S. school districts enroll fewer than 1,000 students? Answer: Of the 13,163 local school districts in the United States in the 2006-07 school year, 5,771 enrolled fewer than 1,000 students. Of those, 764 districts enrolled fewer than 100 students. Read more f ...

In Memoriam: Leonore Annenberg (1918-2009)

On behalf of the Rural School and Community Trust family, we add our voice of condolence and heartfelt gratitude to countless others who have been enriched by the thoughtful generosity of Leonore Annenberg. In her passing, we have not only lost a dear friend, but our very existence as an organization is due to her vision, philanthropic support, and caring for rural people and places. The work we do to help rural schools and their communities get better would not have been possible without t ...

Rural Policy Matters: February 2009

Fact and Figures About School Lunches in Poor Rural School Districts What percent of students who attend school in the 800 poorest rural school districts qualify for free or reduced priced lunches? Don't Miss REWG: Rural Education Working Group National Meeting If you are a community activist, student or parent, teacher or administrator, member of an organizati ...

Arkansas Communities Forge Revitalization Process

This article appeared in the February 2009 Rural Policy Matters. “Rural schools are losing enrollment because of a lack of jobs and economic opportunity in rural communities,” says Lavina Grandon, speaking about the vexing rural challenge of declining enrollment. Grandon is Policy and Education Director of Arkansas Advocates for Rur ...

Bill to Limit School Size in New Mexico

This article appeared in the February 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Under legislation introduced in the New Mexico legislature, state funds could not be used for new construction of any school with more than 900 students and a school district could only consolidate schools if it determines “that the consolidation is in the best interest of students served by each of the schools proposed to be ...

Rural Education Working Group 2009: "Healthy Rural Schools, Healthy Rural Communities"

A National Rural Education Working Group Gathering of Rural Citizens and Educators Kanuga Conference Center Hendersonville, NC April 19-21, 2009 Sponsored by the Rural School and Community Trust You are invited to share and learn at the eighth annual Rural Education Working Group meeting of rural activis ...

Maine Consolidation Fight Twists Again

This article appeared in the February 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Maine’s forced school district consolidation process continues down its rocky road. First passed in 2007, the law required most districts to enroll at least 2,500 students. It was amended in 2008 to make it more palatable. This year, the legislature will fuss over 30 more bills introduced to amend or gut the measure. In addit ...

Education Funding in the Stimulus: An Overview

This RPM Premium Exclusives article appeared in the February 2009 Rural Policy Matters. On February 17, 2009 President Barak Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), popularly known as the economic stimulus. The law includes some $100 billion for education, about $77 billion of which will be distributed directly to sta ...

2006-07 College Enrollment Status for the 10th Grade Class of 2001-02

This article appeared in the February 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 ...

Alaska Still Denying Rural Students in Struggling Schools

This article appeared in the February 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Superior Court Judge Sharon Gleason has ruled that the state of Alaska is continuing to deny students in struggling rural schools the education they are guaranteed under the Alaska Constitution. The ruling is part of the ongoing lawsuit Moore vs. State of Alaska. Gleason found that the state sh ...

Arizona ELL Case to Go to U.S. Supreme Court

This article appeared in the February 2009 Rural Policy Matters. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the long-running Flores lawsuit on appeal from legislative leaders in Arizona and the state’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Horne. The original class action lawsuit, brought in 1992 claimed that the state was violating the Equal Educational Opportunities Act (EEOA) ...

Oregon Court Rules State Not Obligated

This article appeared in the February 2009 Rural Policy Matters. The Oregon Supreme Court has ruled against a group of families and school districts that brought a finance lawsuit against the state in 2006. The plaintiff group included representatives of small districts and districts with declining enrollment. They alleged violations of the state constitution and of “Ballot Measure 1,&rdqu ...

Arguments Heard on Whether South Dakota Districts Can Sue State

This article appeared in the February 2009 Rural Policy Matters. The South Dakota Supreme Court has heard arguments on whether school districts can districts can participate in or help finance a lawsuit against the state. These constitutional questions are related to the state’s school funding lawsuit. A written ruling is expected soon. A coalition of s ...

Encourage Teen-Driver Safety: National Grant Competition

This article appeared in the February 2009 Rural Policy Matters. *** Please share with your districts/ high school principals *** Project Ignition, sponsored by State Farm Companies Foundation and the National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC), is an annual competition for high school students to promote teen-driver safet ...

There You Go Again

This article appeared in the February 2009 Rural Policy Matters. By Lavina Grandon, Policy and Education Director, Advocates for Community and Rural Education Editor's Note: Lavina Grandon, Policy and Education Director of Arkansas’s Advocates for Community and Rural Education to an editorial, responds to an editorial entitled, “There they go again, ...

A New School Funding Formula Proposed in New Mexico

This article appeared in the February 2009 Rural Policy Matters. A new funding formula that was produced by a legislatively funded study committee and its consultants would increase overall state aid by over 15%, according to a Rural School and Community Trust analysis reported in RPM (July 2008). That report, “An Analysis o ...

Facts and Figures About School Lunches in Poor Rural School Districts

This article appeared in the February 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Question: What percent of students who attend school in the 800 poorest rural school districts qualify for free or reduced priced lunches? Answer: 72.1%. Poverty rates in these districts exceed those of most of the poorest urban school districts in the U.S.

Why Rural Matters 2007: The Realities of Rural Education Growth

By Jerry Johnson, Policy Research and Analysis Manager and Marty Strange, Policy Director ...

The Case for An Office of Rural Education Policy Research in the U.S. Department of Education

Read the proposal and email your comments to info@ruraledu.org. More than 14 million children—30% of all students—attend the 42% of public schools in rural areas or small towns. Although widely dispersed, and richly diverse in many ways, these students are largely invisible, ignored in educational research, overlooked in state and national policies, and sometimes caricatured as backward or worse. The significant strengths o ...

Pennsylvania School Funding Formula Report

Rural School and Community Trust 2008 Annual Report

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East Iberville High Gets $48,797 Grant

A State Farm Insurance youth advisory board has awarded a $48,797 grant to fund teaching of financial literacy to students at East Iberville High School in St. Gabriel, Louisiana. Brooke Cluse, a spokeswoman for State Farm, said the grant was presented at the school to the Louisiana representative of Arlington, Va.-based Rural School and Community Trust. The group will establish and oversee the year-long program. "The program will teach financial literacy and help ...

