Why Rural Matters 2015-2016 Capitol Hill briefing to be held April 3, 2017

Why Rural Matters 2015-2016 is the eighth 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.

Rural public schools worry they will be left behind

 With a new administration in the White House that prefers  "school-choice” approaches — favoring charter schools and private-school vouchers so parents can opt out of public schools and bring taxpayer dollars with them — the nation’s rural schools are left to wonder about their fate.

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.

Research Raises Doubts About Benefits of Consolidation

Has the time for consolidation come and gone? Research shows that state policies that broadly push mergers of schools and districts will not save money and will likely lower the quality of education — especially for the poor.

The RPM Take on a Report Evaluating the Comprehensive School Reform Program

A report evaluating the implementation and outcomes of the federal Comprehensive School Reform program (CSR) from 2002 to 2008 finds that most schools receiving CSR funds did not implement all the program requirements, nor did they make more achievement growth than comparison schools. Although it would seem that extra financial support did not produce desired outcomes, a closer read of the report finds that most schools faced a number impediments to implementation and that addressing these impediments might go a long way toward helping high-poverty low-performing schools achieve at higher levels.