CONTACT OUR COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE NEWSLETTERS Rural Roots Rural Policy Matters OTHER PUBLICATIONS Jul 03 - Engaged Institutions: Impacting Vulnerable Youth Through Place-Based Learning Jun 03 - Save a Penny, Lose a School: The Real Cost of Deferred Maintenance Mar 03 - The Competitive Disadvantage: Teacher Compensation in Rural America Feb 03 - Why Rural Matters 2003: The Continuing Need for Every State to Take Action on Rural Education Nov 02 - Rural Schools Score Major Victory in Arkansas Supreme Court Oct 02 - Rural School Leadership in the Deep South Sep 02 - Dollars and Sense: Small Schools Work and They're Cost Effective Aug 02 - Five State-Level Rural Organizations Launch Rural Equity Collaborative Aug 02 - Connecting Communities & Classrooms Aug 02 - Field Reports: Community Collaboration for Place-Based Studies Jun 02 - Lessons and Reflections Jun 02 - Tell Us How It Was: Stories of Rural Elders Preserved by Rural Youth Jun 02 - America's Forgotten Children Jan 02 - Amicus Brief of the Arkansas Public Policy Panel and Rural School and Community Trust Apr 01 - Educators Gather at Stewardship Institute to Share Ways of Assessing Place-Based Education Nov 99 - Center for School Change Releases Assessment Criteria Guidelines Oct 99 - Former Secretary of Education Riley's October 1999 Speech on Schools as Centers of Community New Study Finds that Needs of Children in Impoverished Rural Communities are Not Being Met

LATEST News

November 18, 2005 - Mississippi's Achievement Gaps Linked to Gaps in Funding and Teacher Quality
(Washington, DC)—As the MAEP (Mississippi Adequate Education Program) Committee heads into a hearing on Monday November 28 to hear input and feedback from education stakeholders, a new report suggests that the current distributions of both school funding and qualified teachers are primary forces behind Mississippi's achievement gaps.

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July 27 , 2005 - The Rural Perspective on "Education Adequacy"
As states across the nation set high academic standards and commit themselves to the idea that all children can succeed in public schools, a new issue has emerged in state policy debates: How much does it cost to offer all students the opportunity to obtain a high quality education? This so called “educational adequacy” movement is rapidly gaining momentum. But while the drive for educational adequacy is laudable, its ultimate success for rural students will only be realized if state policymakers pay particular attention to the unique circumstances and needs of rural communities, schools, and students.

May 11, 2005 - States Overlooking Their Rural Schools

In predominantly rural states, rural students are often the focus of concern, but in larger urban states—even where they are comparatively numerous—they are largely invisible, according to Why Rural Matters 2005. This report is the third in a biannual series by the Rural School and Community Trust (Rural Trust), highlighting 22 indicators that define the condition of rural education in each state.

January 12, 2005 - Maine’s Smaller Schools Cut Poverty’s Power Over Student Achievement

Maine’s smaller schools effectively reduce the negative influence of poverty on student achievement by 35 to 100 percent compared to larger schools, depending on testing grade and subject area, according to a new analysis by the Rural School and Community Trust. To determine whether the negative effect of poverty is greater in smaller or in larger schools in Maine, researcher Jerry Johnson of the Rural Trust calculated how much of the “variance” in the percentage of students whose test scores met or exceeded the state standard could be statistically accounted for by the percentage of poverty among students in the school. We call the variance statistic poverty’s “power rating.”

October 21, 2004 - Nebraska Schools Facing Toughest Challenge Get Least Money

Nebraska school systems with the lowest test scores serve more students who face socio-economic barriers to academic achievement than do other Nebraska schools, but have to do it with less money, according to a new analysis. Compared with higher achieving schools, the lowest achieving schools serve communities with more students who live in poverty, lower household incomes, fewer adults with high school diplomas, more students still learning the English language and more minority students.

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August 13, 2004 - Small Southern High Schools Beating the Odds in Poor Rural Communities

High schools in poverty-stricken rural areas and small towns in the South are beating the odds to outperform most other schools in their state. In a new report prepared for the Southern Governor's Association, Beating the Odds: High Performing High Schools in the South, the Rural School and Community Trust chronicles exceptional schools in the poorest regions of the rural South and the secrets behind the high quality education they provide.
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