Rural Trust President Rachel Tompkins Promoting National Push for Advanced Certification for Educational Leaders

Rachel Tompkins, president of the Rural School and Community Trust, is a member of a National Board for Professional Teaching Standards’ steering committee composed of educational and business leaders overseeing a national effort to develop an advanced certification for educational leaders. This initiative will include an advanced certification for both principals and teacher leaders. NBPTS, ...

About the Rural School Innovation Network

The Rural School and Community Trust invites you to join the Rural School Innovation Network (RSIN). This new initiative is a mutual-aid network for sharing innovations that improve rural education, especially in the poorest rural communities in the United States. As an alliance of rural education and community advocates, the RSIN will collectively work to connect schools with their communities to improve the outcomes for school-aged children and young adults. Please join this new initiative and ...

An Analysis of the Impacts of the AIR Funding Formula Proposal on New Mexico School Districts

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RSIN Webinar: What Makes a Good Rural High School, Mar. 18, 2009

The March 2009 Rural School and Community Trust webinar was What Makes a Good Rural High School, held on Wednesday, March 18. The presentation and discussion was led by Margaret MacLean, Jennifer Kennison, and Doris Williams. Margaret MacLean has coached the North County Union High School in Newport, Vermont, for the past two years. During that time, the school has improved and come out of "corrective action." Margaret and the sch ...

RSIN Webinar: Learning for All Students: Meeting the Needs of English Language Learners in Rural Places, January 28, 2009

English Language Learners in Rural Places was the topic of the first Rural School Innovation Network Webinar of Winter 2009. The presentation and discussion was led by Rural Trust Board Member and Vice Chairman Francisco Guajardo, Ph.D., Department of Educational Leadership, with panelist Joy Esquierdo, Ph.D., both from the University of Texas Pan American.

Invitation to Join

The Rural School and Community Trust invites you to join the Rural School Innovation Network (RSIN). ...

School Discipline: Special Edition

This article appeared in the January 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Across the country disturbing patterns are emerging in the ways schools deal with students on disciplinary issues. This special edition of RPM takes an in-depth look at some of these issues with emphasis on how communities can get involved to ensure that all students have the best educational opportunities in school environments that are safe an ...

Rural Policy Matters: January 2009

Discipline of Students with Disabilities

This article appeared in the January 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Consider the following: As many as 70% of the youth involved in the juvenile justice system have disabilities. (National average from The National Center on Education, Disability and Juvenile Justice. www.edjj.org) Learning disabled youth are 200% more likely to be arreste ...

Disproportionate Discipline: African-American Students in U.S. Schools

This article appeared in the January 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Disparities in the discipline rates of African-American students have been well documented since they were first studied in the mid-1970s. On average, African-American students are between 2.5 and three times more likely than other students to be suspended, expelled or subjected to corporal punishment at school. This racial disparity, alth ...

Facts and Figures About Rural Students of Color

This article appeared in the January 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Question: In which 12 states did the total number of rural students of color more than double between 1995-96 and 2004-05? Answer: New Hampshire (165.8%); Iowa (154.7%); Illinois (134.9%); Missouri (120.2%); Vermont (119.0%); Pennsylvania (118.4%); Nebraska (118.1%); Maine (107.5%); Kansas (103.8%); Utah (102.8%); Oregon ( ...

Finding the Discipline Data

This article appeared in the January 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Most everyone agrees that schools should be safe and productive learning environments for all students. Ideally, communities work with schools to develop and implement disciplinary policies that create such environments and are widely believed to be transparent, appropriate, and fair. For schools and communities that are struggling with discipline issues, ...

Graph: To What Extent Are Parents Involved in School Discipline Issues?

This article appeared in the January 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Data source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 2005–06 School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), 2006. Read more from the January 2009

Help Shape the National Rural Education Policy Agenda

The Rural Trust would like your input on a set of position papers on national rural education policy that have been drafted over the past year by rural education activists from across the country. You can read and comment on any or all of the papers at www.nrepa.blogspot.com. Topics include: Student success School funding Environmental policy Community ...

Mississippi Communities Take Responsibility for School Discipline

This article appeared in the January 2009 Rural Policy Matters. "The Community is Better When the People Affected by Policy Are Helping to Make It," Betty Petty, Sunflower County, Mississippi Several years ago, parents and community residents in Indianola, Mississippi began formally working and organizing to improve their schools. As the Indianola Parent Student Group, they began an after-scho ...

Improving the Disciplinary Climate: More Options for Communities

This article appeared in the January 2009 Rural Policy Matters. A variety of approaches can be useful to communities to help improve the disciplinary climate of their schools. Get Involved and Get Organized. Learn what state and local policies apply to school discipline. Does state policy recommend or require parent or community participation or input on disciplinary or dropout committees or in other pr ...

Positive Behavior Intervention Supports: A School-Wide Approach to Improving Behavior and School Climate

This article appeared in the January 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Positive Behavior Intervention Supports (PBIS) is a method for improving the disciplinary climate of a school. It is not a new discipline technique or program. Rather it emphasizes teaching uniform behavioral expectations for all students, rewarding positive behaviors, and providing targeted intervent ...

Montana Court Denies Relief

This article appeared in the January 2009 Rural Policy Matters. RSFN-Extras is a special online feature for readers of RPM that includes additional details on school funding stories and links to information from other sources. Links are current at the time of posting, but may expire over time, and may require free registration for access. In December, District Court Judge Jeffrey Sherlock ...

The Legal Landscape of School Discipline

This article appeared in the January 2009 Rural Policy Matters. When schools discipline students, everyone involved should be aware of rights and responsibilities as governed by federal and state law and local policy. Specific approaches and legal requirements differ among states and localities, but all school discipline policies are governed by the principles discussed here. Student Rights of Due Process

The Other School Violence

This article appeared in the January 2009 Rural Policy Matters. Question: What can't be legally done in a police station, a juvenile detention center, a facility for treating drug addicts, or a religious cult compound, but is legal in public schools in 21 states? Answer: Beat a child. That's the grim reality documented with painful detail in a report on the use of corporal punishment in U ...

