Massachusetts is among the least rural states in the U.S., with only 5% of its schools and slightly less than 5% of its students in rural areas. Rural Massachusetts is relatively affluent, and its schools operate with the benefit of per pupil instructional expenditures and instructional salary expenditures that are higher than all but seven other states. Not all schools share in the wealth, however, as the distribution of state and local education funds among rural schools in Massachusetts is the second most inequitable in the U.S. And while scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress are among the very best in the nation, the state’s rural graduation rate is the 11th worst in the country. All of this ranks the state 48th in the country in need of rural education attention and improvement.