McRel Rural E-News, No. 40, February 2005

1. Rural Kansas schools struggle to meet needs of students Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World
Thirty years ago, when Cynda Jarrett was growing up in this southeast Kansas farming town, she wanted to make a difference by becoming a teacher in Appalachia. Today, the third-grade teacher still lives in Chetopa and realizes she didn't have to go so far from home. "This is Appalachia," Jarrett said. Chetopa, with a population of just 1,281, is an example of the shifting nature of rural poverty in America.

2. Federal efforts lacking, rural advocates say Education Week (requires free registration)
Where in the world is the U.S. Department of Education's rural education task force? Announced by then-Secretary of Education Rod Paige with some fanfare in 2003, the task force has accomplished little in the eyes of rural education policy advocates.

3. West Virginia Governor believes technology could save small schools eSchool News (requires free registration)
West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin believes distance-learning technology might be the answer to the dilemma of how to expand curricula throughout the state without sacrificing small schools to consolidation.

4. Tiny school districts feel pressure to merge St. Louis Post Dispatch
Despite slipping enrollment and rising costs, many small school districts remain. Forty-three percent of Missouri's 524 school districts and about a third of Illinois' 882 districts have about 500 or fewer students. Because small districts spend some of the highest percentages of state and local tax money on administration the issue of consolidations, mergers and countywide districts remains very much alive.

5. Students get hands-on experience Kodiak (Alaska) Daily Mirror
A proliferation of short-term, intensive courses is helping to change the way children learn at Kodiak Island�s five rural schools. The increase in seminars, workshops and hands-on projects fills a void left in the curriculum by a deteriorating vocational program in the rural district. The �intensives� are similar to block classes, which are an increasingly popular option at progressive academic institutions like small liberal arts colleges.

6. Virtual school will leap barriers Atlanta Journal Constitution
It doesn't matter that Bryan Culpepper is the only kid at his high school who wants to take a class on number theory and cryptography. It doesn't matter that he lives in Newnan, 450 miles away from his nearest classmate. Or that his teacher lives in Massachusetts. For Culpepper, modern technology has brought an end to small-town isolation. With a few moves of the mouse, he can take part in class discussions and submit assignments in an online math course that he figures will help him make a smooth transition to college.

7. Leading Learning for the Future
Join McREL in Westminster, Colo., on September 22�24, 2005 to learn from leading-edge research and innovation how to lead successful learning today and anticipate what the future may hold for learning tomorrow. Presenters include Richard Barrett, Principal of the KIPP Sunshine Peak Academy in Denver, Colo.; Cheryl Brown Henderson, President of the Brown Foundation; Milton Chen, Executive Director of the George Lucas Educational Foundation; Ann Cook, co-director of the Urban Academy in New York City; Richard DeLorenzo, Superintendent of Chugach (Alaska) School District; Bill Driscoll, former instructor at the Navy�s Top Gun academy; Lawrence Hernandez, Director of the Cesar Chavez Academy in Pueblo, Colo.; Marc Prensky, writer, consultant, and CEO of Games2train and the Digital Multiplier; and Roger Staubach, Hall of Fame Quarterback and CEO of The Staubach Company.

8. McREL summer academies
At McREL�s teaching and learning academies to be held this July in Aurora, Colo., teachers, principals, professional development coordinators, and other district personnel can gain the knowledge, skills, and tools they need to create more effective classrooms, schools, and districts. Choose from a wide array of offerings, including Classroom Instruction that Works, School Leadership that Works, Scaffolding Early Literacy, Teaching Reading in the Content Areas and our newest offering, Teaching Writing in the Content Areas.

9. Grant Writing Strategies for Rural Schools and Communities
The National Rural Education Association is conducting a Grant Writing Institute on May 6-7, 2005 Oklahoma City, Okla. to help rural educators become more effective and competitive grant writers. The Institute will provide participants with strategies and tools for developing successful grant proposals and opportunities to apply what they learn toward preparing an actual proposal.