"Are Zero Tolerance Policies Effective in the Schools?" A Review

This RPM Premium Exclusives article appeared in the January 2009 Rural Policy Matters. "Are Zero Tolerance Policies Effective in the Schools? An Evidentiary Review and Recommendations." Russell Skiba, Cecil R. Reynolds, Sandra Graham, Peter Sheras, Jane Close Conoley, and Enedina Garcia-Vazquez. A Report to the American Psychological Association Zero Tolerance Task Force, August 9, 2006.

RSIN Membership Brochure

The Rural School Innovation Network (RSIN) is a network of schools and school districts striving for excellence in challenging circumstances. Members in this mutual self-help network share innovations that improve rural education, especially in the poorest rural communities. Managed ...

RSIN Webinar: Financing Rural Schools, December 10, 2008

Rural school finance was the topic of the second Webinar of Fall 2008. The presentation and discussion was led by the Rural Trust's Amanda Adler, Director of the Rural Education Finance Center. Click here to view the event presentation. RSIN Members can also ...

Rachel's Notes: December 4, 2008

December 4, 2008 Secretary of Education In the next few days, President-elect Obama will name his Secretary of Education. Among the many names that have been floated three seem to continue to be discussed: Arne Duncan, the Superintendent of Chicago Schools; Colin Powell, former Secretary of State; and Linda Darling-Hammond, Professor at Stanford and head of the transition team for the Education Department. All of the people mentioned and almost all of the ...

Rural Policy Matters: December 2008

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Home Grown Teachers

This appeared in the December 2008 Rural Policy Matters. An extensive locally developed and locally funded grow-your-own-teacher program is underway in North Carolina's Bertie County, the state's poorest school system in terms of local funding. This isolated rural school district in the state's northeast corner serves some 3,300 students, with a free and reduced lunch rate of 89%. Like most high-poverty school ...

Obama and the Rural Vote

This appeared in the December 2008 Rural Policy Matters. Commentary by Marty Strange, Policy Director, Rural Trust Special Note to eRPM subscribers: An advance version of this commentary appeared in the November edition of eRPM. When President-elect Barack Obama charted a pathway to the White House, he said he would “stretch th ...

Public Policy Principles for Rural Education

Conditions We Seek to Achieve Through Public Policy Conditions We Seek to Avoid Through Public Policy ...

Facts and Figures About Elected Chief State School Officers

This appeared in the December 2008 Rural Policy Matters. Question: How many states elect the Chief State School Officer (State Superintendent of Education)? Answer: Fourteen. Arizona, California, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Read more from the December 2008

Oklahoma Spending Likely to Go to Statewide Ballot

This appeared in the December 2008 Rural Policy Matters. A group hoping to raise education spending in Oklahoma to the regional average has submitted to state officials a petition with 238,000 signatures, about 100,000 more than required, to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2010. Helping Oklahoma Public Education (HOPE) led the petition drive for the measure, called State Question 744. Oklah ...

Total Title I Funding per Eligible Child, 2008-09 School Year

This appeared in the December 2008 Rural Policy Matters. Data source: U.S. Department of Education, Revised SY0809 Title I Allocation data file. Rural students receive, on average, ...

Rural PreK Challenges

This appeared in the December 2008 Rural Policy Matters. In a May 2008 policy brief, "Meeting the challenge of rural pre-K," the non-profit organization pre[k]now discusses the challenges of providing preschool access in ru ...

Arizona Court to Hear Voucher Appeal

This appeared in the December 2008 Rural Policy Matters. The Arizona Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal of a lower court's decision that struck down the state's two voucher programs as unconstitutional. The current program provide state tax voucher checks to some parents, who then sign the money over to private schools for tuition. The issue at hand is whether the money "aids" private sch ...

"Placing Teachers?"

This RPM Premium Exclusives article appeared in the December 2008 Rural Policy Matters. Rural schools have long been able to articulate some of the difficulties they face in recruiting and retaining teachers: lower salaries, relative isolation from metropolitan centers makes them less appealing to urban-based prospective teachers, they need teachers who can teach more than one subject or grade and are willing to engage i ...

Giving with One Hand, Taking Away with the Other

This article appeared in the November 2008 Rural Policy Matters. Pennsylvania recently enacted substantial changes in its school funding formula. The new formula contains a poverty adjustment that adds state aid to districts in proportion to the percentage of students eligible for federally subsidized meals. It also provides extra funding students learning English and for school size, with a net result that all districts ...

Characteristics of a Successful High-Poverty Rural School: A Review

This RPM Premium Exclusives article appeared in the November 2008 Rural Policy Matters. Why do some high-poverty rural schools succeed when so many do not? What are the qualitative characteristics of those schools and how can they be promoted in other settings? How can policy encourage schools in the characteristics that help their students and their communities thrive? These thorny questions matter to anyone ...

Rural Policy Matters: November 2008

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RSFN-Extras: Colorado Funding Issues to Go Before High Court

This article appeared in the November 2008 Rural Policy Matters. RSFN-Extras is a special online feature for readers of RPM that includes additional details on school funding stories and links to information from other sources. Links are current at the time of posting, but may expire over time, and may require free registration for access. The Colorado Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments ...

RSFN-Extras: New Hampshire Funding Lawsuit Dismissed

This article appeared in the November 2008 Rural Policy Matters. RSFN-Extras is a special online feature for readers of RPM that includes additional details on school funding stories and links to information from other sources. Links are current at the time of posting, but may expire over time, and may require free registration for access. The state Supreme Court has said that New Hampshire is d ...

Cutting Curriculum for NCLB

This article appeared in the November 2008 Rural Policy Matters. Rural schools, on the whole, are less likely than other schools to eliminate recess in response to pressure to get student test scores up. On average 3% of rural schools have eliminated recess for students in first grade in order to make more time for instruction in reading and math, subjects tested under the federal No Child Left Behind la ...

Infusing Heritage and Connectedness in Academic Support in North Carolina

This article appeared in the November 2008 Rural Policy Matters. Over the past three years, some elementary students in Warren County, North Carolina have been learning about their historic community while improving their skills in reading, writing, math, character development, and oral history. The students participate in an Academic Enrichment Program, which consists of a two-week Summer Enrichment Pro ...

Home Ownership is a Wonderful Thing: Teachers Share Their Experiences with the Arkansas Teacher Housing Assistance Program

This article appeared in the November 2008 Rural Policy Matters. "If you have a heart for teaching and are not in it for the money, and if you're doing it in an area where there are a lot of financial constraints on families and the schools, it's rewarding but it also takes a lot out of you. Teaching in those circumstances is that much more difficult," says Teryn Spears a 6th grade literacy teacher in Blythe ...

