Senator Lincoln Selected Chair of Rural Outreach

On November 14, incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced that Blanche L. Lincoln (D-AR) will continue to serve as Chair of Rural Outreach for the Senate Democratic Caucus. In announcing the Senate Leadership for the 110th Congress, Reid noted Senate Democrat's commitment to rural Americans: "As she did in the 109th Congress, Senator Lincoln will again serve as Chair of Rural Outreach. This position was created in the last Congress as a sign of the Democrats’ strong commitment to aggressively engage and communicate with rural Americans. In this post, Senator Lincoln will continue to guide rural outreach for the Caucus and find new ways to reach rural, suburban and exurban American communities."

“Rural America provides us with the safest, most abundant, and most affordable food supply in the world as well as renewable sources of energy with the potential to significantly reduce our country’s dangerous dependency on foreign oil,” Lincoln said. “Rural America is critical to this nation and such an important part of the fabric of our great country. I look forward to working with my colleagues to address the challenges and obstacles rural Americans face so they are able to enjoy every blessing and opportunity our nation offers.”

Research on Teacher Recruitment, Hiring & Support

The Connecticut Center for School Change has released a report I did with Robert Reichardt on teacher recruitment, hiring and support. Although the report isn't specific to rural schools, it provides insight into strategies superintendents and principals can use to find, hire and keep effective teachers. An Executive Summary and a Technical Report of In Search of Quality: Recruiting, Hiring and Supporting Teachers are available on the CCSC website.

Learning from Business

I'm a big believer in learning from the successes and failures of organizations whether they're public schools are other types of businesses. Today's lesson comes from WEASEL Corp.

About a year ago, an upper level manager at WEASEL Corp. decided to let the worker bees in her division decide an issue by voting. There were two perspectives on the issue and both sides presented their case.

After the vote, the WEASEL manager wanted everyone to agree that there wouldn't be any complaining about the decision since there was a vote. Those on the losing side objected since they knew problems would arise as a result of the decision.

Sure enough six months later there were complaints, but not from the opponents of the decision. The complaining came from the people who had voted for the decision and now had buyers remorse. Those who orginally opposed the decision weren't complaining because things turned out exactly how they expected.

One of the lessons learned from this story is that some people support a position in deferrence to authority at the peril of the organization. In this case, people voted for the option favored by the WEASEL manager because they didn't want to be seen as opposing management. Those types of people are dangerous for school administrators because they may not raise issues that turn out to be problems later on.

School administrators should surround themselves with people who will tell them when they're about to make a mistake. That's not to say that administrators have to always follow their advice. What it means is that administrators should gather information from diverse perspectives to base their decisions.

It takes a confident administrator to listen to those who disagree with them and then use their counsel to make decisions.

Emergency Preparedness

The shooting at Platte Canyon High School yesterday is a sobering reminder that rural schools are not immune from violence. One of the more troubling aspects of the incident is that it appears the killer didn't have any connection to the school.

This is a good time for school administrators to review their emergency preparedness. The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools has excellent resources to assist in that task including Practical Information on Crisis Planning: A Guide for Schools and Communities.

Teacher Recrutment & Support

Mark your calendars to attend my session Twenty Strategies for Hiring and Keeping Effective Teachers at the National Rural Education Association Convention in Kansas City on Tuesday, October 24 at 10 am. Hobart Harmon and I will be discussing strategies that schools are using to hire and keep effective teachers.

This session will go beyond the same old tired strategies that have been reported over and over again. Instead, our focus will be on strategies that aggressive recruiter districts use to find and keep good teachers. Our session won't be very helpful if you're looking for solutions that don't take any effort. But it will be worth your time if you're willing to put forth the energy needed to improve teacher quality and ultimately student outcomes.

To learn more visit the NREA website or contact Hobart or myself.

Football on the Great Plains

It's football season for high schools all across the country. In Colorado the new season provides fresh evidence of continued population loss on the Great Plains, and how rural schools and communities are adapting.

Writing for the Denver Post, Robert Sanchez tells the story of the newly combined Sedgwick County Cougars football team, which is in its first year as an athletic cooperative between Julesburg and Revere High Schools. Reaction to the new arrangement is understandably mixed.

A majority of school board members pushed for the agreement and got the backing of students and their parents.

Without the sports cooperative, they say the two school probably would have lost their football programs, driving yet another stake through the heart of rural America. ...

But allegiances die hard, and several longtime alumni from Julesburg and Revere see the freshly minted agreement as akin to kissing an ugly cousin. ...

"When you discard 100 years of history and tradition, it does get people's attention," Julesburg resident Jim Kontny wrote in a letter to the town's newspaper late last year.

It's hard for people who've never experienced rural schools first-hand to understand the importance of maintaining rural schools and all that comes with any sort of consolidation. For them the school mascot is the hardest animal to kill.

The effect of populations declines can also be seen in the change in distribution of Colorado's rural schools playing 11-man, 8-man, and 6-man football between 2005 and 2006.

1A 11-man (Colorado's smallest classification out of five)
2005: 40
2006: 36

8-man
2005: 38
2006: 49

6-man
2005: 20
2006: 22

Sedgwick County lost its first game 19-16 to Creek Valley High School (Nebraska), which is in it's third year as a consolidated school.

Linda Hall Leaving Center for Rural Education

Earlier today Linda Hall announced her departure as the Director of the Center for Rural Education. The announcement was made on the U.S. Department of Education's Rural Education listserv.

To ListServ subscribers:

Today marks my last day as the owner of the Rural Education listserv here in the Office of Vocational and Adult Education of the U. S. Department of Education. My assignment ends tomorrow and I will return to Federal Student Aid, another of the Department's operating units. Thank you for all of your comments as we established the Center for Rural Education. Richard LaPointe will assume the leadership role for the Center until the Director's position is filled.

Linda W. Hall

Rural Task Force July 2006 Meeting

Minutes from the July 17, 2006 meeting of the Secretary's Task Force on Rural Education have been posted on the Center for Rural Eduction section on the U.S. Department of Education's website. Of particular interest was a presentation by Phoebe Cottingham, Commissioner, Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences on the rural work of newly funded Regional Educational Laboratories. Dr. Cottingham reported that:

• Six of the startup Fast Response projects being conducted by the labs focus on rural education policy issues.

• Fourteen Fast Response projects have explicit analysis of rural education status or progress.

• Two major experimental tests of using virtual technology to improve middle school math teaching in rural schools.

• Six rigorous studies of state programs to improve science-math learning will include rural schools.

• About a third of the new work conducted by the labs is about rural education.

The next meeting of the Rural Education Task Force is scheduled for October 2006.

