Addressing the Challenges of Rural K-12 Students | Edutopia Of course they wanted businesses and jobs, they said. The local school board would be dissolved, and Debra Powell would lose the job she had just started. Thats against the law to have us here.. For years, she explained, businesses had been leaving Holmes. Henderson moved to Holmes from Maryland the summer before Ellingtons freshman year. More than 60 percent either didnt have a license or were teaching outside their subject area. We dont even have a Walmart, Ellington says. The teachers said they needed paper and computer cords and at least one set of science textbooks that met state standards. I just want out of Holmes County, Ellington told him. The states wages are particularly low the Rural School and Community Trust found in 2018 that Mississippis rural teacher salaries are the sixth-lowest in the country but the wage discrepancy between rural and other instructors is true across the United States. Most said they were paying for basic supplies themselves, though they earn less than teachers elsewhere do. Henderson stepped back, quiet as the crowd murmured its agreement. No, son, he typed. Several states have tried consolidation, and studies have consistently found that forced mergers rarely save much money and often dont boost student achievement. Though the temperature hovered above 90 degrees in early August, most of the districts schools didnt have air-conditioning or the kind of upgraded ventilation equipment other districts had installed while students were learning at home. The Ed.D. Rural areas like Holmes County are more likely to be impoverished and disconnected from nonprofit groups and social-service agencies. They walked up to the water, cast their lines in hopes of luring brim or white perch, then Henderson told Ellington he needed to tell him something important. Most of the countrys poorest counties are rural, and two years ago, leaders at the Rural School and Community Trust, a national nonprofit group, found that decades of population loss and divestment by state governments has left many rural communities facing nothing less than an emergency when it comes to educating children. The Power Hour kids could hear their classmates, laughing and splashing down the halls. In 2019, a higher percentage of adults age 25 and over in rural areas held a high school degree as their highest level of educational attainment, 4 compared with all other levels of educational attainment. When the bell rang, a social-studies teacher passed out a quiz to six students. Education in rural America is a complicated and sensitive topic. Official websites use .gov By Nicole Acevedo, Sandra Lilley, Emi Tuyetnhi Tran and Cora Cervantes. Written by educators who grew up in rural America and returned there to raise their children, the book illustrates . Rural America is undergoing changes, and state legislatures are responding. While it might seem like a multi-industry buzzword nowadays, innovation is essential. Some have told researchers that they dont want to live in towns with few amenities or jobs for their spouses. Nice to meet you, Ellington said. Whole generations of Holmes students had suffered the way Ellington had, and it pained the boy to think his brothers might inherit the same broken system. Ellington tried to be patient. Henderson promised the teachers that he would fill the second-grade positions, but he wasnt sure how. But the state has only fully funded the law three times in the last three decades, and leaders from Durant and Holmes argued that the shortfall had left both districts in a bind. A state audit later found that half the students in some schools never logged on to their virtual classes. And long before the pandemic turned ventilation into a buzzword for anxious parents, rural children were learning in aging buildings with broken HVAC systems and sewers too old to function properly. The districts leaders didnt find a new English teacher until February. He didnt explain that he needed the A.C.T. Educational attainment in rural America reached a historic high in 2000, with nearly one in six rural adults holding a 4-year college degree, and more than three in four completing high school. Soon, he was spending half of most days in the gym with dozens of other kids, waiting without air-conditioning or instruction. A few weeks into the fall semester, Henderson announced plans to bring clubs back to the high school. In 1998, legislators attempted to solve it by passing the Critical Teacher Shortage Act, a law that offered scholarships, loan repayment and moving reimbursements to instructors who agreed to teach in understaffed districts like Holmes. Holmes County, the audit suggested, might have reached a state of emergency. A version of this article appears in print on, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/07/magazine/rural-public-education.html. In Tennessee, where officials won $49 million from Obamas Race to the Top contest to design their Achievement School District, researchers found that schools in the turnaround program did not improve after six years. Leaders from Holmes and Durant begged state lawmakers to consider alternatives. I get so sick of being asked, Why yall got them dilapidated schools? Wright-Hart said. Statewide, teachers earned an average of $47,000, and educators in Madison, an upscale, majority-white suburb outside Jackson, made close to $51,000. While researchers and activists have spent decades detailing the ways urban schools have failed children, students like Ellington are learning in more dire conditions. Xavier, a historically Black college, has in recent years graduated more Black students with degrees in biology and physics than any other institution in the country, and Ellington liked to imagine himself among their prestigious ranks. The test was supposed to assess their knowledge of World War II and the Harlem Renaissance, but the teenagers seemed distracted. ), according to a report in the nonprofit news site Mississippi Today, found that similar financial incentives did not work in their state, either, young people who learn in newer, functional