McRel Rural E-News, No. 46, August 2005

1. Vanishing rural schools teach a hard lesson Wilkes-Barre (Pa.) Times-Leader
A recent New York study told a tale: Rural communities with schools fare better than those without.
Municipalities with schools were more likely to have higher property values, increasing populations and
smaller income gaps between the rich and poor. The findings suggest that communities are like individuals. Just as individuals prosper by going to school, communities prosper by having a school.

2. Alaska’s rural school districts see progress Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News
More than half the public schools in rural Alaska did not meet expectations set out in the No Child Left
Behind Act, but state education officials say rural students are making strides. Alaska Native student
scores rose faster than non-Natives in reading, writing and math in the past year, narrowing the achievement gap. Several rural schools that in the past failed to achieve the federal goal of adequate
yearly progress succeeded this year, and many more came tantalizingly close.

3. Rural schools try to juggle fuel budget KETV-Omaha (Neb.)
Rural school districts are feeling the pinch of higher gas prices as they try to keep school buses rolling.
Small districts bordering the Omaha metro area have to cover a lot of ground to get students to school and this fall, it's going to cost them a lot more to do it. It takes about $120 to fill a bus tank — up from $50-$60 last year — and administrators are trying to figure out where the money will come from. As a result, some rural districts are preparing to pay twice as much as they paid for fuel last year.

4. Online education helps students, teachers, small towns Voice of America
Branson, Colorado, has flourished as a provider in the new world of online education. The town sits far from any major highway, amid rolling hills covered with scrub brush. Fewer than 100 people live in the town and only 65 students attend school in the Branson schoolhouse. Yet despite the small number of kids in the building, the school district has an enrollment of nearly 1,000. Most of them are students of Branson School Online, the district's five-year-old Internet-based education program for K-12 students, who come from all over the state — including both urban and rural areas.

5. Leading Learning for the Future Sept. 22-24, 2005, Westminster, CO
Are you ready for the future? Join McREL for our “Leading Learning for the Future” conference, where you’ll learn from cutting-edge research and innovation how to create successful schools today and prepare for the challenges of tomorrow. In particular, you’ll

6. ASCD Outstanding Young Educator Award
Nomination deadline: October 15, 2005
The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development Outstanding Educator Award seeks to
recognize a teacher under the age of 40 who demonstrates excellence in his or her profession. Criteria
include a positive impact on students, creativity in the classroom, and leadership in his or her school or district. Maximum Award: $10,000. Eligibility: teachers under age 40.

7. Providing rural students with a high-quality education: The rural perspective on educational adequacy Rural School & Community Trust
This new report outlines what the rural perspective on educational adequacy entails for policymakers,
education leaders, and school finance advocates. It embraces the thinking behind educational adequacy, but urges researchers and school funding reform advocates to use the phrase “high-quality
education,” because it more aptly describes quality schooling and it will resonate better with rural people and the broader public.

8. Status and trends in the education of American Indians and Alaska Natives National Center for Education Statistics, US Dept. of Ed.
A new NCES report examines current conditions and recent trends in the education of American Indians
and Alaska Natives using statistical measures. It presents a selection of indicators that illustrate the educational achievement and attainment of these student groups. Over the past 20 years, these groups have made gains in key education areas, such as increased educational attainment. However, gaps in academic performance between American Indian/Alaska Native and White students remain.

9. Become a teacher: Survival guide for new teachers U.S. Department of Education
This new guidebook includes reflections of award winning first-year teachers who talk candidly about
their successes and setbacks, with a particular emphasis on the relationships they formed with their
colleagues, university professors, and their students' parents. These relationships played a crucial role in influencing their success on the job, according to teachers interviewed for the guidebook.

10. Getting Smarter, Becoming Fairer Institute for America’s Future
A national task force on public education co-chaired by Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, Goldman Sachs
Group senior director Philip D. Murphy and George Mason University professor Roger Wilkins have
called for major reforms to the nation's public education system. The task force, called “Renewing
Our Schools, Securing Our Future,” outline several policy recommendations, including extending the
school day, reorganizing the school year and providing pre-kindergarten learning opportunities.

RESOURCES & GRANTS

11. Striving Readers
Striving Readers is a new grant program from the U.S. Department of Education that will support the
implementation and evaluation of research-based reading interventions for struggling middle and high school readers in Title I eligible schools that have significant percentages or numbers of students reading below grade level. Deadline for notice of intent to apply: Sept. 14, 2005, Deadline for application: Nov. 13, 2005.

12. National Schools of Character (NSOC) Awards
This program has a twofold purpose:

1.	To identify exemplary schools and districts to serve as models for others; and
2.	To help schools and districts improve their efforts in effective character education.

Maximum Award: $2,000. To be eligible, a school must have been engaged in character education for
a minimum of three years, starting no later than December 2002. Districts need to have been engaged
in character education for a minimum of four years, starting no later than December 2001. Deadline: December 5, 2005.

13. Japanese Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program
The Japanese Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program (JFMF), sponsored by the Government of
Japan, provides U.S. educators with fully-funded study tours of Japan. The program is designed to
increase understanding between the people of Japan and the United States by inviting U.S. elementary
and secondary educators to visit Japan and share their experiences with fellow Americans upon their return. JFMF participants travel to Japan with other outstanding educators, learn about Japanese culture and education, and return home to implement a self-designed plan to share their knowledge and experience with their students, colleagues, and the community. Deadline: December 10, 2005.