Rural Education Policy


2018 Rural College Access and Success Summit Set for May 13-15

Partners for EducationThe 2018 Rural College Access and Success Summit brings together teachers, principals, superintendents, legislators, non-profit leaders and many others to share ideas and strategies for ensuring success for our rural youth.


Report: Leveling The Playing Field For Rural Students

Leveling the Playing FieldLimited access to advanced coursework, medical care, food and employment opportunities continue to daunt students in many rural communities, according to a report released today by AASA, The School Superintendents Association, and The Rural School and Community Trust.


School Funding Unconstitutional in Kansas

The Kansas Supreme Court has found the state is failing to meet its constitutional requirement to provide equitable funding for school districts.


Ernest Brooks: Rural American Making a Difference

As a young student, Ernest Brooks got involved in community and rural advocacy. He’s been at it ever since.


Going Two Ways at Once: Distance as a Defining Rural Characteristic

The RPM series “What Makes Rural Rural?" examines characteristics of rural places and implications for policymakers, philanthropists, and others interested in making the most of resources and opportunity. In this second installment we look at the effects of distance on rural residents, schools, and communities.


The President's 2014 Budget Proposal for Education: Early Learning Is a Key Investment

President Obama’s proposed fiscal year 2014 budget highlights key education investments in early learning, furthering the K-12 reform agenda, college affordability and quality, school safety and expanded opportunities for both middle- and low-income communities, while protecting formula programs for at-risk populations overall.


Rural School Innovations Webinar: The STAR School

The featured innovation of this Rural School Innovations Series Webinar from February 2013 was Northern Arizona's STAR School and its 3-to-3rd Math Project.


Rural Education Conference Set for April 3-4, 2013

The National Center for Research on Rural Education will assemble researchers, practitioners and policymakers from across the country to discuss the factors influencing rural K-12 students' academic success at a conference to be held April 3–4, 2013, in Omaha.


Join Marty Strange in a Kappan Conversation

Rural Trust Policy Director Marty Strange is the featured guest in a Kappan Conversation at 4 p.m. ET, Thursday, March 24. Register by March 22 to take part in this special webinar on "Finding Fairness for Rural Students."


The Rural Solution: How Community Schools Can Reinvigorate Rural Education

Doris Terry Williams, executive director of the Rural School and Community Trust and director of the Trust's Capacity Building Program, explains the value of full-service community schools in rural areas in this report from the Center for American Progress.


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.


Title I Inequities in Plain Language

Some districts get less Title I money per eligible student than others, often much less, even in districts with very high poverty rates. That discrepancy is explained here with easy-to-understand examples…


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…


Groups Address School Pushout Crisis

As community groups and child advocates respond to increasing incidents of severe and excessive school discipline and rising rates of students being pushed out of school, it’s becoming clearer what kinds of approaches can help…


Identifying the Poorest Rural Schools

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