Take Me Away

Sometimes it's easy to take for granted how fortunate we are to live in wonderful rural places. My high school classmate Cowboy Brad Fitch recorded a song that reminds me of that every time I hear it. Take Me Away was written by Brad's brother Doug and describes what it's like to live away from the mountains.

Here are the lyrics:

Not long ago, seems like yesterday, the mountains were my home, I thought I'd always stay
Summer days of blue, and nights of shining stars, lately I can't take the sight of city lights and cars

There were times before, times I'd wish away, up among the peaks, beside a glacial lake
Living in the sky makes it hard to leave 'cause the city's got me down, down where I can't breath

To purple mountains majesty even for a day, not so very far from here, just a world away

Looking out my door this is what I see, houses row by row, planned so expertly
But the wind and rock and snow are calling out to me, it's the summits that I know where I long to be

Take me away, far far away from here,take me away, bring me home, the mountains are my home
Far away from here, send me on my way, take me home

Eleanor Roosevelt on the first White House Conference on Rural Education

I ran across an interview with Eleanor Roosevelt in which mentions the first White House Conference on Rural Education that was held October 3-5, 1944. This I Believe About Rural Schools was originally published by Chari Ormand Williams in The Nation's Schools 45, no. 3 (March 1950): 31-36.

You were responsible for making possible the first White House Conference on Rural Education ever held. What do you think are some significant outcomes of this conference, which rural educators believe has charted the course of rural education in this country for the next 50 years?

There were a number of worthwhile outcomes: the reawakening of public interest in rural education; the organization of similar conferences on the state level; nine regional conferences on rural life and education held annually under the auspices of the department of rural education of the N.E.A.; organization of the National Conference of County and Rural Area Superintendents of Schools; the rapid increase in the reorganization of rural school districts in the last five years, and many others of equal importance, it seems to me.

Luna Wins Idaho Primary

A few weeks ago Mr. Rural ED reported that former Rural Education Task Force Director Tom Luna was running for Idaho State Superintendent. Although he has won the Republican primary, his record as the Executive Director of the U.S. Department of Education's Rural Education Task Force is starting to catch up with him.

The Ridenbaugh Press comments on Mr. Luna's tenure with the Rural Education Task Force:

Luna was a Bush Administration official from early in 2003 into 2005, and one online resume lists him as senior advisor to Secretary of Education Rod Paige, director of the White House Initiative on Tribal Colleges and Universities (2003-04) but primarily, apparently, he was executive director of the U.S. Rural Education Task Force. One might expect Luna to speak at length about these experiences; instead, they tend to get perfunctory mentions. Why?

Could it be because there’s not much to tell? Or because the telling might make for some uncomfortable juxtapositions?

An editorial in the Idaho Statesman puts Mr. Luna's candidacy into a larger perspective.

Luna wants to encourage next-generation charter schools for students who are struggling to learn English or falling behind in math and reading. Jones wants to go slower, to ensure the state can provide fledgling charter schools with the technical help and legal counsel they need.

Luna supports a dramatic tax shift favored by many Republican legislators — shifting the public schools' maintenance and operations levy from the property tax to the sales tax. [Democrat Janet] Jones worries that the schools would lose a stable source of money.

Luna opposes an Idaho Education Association-backed voter initiative to raise the sales tax by a penny, pumping $200 million into schools. Jones supports the initiative.

The initiative may be a boon to Jones, a relative unknown running against an experienced Republican candidate. Teachers and public school supporters may be galvanized by an Election Day twofer: voting for the initiative and voting against Luna.

Senator Kent Conrad on Rural Schools

This continues Mr. Rural ED's look at congressional perspectives on rural schools. The quote below is from North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad. Senator Conrad is a fifth generation North Dakotan and is the ranking member of the Budget Committee and as a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee. As the representative of one of the most rural states in the nation, Conrad also serves as a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

One of the most important education priorities for Senator Conrad is preserving the quality of education in North Dakota’s rural schools. Almost 80 percent of North Dakota school districts have 600 students or less. These are unique schools and the challenges for these districts are unique as well. Senator Conrad responded to these concerns by authoring legislation to create the Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP). This landmark, bipartisan legislation was enacted in 1999. Under the REAP program, many small, rural school districts are entitled to consolidate funding from certain federal education programs to make more efficient use of the funds. Senator Conrad's legislation is critical to giving rural schools the flexibility to use federal education funding wisely. The school districts are also eligible for grant assistance that may be used to improve student achievement or provide professional development for teachers.

In the first three years of the REAP program, more than 120 North Dakota school districts received $4 million in funding. Senator Conrad will continue to fight for adequate funding for this critical rural education program.

Rural Education Dissertation Award

The National Rural Education Association is soliciting applications for the Edward W. Chance Memorial Rural Education Dissertation Award. The award recognizes doctoral research that makes a significant contribution to rural education and addresses issues of current concern. The winner of the award will be invited to present the results at the 98th Annual NREA Convention in Kansas City, Missouri, on October 23-25, 2006. The award includes a $500 stipend. The due date for applications is June 15, 2006. For more information contact Executive Director Bob Mooneyham.

Whatever Happened to Tom Luna?

A few of us have been wondering about whatever happened to Tom Luna. Some of you will remember him as the Director of the U.S. Department of Education's Rural Education Task Force. Word out of Idaho is that Tom is running for State Superintendent in Idaho and touting his accomplishments at the U.S. Department of Education. You can learn all about them at his website.

Brzezinski Rural Education Research Award

The National Rural Education Association is seeking applications for the Stanley A. Brzezinski Memorial Rural Education Research Award. Deadline for applications is June 15, 2006. The award includes a $500 stipend. Contact Executive Director Bob Mooneyham for more information.

In order to recognize outstanding, high quality research in the field of rural education, the National Rural Education Association sponsors the Stanley A. Brzezinski Memorial Rural Education Research Award. This award, funded by the Brzezinski Family, will be awarded for education research which addresses significant rural issues and makes notable contributions to the knowledge base of rural education. Research addressing rural education issues is paramount to the selection process. All rural education researchers are eligible for the award. The research could include, but not be limited to, issues of rural school efficiency and effectiveness, financing rural schools, rural poverty, the rural economy, student/rural community expectations, understanding the diversity of rural administrators, or
alternative instructional and organizational patterns for rural education. The research project judged most meritorious will receive the award and the author will be recognized at the 98th Annual NREA Convention in Kansas City, Missouri, on October 23-25, 2006.

Putting Rural Education Issues in Perspective

One way to put the issues facing rural schools into perspective is to look at what's happening with rural health care. A report in today's Denver Post paints a disheartening picture of health care for some of Colorado's rural communities.

Staff writer Karen Auge describes the situation where three Colorado counties have no full-time physician, and eight have only one.