State Housing Assistance Programs for Teachers: A Sampler

This article appeared in the November 2008 Rural Policy Matters. What to do about housing for teachers is a long-standing issue in American education, especially in rural communities. It used to be that many teacher contracts included housing stipulations: the teacher (especially if it was a single woman) had to "board" with an approved family, or live next door to the school and start the fire in the potbelly sto ...

Graph: Percent Public Schools Offering Distance Learning Courses

This article appeared in the November 2008 Rural Policy Matters. Data Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and Staffing Survey, 2003–04, Public School. Washington, DC.

Rural School Funding News: New Mexico Group Advocates Smaller Schools

This article appeared in the November 2008 Rural Policy Matters. Think New Mexico, a nonpartisan policy organization, recently released a report, "Small Schools: Tackling the Dropout Crisis While Saving Taxpayer Dollars." The report advocates limiting enrollment to 225 students per grade in high schools, 120 students per grade in middle schools, and 60 students per grade in elementary schools. The organization pla ...

Rural School Funding News: Minnesota Districts Seeking Local Funding

This article appeared in the November 2008 Rural Policy Matters. More than 40 Minnesota districts, most of them small and rural, had school funding questions on the ballots this month. Declining enrollments and shrinking state funding have left districts scrambling to resolve budget issues. Many have responded by eliminating teaching positions, shortening the school week, or cutting funding for athletics. Acro ...

Rural School Funding News: Georgia Governor Wants Lawsuit Participation Blocked

This article appeared in the November 2008 Rural Policy Matters. Taking a cue from South Dakota, Georgia Governor Sonny Purdue has asked the state Attorney General for an opinion on whether school districts can spend tax money on the school funding lawsuit. State schools superintendent Kathy Cox warned districts against paying dues to the Consortium for Adequate School Funding (CASFG). CASFG withdrew its school financ ...

Rural School Funding News: Wide-Ranging Developments in Arizona

This article appeared in the November 2008 Rural Policy Matters. Consolidation: A consolidation plan presented to the legislature by the School Redistricting Commission proposes to consolidate 76 districts that have only elementary or high school grades into 27 districts with all grades. Voters in the affected districts will approve or reject the plan this month. Predictably, supporters tout cost- ...

Maine's Struggle with Consolidation Law Continues

This article appeared in the November 2008 Rural Policy Matters. The Maine Coalition to Save Schools filed a citizen initiated petition to repeal the state's school consolidation law in October. According to a press release, the group collected 61,142 certified signatures, over 6,000 more than the law requires to put a repeal measure to a statewide vote. The group hopes, however, that the state legislature will not wa ...

Economic Bailout Renews Secure Rural Schools Act

California, Article, Rural Trust Publication, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, School Finance, RPM10-11 This article appeared in the November 2008 Rural Policy Matters. The federal "bailout" bill for the banking industry also renews the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act. The Act provides funding to many counties and school districts with national forests, which cannot be taxed to ...

A Win for Everyone: Arkansas's Teacher Housing Incentives

Arkansas's Teacher Housing Incentives Help Schools Keep Teachers, Help Teachers Grow Investments, and Help Communities Build Wealth This article appeared in the November 2008 Rural Policy Matters. Recruiting teachers is no small challenge for many rural schools especially those in communities where many people struggle economically. But an unusual — and surprisingly simple — p ...

2008 State Election Update: A Sampler

This article appeared in the November 2008 Rural Policy Matters. Alabama. In a statewide vote, Amendment 1 passed (57% to 43%), creating "rainy day" accounts for the state's Education Trust Fund, which funds preK through post-secondary (and some other items) and the General Fund, which funds most non-education items in the state's budget. The constitutional amendment gives the governor autho ...

2008 Federal Election Outcomes

This article appeared in the November 2008 Rural Policy Matters. The makeup of Congressional committees with a key role in education policy will likely change as a result of the election. But not dramatically. In the Senate, the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will see two changes. Republican Wayne Allard (Colorado) retired, and Democrat Barack Obama is leaving for the White House. On the p ...

2009 REWG: Make Your Plans

This article appeared in the November 2008 Rural Policy Matters. Mark your calendars and plan to participate in the 2009 national Rural Education Working Group (REWG) meeting April 19–21 at the Kanuga Conference Center near Hendersonville, North Carolina. "The main attribute of our REWG meeting is that practitioners — grassroots citizens, community leaders, people who care about education in s ...

Facts and Figures About Rural Families and Poverty

Question: What percentage of rural families live in poverty? Answer: 13.1%. Nationally, 12.6% of American families have income levels below the federal poverty line. ...

Rachel's Notes: October 22, 2008

October 22, 2008 The Forum for Education and Democracy hosted another briefing on Capital Hill last week that was first rate. The topic "Assessments for Learning: A Briefing on Performance-Based Assessments" is close to our hearts here at the Rural Trust. With help from the Education Testing Service and the Harvard Graduate School of Education we developed a Portfolio-Based Assessment System (PBAS) for place-based learning. It includes rubrics for student learning, commu ...

RSIN Webinar: School Consolidation, October 22, 2008

School Consolidation was the topic of the October 2009 Rural School Innovation Network webinar. Across the nation, states are considering arguments for and against school closures. The key questions addressed include where this is happening and why, and what does current research say regarding the impact on students and rural communities. Participants discussed where this is happening and why, and what current research says regarding the impac ...

Missouri's Ozarks Schools Suffer Funding Disparity

This article appeared in the October 2008 Rural Policy Matters A new analysis by the Rural Education Finance Center, a project of the Rural School and Community Trust, reveals a significant funding disparity for public schools in the Missouri Ozarks, the poorest rural region of the state. It's not surprising. The Ozarks are the largest mountainous region between Appalachia and the Rockies. Spanning most of sou ...

Facts and Figures on Rural Adults Who Hold High School Diplomas

This article appeared in the October 2008 Rural Policy Matters Question: In what 11 states do fewer than 80% of rural adults hold high school or equivalency (GED) diplomas? Answer: Kentucky (74.6%), Alabama (76.3%), Mississippi (76.4%), Tennessee (77.3%), West Virginia (77.3%), Louisiana (77.8%), South Carolina (78.2%), Georgia (78.4%), Arkansas (79.1%), Virginia (79.2%), ...