buildings outperform, graduated more Black students with degrees in biology and physics, Young won the national presidential award for excellence in math and science teaching, Fifty-eight percent of voters agreed to finance an $8.75 million bond in the Leland School District, In Tennessee, where officials won $49 million, two-thirds of the 15 schools the state took over remained in the bottom 5 percent of the states rankings, Mississippi began its Achievement District takeovers, $2.5 billion in federal relief to spend on its schools by September 2024. Rural Education In rural areas of the country, ethnic and racial disparities persist in education, according to USDA, Economic Research Service researchers who studied data from the decennial Census and the American Community Survey. This is a summary of information from the U.S. Bureau of the Census American Community Survey and other Federal statistical sources on the educational attainment of the rural (nonmetropolitan) population, and the relationship between educational attainment and economic outcomes. There are areas of significant Most of the districts buildings were at least 50 years old, but Henderson knew he could never pass a bond big enough to replace every school. Homeowners would pay somewhere between $33 and $112 in extra property taxes each year, plus another $67 annual fee if they owned a car. National Association of State Boards of Education January 2021. Everyone else had poured chemicals into test tubes. When Henderson became superintendent, roughly half of Holmes County teachers were long-term substitutes or uncertified workers who hadnt passed the licensure exam. I knew you were going to do this.. By midmorning, both the high school and the middle school were starting to flood. The state of Mississippi cannot have our district! he wrote. The teachers nodded. The new system classifies the locale of school districts and schools based on their actual geographic coordinates into one of 12 locale categories and distinguishes . No, Henderson replied to each. A bell rang, and Ellington ambled into the wet hallways. Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Educational Attainment Persist in How can we raise money to improve our school funding? On his first day at Jackson State University, a historically Black school an hour away, he realized that his classmates had gone to schools with labs. They fished for two hours, and eventually, they reeled in their empty lines. Holmes was the poorest county in the poorest state, and Henderson was about to ask residents to collectively raise close to $20 million. Rural Education in America provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the diversity and complexity of rural communities in the United States and for helping rural educators implement and evaluate successful place-based programs tailored for students and their families. Finally, a language-arts teacher said that most classrooms didnt have textbooks. Mississippi has topped the list every year. In this podcast, Jenn Folsom of ICF Next speaks with Caitlin Howley of the ICF child welfare and education team, Sam Redding from the Academic Development Institute (ADI), and Janet Throgmorton, principal of Fancy Farm Elementary School, to discuss the unique aspects of rural schools in the U.S. and how they're responding to the challenges of COVID-19. Of an average nationwide enrollment of 3.75 million students per grade, approximately 715,000 (19 percent) attend "rural" schools; 540,000 (14 percent) attend "rural" districts; and 553,000 (15. The map below shows areas with low levels of educational attainment, defined here as counties where 20 percent or more of the working-age population (adults age 25 to 64) lacked a high school diploma or equivalent during 2015-19. Henderson and Ellington cast their lines again, and they waited. The school buildings were too old and dilapidated to hold additional students, they said. No economic development is going to come here, no factory is going to come here.. A block of board members began shooting down every proposal he made. The Education Across America: Cities, Suburbs, Towns, and Rural Areas website is designed for those who are interested in the condition of education in different geographic locales in the United States (i.e., cities, suburbs, towns, and rural areas). Ellington served on the student advisory group his freshman year, and he was president his sophomore year, but the round table no longer existed. In early August, a few days before the start of Ellingtons senior year, the accreditation board and the state school board each met to decide the school districts fate. He parked at the end of a yellow dirt road on a lot wedged between a plantation and a school that had closed down years ago. Powell worked as an administrator at Ellingtons school before the pandemic, and she ran track with Jackie Joyner-Kersee when she was a teenager. We look at how rural America is perceived both . Henderson told himself he wouldnt let white people decide what was best for Black students. The National Rural Education Association (NREA) is the voice of all rural schools and rural communities across the United States. The state has had a shortage since at least the 1990s. While Ellington waited for his own Chromebook, he spent his days playing an Xbox wrestling game with his brothers and reading The Hate U Give and The Mis-Education of the Negro. He finally got a computer and a hot spot in mid-April, but none of Ellingtons teachers were doing live lessons. In wealthy counties, thats manageable, but Holmes suffered from a two-pronged dilemma: Not only were its residents poor, there also werent that many of them, and so each person had to cover a greater share of the cost. