Mississippi receives the highest ranking among the 50 states in need of rural education attention and improvement. Education in Mississippi is very rural: 46% of students live in rural areas and over 50% of state education funds go to rural districts. The state’s rural children and their communities are among the most impoverished in the country and face challenges that exceed those of most other states. Compounding these obstacles are conditions and outcomes directly attributable to policy decisions: schools and districts are very large, and operate with the second lowest instructional expenditures and the fourth lowest instructional salaries in the nation. Not surprisingly, scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress and graduation rates are among the country’s lowest.