Student Loan Forgiveness Options for Teachers and Schools

This article appeared in the October 2008 Rural Policy Matters The federal government offers several student loan forgiveness programs for college graduates who teach certain subjects or teach in schools designated as low-income. The programs can be an important tool in recruiting teachers. But many schools don’t know about them. Many states also have loan forgiveness programs so schools and prospective ...

Rural Child Poverty Rates Often Higher than Urban

This article appeared in the October 2008 Rural Policy Matters Rural child poverty rates far exceed suburban child poverty rates in every state except Connecticut, and on average rival central city child poverty rates nationwide, according to an analysis of new data from the U.S. Census Bureau performed by the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire. A child living in rural areas is more likely to ...

Wyoming Attracts Montana Teachers

This article appeared in the October 2008 Rural Policy Matters More than 400 Montana teachers have moved in recent years to Wyoming to teach, according to a report in Montana’s Great Falls Tribune. The reason is basic: money. Wyoming has boosted funding for K-12 education dramatically, and now spends nearly three times as much per pupil as Montana. A federal mineral tax on coal mining, which dedicates o ...

New Mexico Adopts Navajo Language Textbook

This article appeared in the October 2008 Rural Policy Matters New Mexico has become the first state to adopt a textbook teaching the Navajo language. Rediscovering the Navajo Language by Evangeline Parsons Yazzie, a professor at Northern Arizona University, is slated for use in 10 New Mexico districts as well as federal Bureau of Indian Education schools in the state. The textbook and coursework respond to t ...

Rural School Funding News: Georgia Case Withdrawn

This article appeared in the October 2008 Rural Policy Matters The Consortium for Adequate School Funding in Georgia (CASFG) has withdrawn its lawsuit against the state after the case was abruptly transferred to a new judge just weeks before the trial was scheduled to begin. In an effort to address a state budget crisis, the state judiciary suspended the use of senior judges, including Judge Elizabeth Lon ...

South Dakota Lawsuit Highlights Rural Issues

This article appeared in the October 2008 Rural Policy Matters South Dakota’s school funding case, which opened last month, has focused mainly on the circumstances of rural districts and their severe underfunding. School leaders from several rural districts Faith, Doland, Bon Homme, Willow Lake and Florence districts, along with leaders from Rapid City, delivered compelling testimony about shortfalls in ...

Tough Economic Times Make for Tough Decisions in Arkansas

This article appeared in the October 2008 Rural Policy Matters Charged by the state’s Supreme Court with determining adequacy and funding it in Arkansas schools, a legislative panel has agreed to adopt some funding recommendations, including per-pupil funding increases and inflationary adjustments for salaries and instructional materials. But the panel left open questions of transportation and funding for teache ...

Graph: Responses by 10th grade students to the question "How far in school do you think you will get?"

This article appeared in the October 2008 Rural Policy Matters Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS: 2002/2006). Read more from the October 2008

Homelessness in Rural Oregon

This article appeared in the October 2008 Rural Policy Matters The overall number of homeless students in Oregon rose again this year, with larger increases in rural communities statewide, according to news reports based on Oregon Department of Education counts. The jump in homelessness rates in rura ...

State Student Loan Forgiveness Programs for Teachers, A Sampler

This article appeared in the October 2008 Rural Policy Matters Many states offer state-run programs to encourage residents to become teachers, usually of subject areas where a shortage of teachers exist. These programs fall into several general categories. Conditional Scholarships: Many states attempt to increase the number of people who become teachers of certain subjects, and occasionally te ...

TEACH Grants Can Help Some Prospective Teachers

This RPM Premium Exclusives article appeared in the October 2008 Rural Policy Matters A potentially useful new tool became available this fall for low-income schools that are encouraging local residents to become teachers. The TEACH program provides grants of up to $4,000 per year for undergraduate and graduate ...

Structuring Schools So Students Succeed: Rural Perspectives

This RPM Premium Exclusives article appeared in the October 2008 Rural Policy Matters A new report from the Center for Public Education concludes, "On all counts, the authors found that moving away from consolidated schools and toward smaller community schools, or at least schools-within-schools make academic, social, and financial sense. ...

Rural Policy Matters: October 2008

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Rachel's Notes: October 9, 2008

In recent months, the outline of a new Elementary and Secondary Education Act has begun to take shape. It will not be called No Child Left Behind and will likely go further in actually helping children learn. Several reports and other commentary have begun to come together around greater investments in quality teaching; broader measures of accountability; scaling-up secondary school reforms that are working like those focusing on engaging students in challenging acad ...

Rural Policy Matters: September 2008

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Review: Meeting the Challenge of Rural Pre-K

This RPM Premium Exclusives article appeared in the September 2008 Rural Policy Matters. If your district is one of the many rural districts attempting to implement a preschool program, you are probably familiar with some of the challenges. Most of those challenges are probably not unique to your rural district. According to a new report from the organization

State Education Cuts Fall Harder on Rural Districts: A Kentucky Example

This RPM Premium Exclusives article appeared in the September 2008 Rural Policy Matters. Across the country many lower-wealth rural schools are absorbing a disproportionate share of state funding cuts and feeling the downside of a commonly-used state funding mechanism intended to help them. In this article we will examine how reliance on state funding to help make up for a lack of local revenue is affecting scho ...

Working Together to Stay Small, Get More Efficient

This article appeared in the September 2008 Rural Policy Matters Can the operating costs of small schools be reduced — not by making them big through consolidation — but by inter-local cooperation among small schools and districts? The Western Maine Educational Collaborative (WMEC) says so, and it’s proving it. Operating efficiently makes sense from an economic point of view. But it ...

Rural Policy Matters: August 2008

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Indian Education

This RPM Premium Exclusives article appeared in the August 2008 Rural Policy Matters. Only about 1.3 percent of U.S. public school children are American Indians, but these 624,000 students are significant parts of the student population in Alaska (26%), Oklahoma (18%), Montana (11%), New Mexico (11%) and South Dakota (11%). Oklahoma has the most American Indian students in total numbers, about 18 percent of all Ame ...