In Crowley County in southeastern Colorado, people die in traffic accidents at a per-capita rate nearly four times that of Denver residents, according to the Colorado Health Institute.

In Baca County in southeastern Colorado, people died of diabetes at more than twice the statewide rate in 2004.

In Gunnison County on the Western Slope, 18.5 out of every 1,000 babies born in 2004 died before their first birthday. That's nearly triple the statewide rate - and higher than that of Sri Lanka and Uruguay.

Health insurance is also a problem for rural Americans.

Most people in Brush (Colorado) work. The county's 4.9 percent unemployment rate is lower than the state average of 5.5 percent.

But they earn less. The median income in Brush is $31,000 - a third less than the typical Colorado household.

And, like rural residents everywhere, people in Brush are less likely to have health insurance.

In Morgan County, 20 percent of the population had no health insurance in 2003 - the state average was 15 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

In seven rural counties, the number of uninsured is nearly 30 percent, the Colorado Health Institute says.

Putting the challenges facing rural schools in the context of the rural health care crises should give us pause. There aren't any rural counties in Colorado that don't have licensed teachers and they don't have to face life and death situations everyday. That said, rural schools should be part of the solution to rural health care problem.

Senator Burns on Montana's Rural Schools

Mr. Rural ED's series on congressional perspectives on rural schools continues with comments from Senator Conrad Burns (R-Montana).

One of the greatest challenges we have is to revolutionize education in rural areas such as Montana, where current technological capabilities may be lacking. There is nothing more important to me than making sure our kids have the education they need to get ahead in today’s competitive world. I have always championed programs such as E-Rate, which ensure that our schools have access to up-to-date technology.

While I understand the importance of ensuring that America’s young people have a strong educational foundation, I am aware that when the No Child Left Behind Act is applied to rural schools, it is not a perfect law. I have spoken with many educators around Montana and heard their concerns about Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirements, Highly Qualified Teacher (HQT) requirements, the assessment of special education students, and finally, funding issues.

I have always said that if the federal government is going to continue setting requirements and educational standards, we have to be prepared to adequately fund those rules so states like Montana can meet those challenges and continue to support the teachers and the students. Rules that make sense in New York or California are often cumbersome and expensive for rural states like Montana. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I have worked hard to secure funds for a variety of critical education programs. However, funding cannot be our only focus. Presently, I am working with the Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and Montana’s education community to improve various aspects of NCLB. It is imperative that local schools are granted more flexibility in deciding the educational needs of Montana’s students.

Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act

Should the federal government sell off land to support rural schools? That's the issue behind legislation co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Max Baucus (D-Montana) and Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) to fund the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act without selling public lands.

The bill will raise $2.6 billion over the next ten years for the rural schools program, commonly known as the county payments law, by closing a tax loophole that allows some government contractors to avoid their tax obligations. In 2005, Wyden, along with Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) and Baucus, introduced a bill to reauthorize the county payments law for another seven years. The original law is due to expire at the end of this year.

The bill is in response to the Bush Administration's proposal to sell as many as 300,000 acres of Forest Service lands to raise about $800 million for the program. The legislation would provide a steady revenue stream for the county payments law by closing a tax loophole in Federal contracts. Under current law, the Federal government does not withhold taxes owed from government contractors that provide goods and services to the Federal government. As a result, some contractors don’t comply with Federal tax law.

“Our bill will fully fund the rural schools program without selling even one acre of our prized public lands,” said Baucus, the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over tax policy. “Our public lands shouldn’t be put up for sale to the highest bidder. The Administration challenged congress to find a way to fund this program -- Ron and I just did.”

“Rural communities throughout the country rely on these payments for top quality schools and infrastructure year in and year out,” said Wyden. “We cannot abandon them, and this legislation finds a fiscally responsible way of extending this successful law.”

The county payments law, first enacted in 2000, established a six-year payment formula for counties that receive revenue sharing payments for the USFS and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands. Based on historical timber receipts, the formula established a stable source of revenue to be used for education, roads and various other county services in rural areas.

Senator Baucus, along with Senator Ken Salazar (D-Colorado), was one of the first members of Congress to condemn the land sales proposal.

Rural Students & Reading

Rural 12th grade students who were eligible for free and reduced priced lunches scored higher on the 2003 NAEP Reading Assessment than did those from central cities and urban fringes. Ok, rural students scored only 1 point higher than urban students, but it was 9 points higher than city students. This is good news for rural students and those who believe rural schools have inherent strengths.

The bad news is that rural students as a group scored the same as city students but were 5 points below their urban fringe counterparts. The moral of the story is that rural schools can do great things but there is room for improvement.

Click on the thumbnail below to see the full-size table.

NREA Mini Grant Program

This just in from the National Rural Education Association home office in Norman, Oklahoma:

Please be reminded the deadline to make application for the 2006-2007 NREA Mini Grant Program is May 1, 2006. The NREA Mini Grant Program is sponsored by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. The generous contribution made by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association funds ten NREA Mini Grants for rural school districts served by rural electric cooperatives.

NREA CARES Award

This announcement is from the National Rural Education Association.

Great American Financial Resources Incorporated has entered into a partnership with the NREA to sponsor the NREA CARES Award. This award will be presented to a rural school district in recognition of outstanding effort to build strong ties between the school district and the community it serves.

The $5000 award will be presented to a NREA School District Member at the 98th Annual Convention in Kansas City on October 23, 2006.

The receiving school district must be a NREA School District Member.

Senator Baucus on Rural Education

Max Baucus (D-Montana) is one of the few U.S. Senators who has something specifically to say on his website about rural schools:

Rural Education: I'm very proud of Montana's schools, and I've always worked to ensure that all of our schools receive the funding and assistance they need in order to provide a high quality education for our kids. I've been especially vocal about the unique needs of our rural schools during my time in the Senate. I pushed for the creation of the Rural Education Achievement Program to provide additional federal funds to rural schools, and I'm currently fighting to expand funding for the program to assist rural schools even more. In addition, I joined Senators Enzi and Conrad in forming a new Senate Rural Education Caucus in January 2003, and we are working hard to highlight the needs as well as the strengths of America's rural schools.

Local Control

One value that seems to be common among rural educators is the belief in the local control of schools. I'm not quite sure what that means in practice, particularly given the plethora of federal and state education mandates.

Senator Wayne Allard, Republican of Colorado, is clear about his position on local control:

It is important that education remain locally controlled. Those closest to the students are in the best position to know their educational needs. Parents and school boards should be able to tailor educational curriculum to local needs. Federal financial support should not encumber local programs with federal mandates. After all, the children of today are the leaders of tomorrow and it is essential that we prepare them for what lies ahead. We must continue to search for ways to make a good system of education even better. more

Of particular note is the senator's position that parents and school boards are responsible for school curriuculum. The idea that parents have a role in curriculum decisions will come as news to many parents and educators.