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. All Holmes County had to do, Henderson said, was build a new high school. Exploring Rural Education in America 11 Recently, rural students have started to outperform their urban peers when it comes to literacy, but there is still a large gap between rural and suburban students. My kids, my biological kids, could be fatherless, he told me, because I believed in a place like Holmes County.. Lawmakers tried offering cash bonuses, loan forgiveness and mortgage help to attract teachers to rural districts. The 2022 edition of Rural America at a Glance looks at the changing structure of economic sectors, the labor force, and job growth in rural areas. Rural Education in America - Google Books For more information, contact: It was raining. The teachers remained quiet as they waited for someone else to speak. You have to have something. Sewage bubbled from bathroom floors, and mold crept along classroom ceilings. So, let's take a broad look at some of the struggles of schools and higher education in rural America. Rural school districts, educators, and students have different experiences than their urban and suburban counterparts. He might not find a drama teacher before the end of the semester, and the district probably wouldnt build a new school before Ellington graduated, but Henderson promised the second half of the spring semester would be better. Explore Degree All but a dozen of Holmes Countys 3,000 students were Black. And when Michigan abandoned its program in 2017, six years after it began, two-thirds of the 15 schools the state took over remained in the bottom 5 percent of the states rankings. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in its authorizing legislation is charged with the task of reporting information on issues surrounding education by "urban, rural, suburban districts, and other population characteristics, when such disaggregated information will facilitate educational and policy decisionmaking." This has left many of its rural districts, including Holmes, in a perpetual cycle of failure. Henderson had experienced the same. These districts are typically disregarded because of their small populations compared with larger single districts in more urban areas. School leaders have yet to find solutions, in part because theres no single reason for the shortage. He could take it again, but few students at his high school had scored higher. If voters approved one, the district would borrow money from the bank, residents car and property taxes would go up and then, over the next two decades, the district would use those tax dollars to pay back the loan. A dollar store had filed for bankruptcy that week, and Wright-Hart didnt expect a new shop to replace it. Teachers then signed those kids up for extra tutoring. In 2016, the state introduced a new program to take over districts that repeatedly fail to meet academic standards. Society needs to progress and sustain itself . The district could get off the states F list. A few schools closed, and the superintendents lost their jobs, but little else changed. (In the 2017-18 school year alone, the state shorted them by a combined $1.5 million.) Henderson had seen the research, and he believed that many of his districts problems led back to its buildings. That's . When the secretary announced Ellingtons name, the boy told himself he wouldnt volunteer. One of his classes didnt have textbooks, and two others lacked teachers. Distance may add another cost to attending college for young people who grow up in rural areas. But it aint going to happen, a woman called out. What if he made it to college, only to find himself hopelessly behind? Ive talked to superintendents who say, John, we dont even get any applications, he told me. As he looked over the districts latest test scores, he imagined a boy someone a little like Ellington growing up in conditions Henderson knew were subpar. A kindergarten teacher explained that the county still didnt have enough buses or drivers to operate them and so they picked up kids in shifts. If I could have brought them with me, I would have. Other states have tried to improve schools this way but have not succeeded. For teenagers, the lack of amenities meant there was nothing to do, but Ellington understood the deeper implications: In the United States, communities must pay for their own schools. Ellington was hurt and confused, but he decided to ask his principal if there were other opportunities to help. Like all impoverished school districts, Holmes receives federal money under a program called Title I. For the last two decades, the Rural School and Community Trust has tried to change that by issuing biennial rankings of what it considers the highest-priority states when it comes to rural education. Mississippi had more than 1,000 open positions the year Henderson took over, and a third of the states districts had a teacher shortage. Otherwise, the state might go beyond consolidating it might take away local control entirely. I had a dream about this, he told Henderson. Geoff and Sky Marietta join Mike to discuss their book, Rural Education in America. Holmes County Central High School students at the start of their school day.CreditJoshua Rashaad McFadden for The New York Times. Thats why its time for us to do what we need to do, Henderson announced. She spent a decade at The Oregonian and has written for The New Yorker, Oxford American and The Nation. Fertnig / iStock. Ellington was 7 the first time someone told him the state of Mississippi considered Holmes a failing district. Ellingtons mom told him once that the district was in disrepair when she graduated in 1997. How could students learn without qualified teachers? The proportion of rural adults with a bachelor's degree or higher increased by 6 percentage points between 2000 and 2019, and the proportion without a high school degree or equivalent, such as a GED, declined by 11 percentage points. A college completion gap persists for young adults, who are more likely to have completed high school than older adults. Move. Though many Holmes students went a year without learning, the pandemic may offer an unlikely opportunity for growth: Mississippi received more than $2.5 billion in federal relief to spend on its schools by September 2024. Harvard Education Publishing Group Rural America's Business Growth is Rooted in Surprising Factors But that does not provide a basis for concluding that race is the reason for their voting behavior and suggests, instead, that