Rural Teacher Salaries: Big Threat to Teacher Quality

This RPM Premium Exclusives article appeared in the August 2008 Rural Policy Matters. Ed. Note: This article is based on a presentation made by Robin Lambert, Rural School and Community Trust staff person at the 2008 Quality Education Conference in Washington, DC. Rural teachers are paid less than suburban and urban teachers. This is true almost everywhere. It’s true at all levels of teaching expe ...

Rural School Funding News: South Carolina Rural Schools Have Their Day in Court

This article appeared in the August 2008 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. In a dramatic and at times heated exchange, South Carolina Supreme Court justices assured lawyers for plaintiff districts that they recognize the severe discrepancies in the quality of education in poor and r ...

New Mexico Devises Strong Funding Formula: An Analysis

This is a free sample of the July 2008 RPM Premium Exclusives. A new school funding formula that was produced by a legislatively funded study committee and its consultants would increase overall state aid to schools by over 15% and, according to a new Rural School and Community Trust analysis, send the biggest increases to smaller districts serving the poorest, most rural, communities, those with large percentages of Hispanic and Native American students, and those with high ...

Rural Policy Matters: July 2008

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New Mexico Devises Strong Funding Formula: An Analysis

This RPM Premium Exclusives article appeared in the July 2008 Rural Policy Matters. A new school funding formula that was produced by a legislatively funded study committee and its consultants would increase overall state aid to schools by over 15% and, according to a new Rural School and Community Trust analysis, send the biggest increases to smaller districts serving the poorest, most rural, communities, those with la ...

REWG 2008: Workshops With Links to Selected Materials

The 2008 Rural Education Working Group (REWG) conference featured 19 different workshops. Many of those workshops included PowerPoints and hand-outs that are available here. Look for more features in upcoming editions of RPM. Changing Demographics of Rural Schools Rural schools are serving more and more students of different backgrounds every day, and these new faces pose new challenges for community gro ...

Rachel's Notes: June 5, 2008

June 5, 2008 1. Education Sector often has interesting information, however, almost never regarding rural issues. And, they have a gossipy blog. The following is a link to "School Funding: The Tragic Flaw" that raises in bold relief some of the school finance issues of great concern to rural places. It outlines inequities between states in Title I funding, something we highlighted in our Title I webinar. It also has a clear description of the comparability problem ...

Rural Policy Matters: June 2008

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Review: “Democracy at Risk: The Need for a New Federal Policy in Education,” The Forum for Education and Democracy, April 2008

This RPM Premium Exclusives article appeared in the June 2008 Rural Policy Matters. The relatively low international ranking of U.S. educational achievement and attainment is the stuff of numerous reports. Of 30 nations* in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the U.S. ranks 21st in science and 25th in math achievement on the 2006 Program in International Student Asse ...

Some Lessons from the Rural Experience in School Finance Reform

This RPM Premium Exclusives article appeared in the June 2008 Rural Policy Matters. Rural schools face some of the same funding challenges that urban schools do, but they also face challenges that are not so widely shared. Finding solutions to those challenges requires paying attention to the specific needs of schools that are located in rural places, especially those that are low wealth, have limited revenue capacity, ...

RSIN Webinar: Engaging Communities to Help Every Child Succeed, May 29, 2008

Historic divides and civic apathy are often seen as insurmountable obstacles to bringing about the change necessary to ensure that the most at-risk children in our rural communities succeed. Learn how local groups have engaged large numbers of citizens and organizations and partnered with schools to institute strong, in-school and out-of-school programs to ensure the success of every child. Presenters for this event were Doris Terry Williams, RSCT Capacity Building Program Directo ...

Louisiana Youth Founder of Free Community Tax Center

At just 15 years of age and while still attending high school, Jolanda Burton opened and began operating the first free tax center in her community of St. Helena, Louisiana. With support from the Rural School and Community Trust and the Louisiana Department of Social Services, the center has served hundreds of clients over the past three years, helping low-income memb ...

From Talk to Action: Warren County's Community Action Plan

From Talk to Action is a report on Warren County, North Carolina's action plan to ensure that all of its children and youth succeed and thrive. from_talk_to_action_th.jpg / Talk_to_Action_Final.pdf

2008 Annenberg College Scholarships Awarded

After an extensive and competitive application and interview process, Chevon Boone, a graduate of KIPP Pride High School in Gaston, North Carolina has been chosen as the first Rural School and Community Trust recipient of the Leonore Annenberg College Scholarship. The Scholarship provides full tuition, fees, and room and board at an accredited college or university of her ...

Rachel's Notes: May 6, 2008

The Forum for Education and Democracy has released its report "Democracy at Risk: The Need for a new Federal Education Policy." See www.forumforeducation.org for a copy. Many of the authors of the report will be influential policy advisors if one of the Democrats is elected President in November. While I applaud the prominence given to equitable funding, quality teaching, research and development, and community engagement, ...

Rural Policy Matters: May 2008

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Review: "Additional Learning Opportunities in Rural Communities: Needs, Successes, and Challenges"

This RPM Premium Exclusives article appeared in the May 2008 Rural Policy Matters. Roy Forbes, Center for American Progress Any report that emphasizes the point that rural schools get less than their fair share of public resources and need more funding to compete on a level playing field serves an important purpose in informing public education policy. In this regard, Roy Forbes' report, “

State Test Scores in Kentucky Reflect Socio-Economic Status

This RPM Premium Exclusives article appeared in the May 2008 Rural Policy Matters. Kentucky, as many states, frequently ranks school districts based on the performance of their students on standardized tests. In the map below, the state’s 174 county and independent (city) public school districts are divided into five groups based on the district’s average score on the state’s CATS tests (using 10- ...

RSIN Quarterly: Case Studies of Successful Practices

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RSIN Webinar: Student Engagement and Revitalizing Communities through Place Based Learning, April 29, 2008

Review strategies and successful examples for engaging disenfranchised students through Place-Based Learning (PBL) and how your community can institute changes for revitalization activities. The following relevant documents are also available for your review. Purposeful Integration of Literacy Support and Development into Service-Learning Projects

Rachel's Notes: April 10, 2008

The cherry blossoms are beautiful this time of year in DC. I hope the sun is shining on you today, it is just peaking out now after days of gray clouds. The Perkins College of Education at Stephen Austin University in Texas hosted a National Summit on Rural Education on March 28. Key national leaders participated by video or in person including Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Senator John Coryn (represented by his staff person Michelle Chin ...