The Broad Prize for Urban Education

The Broad Foundation has announced that five urban school districts are finalists for the 2006 Broad Prize for Urban Education, an annual $1 million prize given to urban school districts that have made the greatest increases in student achievement.

The five finalists are:
Boston Public Schools
Bridgeport Public Schools, Conn.
Jersey City School District, N.J.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools
New York City Department of Education

The Broad Prize honors the nation's urban school districts that improve student achievement while reducing achievement gaps among ethnic groups and between high- and low-income students. The winning district will receive $500,000 in scholarships for graduating seniors. Each finalist district will receive $125,000 in scholarships. The winner will be announced on Sept. 19 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Congratulations to everyone in those districts for their accomplishments and to the Broad Foundation for undertaking the program.

What does this have to do with rural education? Simply that there's isn't a rural equivalent to the Broad Prize. Why? I'm not sure, but it doesn't help to whine about it. Perhaps it's because no one has taken the initiative to find a foundation willing to take it on. Anybody want to take a stab at it?

A Big Eastern Syndicate

It was Lucy in A Charlie Brown Christmas who spilled the beans that Christmas was actually run by a big eastern syndicate. It's starting to look like rural education is too.

A case in point is the upcoming revision of The Condition of Education in Rural Schools by the U.S. Department of Education. Rumors are that the authors of the different sections are all from the east coast with the exception of Bob Newhouse from Kansas State University. Is there nobody from west of Kansas who could have been a contributor on the project?

It's been about 12 years since the USDE published The Condition of Education in Rural Schools edited by Joyce Stern. The original report was a comprehensive look at the state of education in rural communities and is considered an important resource. The report covers the years 1980 to 1990 and is really outdated. About 5 years ago there were discussions about updating the report but USDE officials decided instead to develop a website using data from the National Center for Education Statistics. NCES has done a commendable job of keeping up-to-date data and information on the Navigating Resources for Rural Schools site.

The updating of The Condition of Education in Rural Schools is an important event for rural education. Of concern is that the only perspective represented in the report will be that of the eastern Rural-Cons. The incredible diversity of rural places is one of the challenges facing anyone attempting to do a national rural education report. Honoring that diversity should be a goal of the USDE.

Rural School Grant Writing Myths

The Top 5 Grant Writing Myths from Education Strategy Group's Grant Writing for Rural Schools and Communities Workshop

1. Rural schools can't get grants.
Lots of rural schools get grants and there are some grants that are specifically for rural schools and communities.

2. Grant writing is difficult.
Grant writing takes skill and like any skill takes practice and effort.

3. Grants always go to the projects that have the greatest needs.
Having a need is only part of what funders are looking for in a proposal. You also have to have a sound plan for addressing those needs.

4. Collaborating with others to write a grant will save time.
Collaborating with others to prepare a grant actually takes more time because there has to be coordination among the partners.

5. A well-written proposal will get funded every time.
Having a well-written is important, but it's absolutely critical that the proposal match the criteria for funding.

To learn more about the Grant Writing for Rural Schools and Community workshop contact Michael Arnold 720-641-3934 or Hobart Harmon 540-901-9932.

High Speed Internet Access

High speed internet access is no longer a luxury for rural communities wanting to participate in the knowledge economy. Voters in Timnath, Colorado have voted to offer free wireless internet to all 223 residents. A farming community between Ft. Collins and Windsor, Timnath lies in the path of impending growth that is being seen alll along the I-25 corridor in Colorado. An article in today's Denver Post reports Mayor Donna Benson hopes the free service will create economic growth that will eventually pay for the service.

Residents and businesses in Eads, Colorado, a town of 850 located in southeast Colorado also have access to wireless internet through Plains Network Services. Owner Jeanne Sorenson saw a need for the service and people have responsed. For those unfamiliar with Colorado it's worth noting that Ead's situation is diffenent from Timnath in that it's not in a high growth area.

As more rural communities get wireless access the opportunities increase for rural Americans to participate in the Knowledge Economy. Economic sustainability for many communities will require people with education levels higher than ever before. Rural schools should consider these new opportunities in thinking about their instructional programs.

Immigration Issues in Rural America

Immigration has been a hot issue in the news. Denver Post columnist Ed Quillen offers a perspective from rural Colorado. Among the issues, are language and cultural differences and the effects these new immigrants have on the local schools and economy.

Before going any further I should point out that Mr. Quillen is refering to the problem of suburban immigration to rural America. Some excerpts:

Language Differences

For one thing, there are language problems. They do not speak as we do. Few of them know a "widowmaker jack" from a "come-along," or even a "mule" from a "burro. If you refer to "my beater," they think you're talking about a kitchen tool rather than your vehicle. And when they speak, we have trouble understanding that a "BlackBerry" is an electronic device rather than something to eat.

Food Differences

It used to be simple to order "meat and potatoes" as in "burger and fries" or "sausage and hash browns" or "sirloin and baked." Now those items are a small portion of the menu if they're there at all. The immigrants have encouraged our eateries to offer organic muffins for breakfast, garden-fresh salads for lunch and braised boneless free-range skinless chicken breasts for dinner. Immigration has made it hard to find real food here, because these people insist on keeping their bizarre culture after moving to our country.

Economic Effects

My plumber recently explained that he was getting out of the repair end of the business. "I can work on clean, new construction for $50 an hour," he explained, "or crawl around in the cramped grungy cellars in the old part of town for half that. Which would you rather do?" Thus do the immigrants burden the local economy, by forcing long-time residents to pay more not just for plumbers, but also for carpenters, glaziers, masons, roofers, electricians, auto mechanics and computer technicians.

Most rural communities have to decide between two types of death. One caused by an out-migration and another caused by the in-migration of suburbanites. It's hard to say which choice is better.

NCES Locale Code Revision

The National Center for Education Statistics has released its revised 8-category locale code classification system. The new system incorporates changes in the Office of Management and Budget’s definition of “rural” that were adopted for the 2000 Decennial Census. At first glance this new classification scheme appears to be an improvement.

Locale codes are measures of a school’s location relative to populous areas. Every U.S. school is identified into one 8 categories that range from large city to rural. The new urban-centric locale codes follow the same logic as the original locale code system, but prioritize population size and distance from an urbanized area. They include four basic categories (city, suburban, town, rural) each of which is subdivided by either size or distance from an urbanized area.

Users can download a new file that includes geocoding information for 100,593 public schools reported on the Common Core of Data School Universe Survey for the 2003-04 school year. The information includes the NCES school identification code; latitude and longitude of the reported address; and two locale codes. I've never seen anyone make use of the latitude and longitude data so I'm hoping someone will figure out a project soon.