self-interest may be the reason.. Rural Education in America includes examples from a range of geographic locations, including Eastern Washington, Montana, Ohio, northern Minnesota, North Carolina, Mississippi, Kentucky, and the Navajo Nation. The few businessmen who expressed interest in opening a law practice or a medical clinic always changed their minds once they saw the schools. Rural Education in America provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the diversity and complexity of rural communities in the United States and for helping rural educators implement and evaluate successful place-based programs tailored for students and their families. School bonds are especially hard to pass in Mississippi because the state decided in the 1950s to begin requiring counties to win at least 60 percent approval. In a normal year, Holmes officials spend the extra $1,000 or so per student on tutors and teachers aides, but after the pandemic shuttered schools, Henderson reallocated some of those dollars to buy Chromebooks. The rooms were musty, and the hallway outside had a thin layer of water covering the linoleum. Rural areas have 14 percent of the population but accounted for 27 percent of COVID-19 deaths during the last 3 weeks of October 2020. Those who do complete college may decide to work in urban areas that offer higher wages and more jobs commensurate with their skills and education. When the teacher scolded him, Ellington felt so embarrassed, he argued with her until she sent him to the principals office. Maybe it would take a decade. As young people have gravitated toward cities, rural districts across the country have struggled to recruit qualified teachers. He realized during the pandemic that he couldnt afford Xavier, but he hoped to earn enough money to enroll at Jackson State, the historically Black university Henderson attended. Education in Rural America | Encyclopedia.com Lets bring some positive things around the community so kids can stay out of trouble after school! AMA Physician Professional Data - American Medical Association He wasnt getting a science lab. James Henderson, the man the board selected, had never been a superintendent, but he had worked in St. Louis and Houston as a middle-school teacher, a human resources manager and a deputy superintendent. The week Henderson announced his campaign, another rural, majority-Black county in the state tried and failed to pass a bond. Chicago, Illinois 60611. The ACS uses a rolling sample of U.S. housing units (250,000 monthly) to provide basic population characteristics annually for areas with populations of at least 65,000 people. This report presents a series of indicators on the status of education in rural America, using the new NCES locale classification system. It would attract teachers and give teenagers like Ellington a fair shot at learning. Still, Arkansass shortage remains. 8 . Education Across America - National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) That evening, after working 10 hours in Durant and Lexington, Henderson drove west until his GPS gave out and cotton blew like snow over the cracked windshield of his Crown Victoria. Rural Education in America provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the diversity and complexity of rural communities in the United States and for helping rural educators implement and evaluate successful place-based programs tailored for students and their families. At home, Henderson spent hours telling the bus drivers and school-board members who called that he felt good about the districts chances. Finally, he thought, they had reached the end of what people had been calling a lost year. One, a rural and majority-Black school district two hours north of Holmes, improved from a D to a C, but the other, a rural and majority-Black district two hours east of Holmes, remains an F. On the most recent state exams, students there scored lower than Holmes in both math and history. Hed found a new job in Chicago, overseeing a district of urban high schools just a few miles from his oldest daughters home. A lock ( Produced by Rob Szypko , Asthaa Chaturvedi and . Harvey Ellington longed for the future Henderson envisioned. What else? he asked. I would love that. Sitting in the gym, sweating through his school uniform, Ellington told himself to hold on to the bit of hope he had left. (She told me she inherited a mess and was busy prioritizing finding teachers.) A new school would inspire businesses to open, Wright-Hart told the crowd. Reporters at a Jackson-based news channel thought that the margin meant the bond had passed, and Holmes residents kept sending Henderson screenshots of their TVs, showing the green check of victory. Lawmakers in Oklahoma and Washington have declared dire shortages, and in Montana, 65 percent of rural schools in remote settings reported difficulty filling vacancies in 2018, compared with 35 percent of nonrural schools. He picked up Ellington and his brothers, then he drove them to a pond on his familys land. Henderson used federal CARES dollars to buy more laptops and hot spots, and he kept school bus drivers employed by hiring them to deliver meals to students twice a day. Many dont have access to broadband internet, and some dont even have cellphone service, making it hard for young people to tap outside resources. He was only 15, too young to vote, but he wanted the lab Henderson had promised, so the teenager traveled the county with the superintendent in fall 2019, passing out buttons and asking his neighbors to pay for a new school. The principal said he would meet with the teenager, but a week later, the state accreditation board released a 372-page audit showing that since the consolidation, the district had violated 81 percent of the states process standards. They tend to be clustered in the South (177 counties or 77 percent), more than one-third (96 counties) have an economic base in farming or manufacturing, and more than half (129 counties) are high poverty counties (poverty rate of 20 percent or more), most of which have had persistently high poverty over three or more decades (90 counties).