Rural Policy Matters: April 2008

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State Updates: South Dakota

This RPM Premium Exclusives article appeared in the April 2008 Rural Policy Matters. Spending: South Dakota ranks dead last in state spending on K-12 education and in average teacher salaries. In 2005-06, the national per pupil average for state support for schools was $5,018, but South Dakota spent only $2,922 per student in state funds. Some of that difference is made up locally. Voters in many districts have appr ...

Title I's Small State Minimum

This RPM Premium Exclusives article appeared in the April 2008 Rural Policy Matters. Federal funds distributed to schools to help educate disadvantaged children (under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act) are distributed through a complicated series of formulas that sometimes baffle even the experts. But like all legislated funding formulas, there are political reasons for every provision. One ...

Education Clauses in State Constitutions

This RPM Premium Exclusives article appeared in the April 2008 Rural Policy Matters. When parents or school leaders are unhappy with the level of state support for their schools, or when they see that some schools have far more resources than others, they often look to the state to do something. That’s because every state has a portion of its constitution that describes the state’s responsibility to provide ...

Rural School Funding News: New Education Clause Proposed in South Carolina

This article appeared in the April 2008 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. The ongoing effort to improve educational opportunity for all students in the state is taking a new direction in South Carolina. Last month, a bill was introduced to amend the state constitution to guarantee & ...

Find out How the Title I Formula Affects Your District

The Rural Trust has been reporting on disparities in Title I funding and the reallocation of funds in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Now you can find out exactly how your school district is affected. See if your school district is a "winner" or a "loser" to number weighting in the Title I formula. Download the RSIN Webinar presentation Title I Funding Formula Issues Af ...

RSIN Webinar: Title I Funding Formula Issues Affecting Rural Districts, March 26, 2008

Review of the current formula and its bias against small districts. Review proposed changes and who wins and loses. Connect to others advocating for change. Click here to view the event presentation. ...

Rural School and Community Trust 2007 Annual Report

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Rachel's Notes: March 4, 2008

Recently, I attended a Board meeting of What Kids Can Do (WKCD) (www.whatkidscando.org), an organization devoted to highlighting the voices and successes of young people. It was founded by our friend Barbara Cervone, who as Coordinator of the Annenberg Challenges was a tireless advocate for rural interests. WKCD operates a website and a publishing company called Next Generation Press. They have focused on such themes as the first ...

Rural Policy Matters: March 2008

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RSIN Quarterly: Case Studies of Successful Practices

Rachel's Notes: February 20, 2008

Welcome to the Rural School Innovation Network, a new initiative of the Rural School and Community Trust. Our goal is to learn from our members what issues are affecting rural communities, to share good ideas and solutions to problems from the experiences of our members, and to help organize and mobilize rural schools and communities to be an effective voice for their students and their schools. Your input is actively sought. Please drop me a line anytime. All the s ...

Rural Policy Matters: February 2008

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Rural Schools: Growing, Diverse, and ... Complicated

This article appeared in the February 2008 Rural Policy Matters By Rachel B. Tompkins, President, Rural School and Community Trust This article first appeared as the back-page editorial in Education Week on January 16th. In the spring of 1960, Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts came to my hometown of Hinton, West Virginia, looking for enough votes to p ...

Youth-Led Poverty Reduction Project

In 2006, students in St. Helena, Louisiana worked to ensure that low-income members of their community received their Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)—a provision in the federal tax code targeting people of incomes below $35,000 to offset the burden of social security taxes. Too often, the EITC is under-used and misunderstood by the people who need it most. The success of their program is undeniable. Operating for only two weeks, the students’ tax center returned more tha ...

Rural Policy Matters: January 2008

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Students of Color Comprise Majority in High Poverty Rural Districts

The 800 rural districts with the highest poverty rates (we call these districts the "Rural 800") serve a population made up primarily of students of color. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that these 800 rural districts, scattered across 38 states, serve approximately 969,000 school-age children. About 26% are African American, 20% Hispanic, and 10% Native American. On average, 32% of all students in Rural 800 districts are eligible for federal Title I funding-most because t ...

The Rural Perspective: An Analysis of the Proposed Department of Education's Budget and How It Will Impact Rural America for FY 2008

In partnership with AASA, NEA, and NAFIS, we provide an overview of how the President's proposed budget will affect rural schools and communities. Click here to read the analysis. ...

Why Rural Matters 2007: Gauge and Indicator Results

By Jerry Johnson, Policy Research and Analysis Manager and Marty Strange, Policy Director ...

Why Rural Matters 2007: Major Findings

By Jerry Johnson, Policy Research and Analysis Manager and Marty Strange, Policy Director ...

Why Rural Matters 2007: Press Room

Contact the Rural School and Community Trust for interviews at (703) 243-1487. Report

Why Rural Matters 2007: Print Edition

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 ru ...

Rural Policy Matters: September 2007

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Poorest Rural Districts Poorer Than Most Cities

The poorest rural school districts enroll nearly a million students and have poverty rates higher than many of the nation's poorest cities: higher than Philadelphia; higher than Chicago; higher than Los Angeles; higher than Detroit. We are talking about the 800 poorest rural districts that make up a little over 10% of all rural districts and serve some 942,000 students. We call these highest-poverty rural districts the "Rural 800." The overall poverty rate of the Rur ...

Quality Teachers: Issues, Challenges, and Solutions for North Carolina's Most Overlooked Rural Communities

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Mississippi Parents and Students Hold Public Schools Accountable

It is an article of faith in some parts of the country and in many communities that the local rural school is working hard to secure the achievement and life opportunities of all its students. In many places that faith is justified. But not everywhere. Indianola, Mississippi is one of those places where parents and students in public school must work hard, continuously, to push the schools to educate students and to hold the schools accountable to the people they are supposed ...

Connecting School and Community in Northeastern North Carolina

About the Program Connecting School and Community Partners Connecing School and Community Statistics Newsroom ...

Title I Weighted Grants Skewed Toward Largest Districts: Per Pupil Funding Varies Sharply by District Size

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Riding to School in Slow Motion

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Riding to School in Slow Motion: West Virginia Long Bus Rides Negatively Impact Students, Schools

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Rural Policy Matters: December 2006

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Rural Advocate Uncovers Privatization Ploy

This article appeared in the December 2006 Rural Policy Matters. When James Holloway, a member of the South Carolina Rural Education Grassroots Group, was invited to a meeting at a local church dinner to hear from a group called Clergy for Educational Options (CEO) about solving student achievement issues and writing grants, he was eager to attend. As a local school board member in Salud ...

