Barriers to Place-based Education: Join the discussion -- Rural Policy Matters, Volume 1, Number 9 (November 1999)

If you haven't already joined in, you still have time to add your input to the online discussion we are hosting on Barriers to Place based Education. The discussion started Oct. 25, 1999 and runs through November 12th. You can join us whenever you'd like during those three weeks -- electronically or just with a fax, a call, or a letter -- and we hope you will return as many times as you can to see what others are saying and to respond to new postings.

We know from our work with projects in 33 states that schools are capable of amazing things. Student investigations of their home area's arts, culture, history, economics, and ecology can bring learning to life for the whole community. But we also know that there are problems that get in the way of innovative projects working beyond the classroom. We hope through this discussion to investigate how and to what extent state and federal regulations discourage or encumber place-based education.

Participants will work together to identify regulatory impediments; articulate why these constraints make it more difficult for rural schools to pursue place-based initiatives; suggest alternative approaches that would satisfy the legitimate objectives of existing regulations; and develop strategies to pursue reforms.

Please help us seek the participation of people deeply involved in implementing place-based learning approaches in rural public school settings. If you know of people with valuable knowledge in this area who may not have access to the world-wide web or electronic mail, please let us know and we will contact them by phone.

If you are interested in participating in this discussion and would like to receive instructions on how to join in, you can point your web browser to http://www.ruraledu.org/barriers.html and follow the links to sign up, or send an e-mail message with your name and contact information to barriers@ruraledu.org.