Charateristics of Rural School Districts

A new report from the National Center for Education Statistics introduces data from the fifth administration of the School and Staffing Survey (SASS). It is the most extensive sample survey of teachers and administrators in the U.S. Characteristics of Schools, Districts, Teachers, Principals, and School Libraries in the United States: 2003-04 Schools and Staffing Survey has 47 data tables, all of which break out statistics on rural/small town districts. The report includes a relatively small number of findings regarding rural/small town districts that are are included below. The most interesting finding is that a higher percent of rural/small town principals have teaching responsibilities in comparison to their non-rural counterparts.

Extended-day Programs

Forty-seven percent of public schools reported having extended-day programs providing instruction beyond the normal school day for students who needed academic assistance. Public schools located in central city locations were more likely to have this program (58 percent) than schools located in urban fringe/large towns (42 percent) or rural/small towns (45 percent). p. 3

Temporary Buildings

Thirty-two percent of public schools reported having one or more temporary buildings, and 9 percent of public schools reported an enrollment that exceeded the capacity of their permanent and temporary buildings. Public schools in rural areas were less likely to have temporary buildings (21 percent) than schools in urban fringe/large towns (34 percent) or central city locations (38 percent). The percentage of schools having temporary buildings in urban fringe/large towns was measurably different from the percentage of schools in central city locations. p.4

Teacher Experience

Eighteen percent of public school teachers had 3 or fewer years of full-time teaching experience, and 82 percent reported having 4 or more years of full-time teaching experience. Among public schools, there was a smaller percentage of teachers with 3 or fewer years of full-time teaching experience in rural/small town communities (15 percent) than the percentage of teachers with 3 or fewer years experience teaching in central cities (20 percent). There was no measurable difference between the percentage of teachers with 3 or fewer years experience teaching in urban fringe/large towns (18 percent) compared to central city or rural/small town communities. p.4

Principals with Teaching Duties

Twenty-eight percent of public school principals were currently teaching in addition to serving as principal. Principals of public schools located in rural/small town locations were more likely to be teaching in addition to serving as principal (38 percent), compared to principals of public schools in urban fringe/large town (22 percent) or central city locations (16 percent). There was no measurable difference in the percentage of principals who were teaching in public schools in urban fringe/large towns as compared to principals of public schools in central city locations. p.5

REL Contracts Announced

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Education issued a press release announcing that the department had awarded new 5-year contracts to 10 Regional Educational Laboratories. There is some information in the announcement that I didn't have when I posted Four Labs Flip on Tuesday.

The comments of Institute of Education Sciences Grover J. (Russ) Whitehurst are of interest. He noted that the labs "provide a critical link between research and practice." He added, "I'm pleased with the quality of the 10 organizations that have won the competition. We look forward to a very productive relationship as we work to meet the research needs of those engaged in improving the effectiveness of education."

The other piece of information is the total amount of each contract for the next five years. To get a sense of how much research the labs are supposed to do on issues affecting rural schools use the following calculation. (1) Add up the contract amounts for all the labs. (2) Multiple the sum by 25% since IES is required to make sure that a quarter of the labs work focuse on issues affecting rural communities. (3) Divide the product by 5 to get the amount the ten labs collectively are supposed to allocate toward rural issues each year. Could someone with a calculator post the answer for us?

AERA Rural Education SIG Sessions

The Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association is being held April 7 - 11 in San Francisco. The sessions sponsored by the Rural Education Special Interest Group are listed below. Users can do an online search of the program to find additional rural education sessions. Check the program for the most up to date information.

Saturday, April 8, 9:05am - 9:45am
Paper Discussion Session
Rural Education SIG
Moscone Center West / 3rd Floor
Rountable 24
Abstract: These papers center on the roleof identity formation in students' ways of life and interpretation of their learning world.

Session Participants:
Chair: David M. Callejo-Perez (West Virginia University)
Discussant: Kalie R. Kossar (West Virginia University)

Gender, Family Help, and Homework Management Reported by Rural Middle-School Students. Jianzhong Xu (Mississippi State University), Lyn Corno (Teachers College, Columbia University)

Patterns of Adjustment During the Transition From Middle to High School in Rural African-American Youth. Dylan Robertson (Center for Developmental Science), Tom Farmer (The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill), Matthew J. Irvin (The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill), Jana Thompson (Center for Developmental Science)

Spatial and Sociodemographic Patterns of Student Mobility. Kai A. Schafft (The Pennsylvania State University)

Student-Led Rural Community Dialogues: Discovering and Reinventing Students’ Place.
Matthew C. Calvert (University of Wisconsin-Extension), Cynthia Taines (University of Wisconsin - Madison)

The Mystery of Size: School-District Size, Curriculum Offerings, and Student Achievement in Rural Pennsylvania. Yi Gong (Keene State College), Wenfan Yan (Indiana University of Pennsylvania)

Full Circle: A Case Study of the Consolidation, Closing, Restoration, and Reopening of Barnardsville Elementary School. Gail D. Buckner (Western Carolina University), Mary Jean R. Herzog (Western Carolina University)

An Inquiry Into Achievement Differences: Traditional and Virtual High-School Courses.
Dennis M. Mulcahy (Memorial University of Newfoundland), Michael Kristopher Barbour (The University of Georgia)

Monday, April 10, 8:15am - 10:15am
Research on Rural Education: Multiple Perspectives in the United States and Abroad
Rural Education SIG
Moscone Center South / Mezzanine Level East, Room 222
Abstract: This session combines papers dealing with research on rural education in the US and abroad; creating possibilities for comparative studies in education.

Session Participants:
Chair: Edmund T. Hamann (University of Nebraska)
Discussant: Aimee A. Howley (Ohio University)

Analysis of Distance Education Use in Rural Schools. Wallace Hannum (The University of North Carolina), Tom Farmer (The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill), William R. Veal (College of Charleston), Jim Barber (The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill), Jonathan Banks (The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill), Michelle Sylva (The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill)

Mix and Match or Mismatch: High-Ability Students and Rural Schools in an Australian Context. Margaret M. Plunkett (Monash University-Gippsland), Monique Y. Osborn (Monash University)

School of the Air in Australia: From Radio to Satellite. Stephen J. Crump (University of Newcastle)

School Size and the “Power Rating” of Poverty: Substantive Finding or Statistical Artifact? Theodore Coladarci (The University of Maine)

The Influence of Rurality on Teachers' Perceptions of Their Status in English Elementary Schools. Linda M. Hargreaves (Cambridge University), Anthony Pell (Leicester University)

Monday, April 10: 4:05pm - 6:05pm
Rural Education: Rethinking the Possibilities Remove from My Schedule
SIG-Rural Education
Moscone Center South / Mezzanine Level East, Room 224
Abstract: This paper session seeks to expand research about rural education by examining issues and problems (diversity and gender identity) not usually associated with rural communities.