Rural Advocate Uncovers Privatization Ploy: Online Supplement

This article appeared in the December 2006 Rural Policy Matters. James Holloway, a member of the South Carolina Rural Education Grassroots Group, began looking into the Clergy for Educational Options (CEO) after the group approached his community and began signing up members. CEO claims to provide guidance and support to help African-American and minority families meet academic, economic, and social needs. As it turns ...

Recommendations for Improvements to No Child Left Behind

The Rural Trust recommends an alternative approach to six areas of NCLB in order to take into account the unique circumstances of rural schools and rural students. Click here to read our recommendations for No Child Left Behind. ...

The Hobbit Effect: Why Small Works in Public Schools

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Why Small Schools Work: Ten Reasons Small Schools Positively Impact Students and their Learning

An Investigation of School Closures Resulting from Forced District Reorganization in Arkansas

District Reorganization Leads to School Closures in Arkansas, Especially in High Poverty and African-American Communities

Rural Policy Matters: April 2006

School-Community Partnerships Benefit Both

"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. Increasingly, rural schools and communities are heeding such wisdom. This issue of Rural Policy Matters (RPM) explores school-community partnerships that are helping rural students and communities t ...

New Mexico Provides Support to Rural Schools to Engage in Community Revitalization

This article appeared in the April 2006 Rural Policy Matters. The New Mexico Department of Education wants to improve rural education in the state by funding schools to engage their students and teachers in direct efforts to revitalize and improve the economically distressed communities the schools serve. The pilot program, called Community Partnership for Rural Revitalization, serves six districts. More distric ...

Small Districts — An Achievement Strategy for Iowa

This article appeared in the April 2006 Rural Policy Matters. Iowa's small school districts are an "achievement blessing" that should play an important role in the state's strategy to improve education and they should be "intentionally supported" in the state's school funding system, according to a new report by the Rural School and Community Trust. The study, More Doesn't Mean Better: La ...

North Dakota Funding Lawsuit on Hold

This article appeared in the April 2006 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Nine school districts in North Dakota have agreed to stay a school funding lawsuit pending the outcome of the next legislative session. The lawsuit, Williston Public School District No. 1 v. State, alleges inadequate and inequitable s ...

North Carolina Judge Demands State Action on "Failing" High Schools

This article appeared in the April 2006 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. The judge presiding over the North Carolina school finance lawsuit known as Leandro has written a letter to state education officials demanding that high schools with records of poor test scores be given new leadership and be ...

Arizona Increases Funding for English Language Learner Programs

This article appeared in the April 2006 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. An Arizona bill that will increase funding for programs for English Language Learners (ELL) awaits federal district court review before becoming law. The bill passed the Legislature without the signature of Governor Janet Napolitano. ...

Adequacy Plaintiffs Win Summary Judgement in New Hampshire

This article appeared in the April 2006 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. The plaintiff school districts in New Hampshire's current adequacy lawsuit, Londonderry School District v. State, have won summary judgment before a state superior court. In his ruling, Justice William Groff said that the legislature ...

Colorado Coalition Loses Funding Suit in State Court

This article appeared in the April 2006 Rural Policy Matters. Editor's note: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. Children's Voices, a Colorado coalition representing 14 school districts and numerous parents, lost its funding suit at the state court level when Denver District Judge Michael Martinez dismissed their case. The lawsuit claimed that t ...

Rural High Schools in the Southeast Are Larger and Have Higher Poverty Rates Than in Other States

This article appeared in the April 2006 Rural Policy Matters. How does rural high school size in southeastern states compare with the rest of the nation? How do rural high school poverty rates in southeastern states compa ...

Making the School Useful to the Community — Rappahannock County, Virginia

This article appeared in the April 2006 Rural Policy Matters. Introduction Rappahannock County schools have developed a wide-range of learning opportunities that enable students to meet a local community need while developing their own academic capabilities. The result is a variety of innovative partnerships that make life in the county better for students and for local residents.

School-Based Clinic Serves All — East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana

This article appeared in the April 2006 Rural Policy Matters. Introduction East Feliciana Parish school district and RKM-Primary Care Clinic collaborated to create a school-based health clinic — two in fact. The first clinic, at Clinton Middle School, was the only clinic in the parish (county) when it opened. Since then, RKM-Primary Care has expanded to open clinics in the community and al ...

Building a New Community — Wakefield, Nebraska

This article appeared in the April 2006 Rural Policy Matters. Introduction The community of Wakefield, Nebraska created a Family Resource Center that has eased the transition for a small community experiencing rapid economic, cultural, and demographic change. Background The Wakefield School district is located in Wayne County, in northeastern Nebraska. The commun ...

Partnerships Spur Library, National Park, and Preschool — Worth County, Missouri

This article appeared in the April 2006 Rural Policy Matters. Introduction Worth County School District and a variety of community partners have worked together to develop a school-community library, a preschool, and a National Park (that's right) with a track, outdoor classroom, amphitheater, garden, and paths. Energy and confidence across the community is rising. School Superintendent Li ...

School and Church Partner to Create Community Preschool — Elgin, Nebraska

This article appeared in the April 2006 Rural Policy Matters. Introduction When Elgin, Nebraska decided to create a preschool four years ago, they expected some great things to happen. They've had some surprises along the way and one of them is that their ...

Partners Create Child Care and Performing Arts Complex — Ojai, California

This article appeared in the April 2006 Rural Policy Matters. Introduction Community organizations and the schools in Ojai, California have a long history of friendly relations. They regularly share information about families who need assistance, collaborate on special projects involving children and teens, and make space available to one another for meetings and projects. Two collaborations are ...

Nebraska Legislature Active as Rural Education Advocates Work

This article appeared in the April 2006 Rural Policy Matters. Nebraska's unicameral (one house) legislature has proposed a flurry of bills related to school finance since the Nebraska Coalition for Educational Equity and Adequacy (NCEEA) filed a school finance adequacy case in 2004. NCEEA is a coalition of parents, school board members, educators, and taxpayers in 48 rural K-12 school districts. The coalition ch ...