10. High-Quality Teaching: Providing for Rural Teachers' Professional Development
A new policy brief from Appalachia Educational Laboratory (AEL) examines the need for high-quality professional development that engages rural meanings and is appropriate to the structure and dynamics of rural systems.

11. Changes in Mastery Goals in Urban and Rural Middle School Students
Little is known about differences in middle school students� motivation and the motivational climate provided across rural and urban settings. A new study by Tierra M. Freeman and Lynley H. Anderman of the University of Kentucky published in the February edition of the Journal of Research in Rural Education examines change in middle school students� personal mastery goals and perceptions of mastery goal structures in their classes. Results showed students� personal mastery goals and perceptions of mastery goal structures increased over time and that rural students, as compared to urban students, reported a sharper increase in personal mastery goals.

12. Book review: Rural Voices: Place-Conscious Education and the Teaching of Writing
Also in the February edition of the Journal of Research in Rural Education, William Jennings of the University of Iowa reviews Rural voices: Place-conscious education and the Teaching of Writing, edited by Robert E. Brooke, and published by Teachers� College Press in 2003. Jennings writes that in Rural Voices, Robert Brooke has edited an impressive collection of articles on the teaching of writing through the more encompassing pedagogy of �place-conscious education.�

13. Maine�s Smaller Schools Cut Poverty�s Power Over Student Achievement
Maine�s smaller schools effectively reduce the negative influence of poverty on student achievement by 35 to 100 percent compared to larger schools, depending on testing grade and subject area, according to a new analysis by the Rural School and Community Trust. View the press release at

14. Sicily Island High School: A Case Study of a Rural High School Yielding Results
A recent case study from the Rural School and Community Trust provides an in depth look at Sicily Island High School in Louisiana and highlights the factors behind its success. Sicily Island High School was one of the schools initially profiled and visited in the Rural School and Community Trust�s study of high schools in the south that are beating the odds to outperform most other schools in their state.

RESOURCES & INFORMATION

15. 2005 NREA Mini-Grant Program
The National Rural Education Association has announced 10 Mini-Grants of $500 each for proposals to develop student-based projects that focus on student learning; demonstrate cooperation between students, teachers, and the community; encourage a high level of student involvement, and indicate coordination with a local rural electric cooperative. Each Mini-Grant will be funded at the beginning of the 2005�2006 school year. Rural K�12 classroom teachers whose school or community are served by a local Rural Electric Cooperative, or whose students� homes are served by a local Rural Electric Cooperative, are eligible to apply.

16. NREA Research Paper Award
The NREA has issued a call for research papers. Researchers are invited to submit a research paper to the NREA Research Committee for consideration for the $500 Best Research Paper Award. The award, sponsored by G2 Educational Services, Inc., recognizes the best research paper to be presented at the NREA Research Symposium on November 5�6, 2005 in Tucson, Ariz. The Research Committee will select 17 research papers for the NREA Research Symposium. The $500 Best Research Paper Award will be selected from the seventeen.

17. Teacher Loan Forgiveness
The Taxpayer-Teacher Protection Act, signed into law last year, authorizes up to $17,500 in loan forgiveness for eligible, highly qualified math, science and special education teachers. To be eligible, teachers (with no outstanding loan balances before Oct.1, 1998, and who have borrowed before Oct. 1, 2005) must be highly qualified, as defined by the No Child Left Behind Act; must have taught full-time, for five consecutive years, in a Title I school; and must have taught secondary math or science or elementary or secondary special education to students with disabilities. For more information, visit the link above.

18. Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools' Discretionary Grants to Reduce Alcohol Abuse
This program provides grants to local education agencies to develop and implement innovative and effective programs to reduce alcohol abuse in secondary schools. An estimated 57 awards ranging from $300,000 to $500,000 will be made. ED may reserve up to 25 percent of funds to award grants to low-income and rural education agencies. In addition, awards may be made in FY 2006 from the non-funded applications from this competition.