Session Participants:
Chair: Shana Pate (North Texas State University)
Discussant: Sharon L. Spall (Western Kentucky University)

What Can I Learn From Rural Black Family Pedagogy? Sherick A. Hughes (The University of Toledo)

Saving the Children of the Poor in Rural Schools. Aimee A. Howley (Ohio University), Caitlin Howley (AEL, Inc.), Craig B. Howley (Ohio University)

The Development of Secondary-School/Community Partnerships for a College-Going Culture in Diverse, Rural Schools: What Matters? Betty Alford (Stephen F. Austin State University), Peggy B. Gill (The University of Texas at Tyler)

What Makes Effective Rural School Teachers? Andrea M. Lachance (The State University of New York-Cortland)

Teacher Resources in High-Need Rural Schools in Texas. Debra H. Jones (Southwest Educational Development Laboratory), Celeste Alexander (Southwest Educational Development Laboratory), Michael Vaden-Kiernan (Southwest Educational Development Laboratory), Zena H. Rudo (Southwest Educational Development Laboratory)

State Funding for Out-of-State Rural Students

By Rural School Blogger (AKA Stephen Bohrer)

I understand from talking to Paula Stephenson, director of the Colorado Rural Schools Caucus, that an amendment to the Colorado school finance bill that passed out of the Colorado House of Representatives may have begun as a way to close a charter school in northwest Colorado that was predominately composed of students from Utah. One thing led to another, and we have a bill that if passed would make districts ineligible to receive state aid for students from adjoining states.

I understand there are 172 students from adjoining states attending Colorado schools. Colorado probably has as many students attending schools across the state line as come into the state. Does anyone know how many Colorado kids attend out of state? Does the legislature want to start a school finance war with other states that are educating Colorado students? School districts touching Colorado borders are all rural and small. Would we even have to talk about this if Denver touched a border of another state?

Rural schools throughout the country are experiencing declining enrollment and now someone has decided it is not fair for Colorado taxpayers to educate students from other states, regardless of how close they may live to our schools or perceive the quality of our programs. I thought we were here to educate all Americans. Many of our most ardent bashers talk of choice as if that alone were sufficient to provide an adequate education. Now the same party talking choice wants to deny students from Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas from expressing their choice by enrolling in Colorado schools.

For a specific example, Peetz is 2.5 miles south of the Nebraska border. The school there enrolls 32 Nebraska students out of a total student count of 120. My district, Holyoke, has nine Nebraska students attending our district of 600 students. We could survive the loss of $56,000 that the students represent, but what will Peetz do by August when they stand to lose 26% of their students, and budget?

How might this apply to students living in an adjoining state, but in a district that does not adjoin the Colorado district? How would this apply to foreign exchange students? How would this apply to dual home families (Celebrities or CEOs) whose child spends part of the year (October 1 “count day” for instance) in Colorado, but the rest of the year in another state, adjoining or not?

On March 3, 2006, Senator Ken Salazar (D-Colorado) gave the Keynote Address at the National Farmers Union Convention in Colorado. It was a good speech in that the Senator talked candidly about the challenges facing rural America, the obstacles to addressing them, and how the federal government should respond. It does not appear the state legislators are hearing his message. This anti-rural school amendment to the school finance act is mean spirited and tasteless. Perhaps the senator can bring his bully pulpit to the Colorado State Capital and teach those elected to represent us that rural schools count too.

Mr. Rural ED has Moved

Mr. Rural ED has moved to a new weblog service. The new service is more powerful allowing for multiple authors and more flexibility in design. The new site also allows users to subscribe to an RSS news feed of the blog. Visit the new home of Mr. Rural ED at http://mrruraled.typepad.com/

Four Labs Flip

The U.S. Department of Education has annouced that four of the ten regional educational laboratories have been awarded to new organizations. The RELs constitute the largest investment by the federal government into rural education research.

The new lab contract holders are:

The CNA Corporation replaces Edvantia—formerly AEL (Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia).

Education Development Center, Inc replaces Laboratory at Brown (LAB) (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands).

Edvance Research, Inc replaces Southwest Education Development Laboratory (Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas).

The Pennsylvania State University replaces Laboratory for Student Success (Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC).

Labs successfully defending their contracts are:

Learning Point Associates serving Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning serving Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming.

Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory serving Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.

Pacific Resources for Education and Learning serving American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia (Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Yap), Guam, Hawaii, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau).

University of North Carolina at Greensboro serving Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

WestEd serving Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah.

The Regional Educational Laboratory program is located in the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences.

Navigating Resources for Rural Schools

I hadn't been there for awhile, so I was surprised to see a new look for the U.S. Department of Education's Navigating Resources for Rural Schools site. It's a definite improvement over the look of the old site, which included a lot of stock photographs that had been used in other online and print publications.

At first glance it doesn't seem like there's much data on the site. Then again, is there ever enough? It seems like I can never find the exact information I'm looking for in the tables generaqted by the National Center on Education Statistics. Actually, there is a fair amount information available on the site and I could always get the data and make my own tables.

One downside is that some of the data is old. For example, the data posted on student achievement in civics on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) is from 1998. My sense is that NCES is overflowing with data that could be used to generate information on rural schools. Should we expect NCES to do all the work and have all the fun? I don't think so.

Creating a rural education databank would be a nice project for an organization wanting to support rural education research. Anybody interested?

NREA Research Symposium

This notice came in from Bob Mooneyham, Executive Director of the National Rural Education Association.
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The National Rural Education Association will host the NREA Research Symposium on October 21-22, 2006, at the Westin Crown Center Hotel, Kansas City, Missouri. The NREA Research Symposium will precede the 98th Annual NREA Convention, which is scheduled on October 23-25, 2006. Registration for the NREA Research Symposium will be $150, unless you register for the NREA Convention. Registration for the 98th Annual NREA Convention provides a free registration for the NREA Research Symposium.

You are invited to submit a proposal to present at the NREA Research Symposium. All proposed manuscripts will be peer reviewed based on a uniform rubric.

The NREA Executive Committee has established a $500 award for the Best Research Paper. The award will be presented to the author of the paper that is judged to be the Best Research Paper. The award will be presented at the Symposium and the recipient of the award will present the Best Research Paper during the Research Symposium.
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Go to http://www.nrea.net/NREA%20Annual%20Convention.htm for more information about the Research Forum and the NREA Convention.

Rural Middle School Student Homework Management

A recently article from "The Journal of Research in Rural Education" makes the a contribution to our understanding of differences between rural and nonrural students. Authors Janzhong Xu and Lyn Corno examine homework management by middle schools students. I'm not too crazy about the definition they use for rural, but it follows standard conventions. They note that using data from only one school limits the generalizability of their findings.

