Rural 800/900


Facts and Figures about States With Most Schools in Rural Places

Question: In which 15 states are more than half of all schools located in a rural place?


i3 Awards Don't Reach Many High-Needs Rural Districts

The federal Investing in Innovation (i3) competitive grant program has laudable objectives, but it is doing little to reach high-poverty rural schools.


The Rural Dropout Problem: An Invisible Achievement Gap

This report reviews high school dropout rates and related factors in rural high schools throughout 15 Southern and Southwestern states. These schools are in districts that are among the 800 rural districts with the highest student poverty rate nationally. Seventy-seven percent of the "Rural 800" districts and 87 percent of the students in them are in these fifteen targeted states.


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

High-poverty districts with low graduation rates in the southwestern and southeastern United States tend to enroll high percentages of minority students…

Date: December 29, 2009
Related Categories: Rural Policy Matters
Related Tags: Graduation Rate/Dropout, Minority Students, Rural 800/900


Formula Fairness Campaign

The Rural Trust announces a new campaign to bring fairness in the Title I funding formula for smaller higher poverty school districts…
Date: November 30, 2009
Related Categories: Rural Policy Matters
Related Tags: Income Related Issues, Rural 800/900, Title I


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

Poor rural schools continue to lose Title I money to larger richer districts…
Date: November 29, 2009
Related Categories: Rural Policy Matters
Related Tags: Income Related Issues, No Child Left Behind, Rural 800/900, Title I


Map of the 900 Poorest Rural Districts

The poorest 900 rural school districts have poverty rates that rival or exceed the poorest urban districts, their students are diverse with no racial/ethnic majority, they are located in geographic clusters around the United States, and they are losing Title I funding to bigger richer districts…
Date: November 29, 2009
Related Categories: Rural Policy Matters
Related Tags: Rural 800/900


Why Rural Matters 2009: State and Regional Challenges and Opportunities

Why Rural Matters 2009Why Rural Matters 2009 is the fifth in a series of biennial reports analyzing the contexts and conditions of rural education in each of the 50 states and calling attention to the need for policymakers to address rural education issues in their respective states.


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

The poorest rural school districts educate more than a million students with poverty rates higher than many cities. These districts are concentrated in distinct regions, mainly across the southern half of the country from California to North Carolina and into central Appalachia…


Identifying the Poorest Rural Schools

The Rural Trust has identified the 900 poorest rural districts in the country. Here’s how we did it…


Obama and the Rural Vote

Analysis of the presidential vote in rural areas with some thoughts for the president-elect...



REWG 2008: Workshops With Links to Selected Materials

The 2008 Rural Education Working Group conference featured 19 different workshops. Many of those workshops included PowerPoints and hand-outs that are available here.


Rural Policy Matters: February 2008

Rural Policy Matters: February 2008In the February 2008 Rural Policy Matters, Rural Trust President Rachel Tompkins writes about the complexity of rural education in "Rural Schools: Growing, Diverse, and... Complicated." This piece first appeared as a "back page" editorial in the national publication, Education Week, on January 16, 2008. Also, a critical analysis of nationally significant school funding issues in Georgia is the focus of "School Funding in Turmoil in Georgia," where radical proposals in the legislature could cripple school funding and citizen participation in education policymaking.


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

Rural students are a diverse group and their numbers are growing. Their situations and their schools, however, are not simple, and their needs are varied. If presidential candidates and policymakers pay attention, they will find that many state governments have not served their rural students well, especially where need is greatest.


Students of Color Comprise Majority in High Poverty Rural Districts

The 800 rural districts with the highest poverty rates (what we call the “Rural 800”) serve a population made up primarily of students of color. The districts, scattered across 38 states, serve nearly a million students...