Differences identified by Xu and Corno include:

"Urban students reported taking significantly more initiative in time management, focusing attention, and monitoring motivation than they did in arranging their environment or in controlling their emotions."

"Rural students ... reported taking significantly more initiative in arranging their homework environment, managing time, and focusing attention than they did in monitoring motivation or in controlling their emotions."

"Urban students took significantly less initiative in arranging their environment, while rural students took significantly less initiative in monitoring their motivation."

Xu and Corno also provide plausible explanations for the differences. You can read about them at http://www.umaine.edu/jrre/21-2.htm

Senator Salazar on Rural America

On March 3, 2006, Senator Ken Salazar (D-Colorado) gave the Keynote Address at the National Farmers Union Convention in Colorado. It was a good speech in that the Senator talked candidly about the challenges facing rural America, the obstacles to addressing them, and how the federal government should respond.

In the interest of full disclosure, I worked as a canvasser on Senator Salazar's campaign. I also tend to like him since he attended The University of Michigan Law School.

The full text of Senator Salazar’s speech is available at http://salazar.senate.gov/news/speeches/060303farmunion.html
Here are some excerpts.
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Often times, I have heard rural America described as the heartbeat of our great nation. As Colorado’s United States Senator, I am proud of my values and roots in rural Colorado, and I believe in that description. I also believe that rural America has the potential to be the heartbeat of our nation’s economy.

For years, our rural communities have produced the affordable food that feed American families. Rural Americans have been the stewards of the land for our future generations.

Time after time, the young men and women of our rural communities have proudly answered the call to service and have defended our country as members of our armed services.

In fact, a recent article in the Denver Post, wrote about a study that shows rural communities in Colorado, and across the U.S., are producing the vast majority of our new military recruits. For example, rural Jackson County, in northwest Colorado, has the second-highest recruitment rate in the country.

For years, our rural communities have embodied that democratic spirit on which our great nation was founded and, today, they continue that tradition.

Today, our rural communities are at a turning point. While they continue their great legacy, they are also emerging as reservoirs of vast potential to drive America toward a viable twenty-first century economy and meaningful national security.
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But we have obstacles to overcome. My friends, the evidence suggests that the current Administration does not share this vision of a thriving rural America. Over the past few years rural communities have carried the burden of budget cuts for the entire federal budget.

Amazingly, while agriculture accounts for less than 1% of the total budget, 25% of the proposed mandatory cuts for the next fiscal year alone will come from programs serving our rural communities. We have to keep our fiscal house in order and balance our budget - but not on the backs of the men and women of rural America.
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It’s not enough for the Administration to say it shares our values; it has to truly believe in those values if we are to make the difference we know we can make.

This Administration should not feel like investment in our communities is fiscally irresponsible spending or charity. Rural America should not be thought of, talked about, and invested in as a way for politicians to get votes. It should be a driver for our economy and certainly not an afterthought.

I want our government to be long-term partners with rural America, to share the vision of a thriving, innovative network of rural communities across this Nation acting as a driving force for our national prosperity and our national security. Failure to invest in the future of rural America is a terrible missed opportunity.

Education Service Agencies Supporting Rural Schools

An article in the March 2006 issue of "The School Administrator" describes the ways intermediate school districts are providing support to rural districts. Author Hobart Harmon uses examples from across the country to the value of educational service units. Some examples:

"Heywood Cordy, superintendent in Jenkins County, Ga., relies on the Teacher Alternative Preparation program offered by the Central Savannah River Area Regional Educational Service Agency. His district hired seven teachers who completed the RESA program in the past year. 'The bottom line is without the RESA pool of teaching candidates our students would have a sub in the classroom, rather than a high-quality, full-time teacher,' Cordy says."
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"As superintendent of the 715-student Northeast Community School District in Goose Lake, Iowa, Jim Cox relies on the Mississippi Bend Area Education Agency to adequately serve students with disabilities. The service agency has the capacity to hire high-caliber educators to serve on a regional basis. Cox finds the agency also does an excellent job in keeping school district personnel informed of new regulations and the latest research regarding special education services and issues."
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"In Washington state, Educational Service District 112 makes available an NCLB Communication Toolkit to its 30 school districts. It includes sample letters, forms, news releases and Q&A sheets to help educators talk easily and accurately with parents and community members about the law. 'It is one of many resources available from ESD 112 that saves us time and money,' says Jim Saltness, superintendent of the Stevenson-Carson School District in Stevenson, Wash."

Hobart's article is a nice contribution to our understanding of how education service agencies are supporting rural schools. You can view the article on the American Association of School Administrators website at http://www.aasa.org/publications/saarticledetail.cfm?ItemNumber=5450&snItemNumber=&tnItemNumber=

A Perfect Storm on the Great Plains

A March 16 report in the Denver Post describes a perfect storm of factors creating population declines in the Great Plains. Author Robert Sanchez (Plains Grow More Lonesome) cites minimal economic development in Colorado's agriculture-based counties coupled with drought and stagnate crop price as contributing to the problem. Adding to the problem are farm consolidations and the closing of manufacturing businesses.

For years economic development in many rural communities was built on attracting businesses that brought lower skilled and lower paying jobs. As a result, there were few if any jobs available for college graduates in rural communities. The current situation on the plains is evidence that the focus on lower skilled jobs is no longer a viable option for the long-term sustainability of rural communities.

The good news is that technology is helping create more jobs that can be done anywhere. I know someone who works out of their home in Colorado for a company where most of her colleagues work in their office in Philadelphia. She can literally do her job anywhere as long as she has access to high-speed Internet and mail delivery. These types of jobs will continue to grow as companies become more comfortable with people work off site.

How can schools adapt to these economic conditions? One way is to place greater emphasis on preparing students for post-secondary education. For most people a high school diploma is not sufficient to finding work in the knowledge economy. Even if they don't work in the knowledge economy most good paying jobs require some sort of college training though not necessarily a four-year degree.

Another aspect of the shift toward higher-skilled, higher-wage jobs is that people who work in these types of jobs have high expectations for their schools. Rural communities wanting to attract people who work in the knowledge economy need to have strong schools. Without good schools they might be washed away in the perfect storm on the Great Plains.

The 65% Solution

The Denver Post has done a great public service by educating the public about a proposed ballot measure that would require Colorado's pubic school to allocated at least 65% of their current operating expenditures to classroom instructional activities.

Thousands of well-intentioned Coloradoans have signed petitions to get the measure on the ballot. Governor Bill Owens became the 100,000 signers. I was asked to sign the petition at my local grocery store. The person collecting signatures wasn't too happy about the questions I asked.

On the face of it the proposal makes sense. Who wouldn't be in favor of requiring school districts to spend at least 65% of school funds on instruction? The Post's February 23, 2006 editorial lays out the arguments against the proposal:

(1) It eliminates flexibility in how local officials budget their tax money.

(2) It doesn't include counselors as a "classroom" expense. I would add it also excludes other support personnel (e.g., media specialists) whose efforts help students learn.

(3) It’s foolish to expect small rural school districts to budget money under the same formula used by large urban districts that have different challenges and expenses.

(4) If a community decides its schools aren't spending enough on classroom instruction, it can elect a new school board.

The Post also highlights the absurdity of a Democratic proposal to require schools to spend 75 percent or operating expenditures on the classroom. That proposal would include the costs of counselors, principals and food service.

The 65% solution is further proof that for every problem there's a simple solution that's wrong.

NRCRES Website

The other day I was wondering whether the National Research Center on Rural Education Support (NRCRES) had gotten a website yet. Son of a gun, they do! It's a pretty good-looking site. The site contains information about the center's work and articles for downloading from what appears to be work done under previous contracts.

One downside to the site is that it doesn't quite have a national feel to it. A major concern has been that the center would focus a disproportionate amount of attention on rural education issues in the southeast since it located at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Lending credence to this concern is that the majority of articles available for downloading in the Journal Article Gallery focus on studies involving African American students in the Southeast. While research on educational issues facing rural African Americans are of great importance, it would be helpful for us in the west to have access to similar types of studies focusing on Hispanic and Native American populations.

Adding to the regional, rather than national, feel of the NRCRES website is a slide show of scenes that look to be in the east and southeast. Adding some slides from the Southwest, Rocky Mountains, West coast, and Northwest would help create a national feel. Adding some pictures of people and schools would add an education feel to the site.

Another curious thing about the site is that it highlights an inconsistency between what NRCRES says is a research priority and its research program. The very first research topic listed by NRCRES is the "retention of qualified teachers." Yet there's no mention of teacher retention any of the three current research programs. Is this example of a federally funded project saying one thing and doing another? Having worked on other federally funded projects I've learned that what people do is more important than what they say.

The other interesting thing is that the center's work will focus on the "retention of qualified teachers" rather than on the retention of quality teachers. Anyone who has been a teacher knows that just because someone is qualified doesn't mean that they’re effective. I'll take effective over qualified every time.

Take a few minutes and visit the NRCRES website http://www.nrcres.org/. It's a pretty good start.

Update on Colorado HR 1150

Last week the Colorado House Committee on Education voted down HR 1150, a bill to establish statewide standards for when public schools in Colorado could start and end the school year. The bill would have required all of Colorado’s public schools to start school the Tuesday after Labor Day and end no sooner than the Friday before Memorial Day. To gain some insight into the bill, it's instructive to look at who testified in the hearing on both sides of the debate. See the previous post "Today's Nominees for Worst People in the World" for more information on the bill.

The first person to testify was one of the bill's sponsors, Representative Lynn Hefley (R). Among her comments were that having different dates set by local school districts hurts businesses and families. She also noted the impact of the current school district schedules on attendance at the Colorado State Fair—keep that point in mind.

Also testifying in support of the bill were Jerry McLain, representing the American Camp Association; Bill Darrough, representing Camp Timberline, Inc.; Kitty Clemens, representing herself; Craig Reed, representing the Broadmoor Hotel; Ilene Kamsler, representing Colorado Hotel and Lodging; and Christie O'Donnell, representing the Colorado Restaurant Association. Providing the best insight into the catalyst for the bill may have been Jim Snook, representing the Colorado State Fair as a State Fair Commissioner. Mr. Snook testified on the impact of school calendar on participation and attendance at the Colorado State Fair. Now we're getting to the real issue.

Testifying against the bill were Paula Stephenson, representing the Rural Schools Caucus; Phil Fox, representing the Colorado Association of School Executives; Jane Paxtun, representing herself as a member of board of education of Boulder Valley Schools; and Jane Urschel, representing the Colorado Association of School Boards.

To review, those in favor of the bill represented interests in the tourist industry and those who testified against it represented education organizations. Now lets not forget that tourism is very important to Colorado and to the state's children, youth and families. Until I took my first teaching job I lived in tourist areas my entire life and appreciate the importance of the industry to rural communities. But local communities are in a better position to make a determination about when their schools start and end.

A special thanks to Paula Stevens, Executive Director of the Rural Caucus, for keeping an eye on things at the state legislature and for helping defeat this terrible bill.

Today's Nominees for Worst People In the World

With apologizes to Keith Olbermann and the staff at Countdown, today’s nominees for Worst People in the World are Colorado State Representative Lynn Hefley (R) and State Senator Peter Groff (D). The two legislators have sponsored a bill that requires all of Colorado’s public schools to start the Tuesday after Labor Day and end no sooner than the Friday before Memorial Day.

What great educational purpose does this legislation serve? Hefley and Groff claim that the primary purpose of the bill is to reduce significant burdens on families. Parents who move into a district may not realize that schools in their new district starts earlier than their previous school and, as a result, their children may miss a week or two of school. Establishing a standard beginning date would ease the burden of finding out when school starts and would increase flexibility in planning family activities.

Those reasons would seem to affect a relatively small number of children, so why would the legislature take up a bill that will dictate the start and end times for all of Colorado’s public schools? The tourism industry needs child labor. According to House Bill 06-1150, “an early-August or mid-August start date for the school year places a significant burden on employers in retail, the food industry, and especially the tourism industry who are forced to work short-handed during what is for many businesses one of the busiest times of the year.”

Evidently local communities are unable to determine what dates work best for them in establishing the starting and ending dates of the school year. Luckily the Colorado Legislature has the time to help them out.

Representative Lynn Hefley and Peter Groff, sponsors of the bill to standardize school calendars to help Colorado’s tourism industry. Today’s, with apologizes to Keith Olbermann and the staff at Countdown, Worst People in the World.

Atta Boy Bob!

It’s difficult to craft a presidential address of any kind that captures my attention. They typically either set the bar so low that achieving the goals is virtually meaningless, or set the bar so high they’re essentially meaningless because there’s no way an organization can accomplish them.

An exception is Bob Newhouse’s presidential address to the National Rural Education Association that was excerpted in the Winter 2005 Rural Education News. In his address, Bob laid out his goals for his year as president:

1. To do everything required to continue building the performance, stature, reputation, and resources of NREA.

2. To ensure that the work of NREA is recognized by it’s constituency as vital matters that affect every citizen.

3. To focus intensively on maintaining access to NREA as a gateway of opportunity to the loyal members of NREA and the education community at large.

4. To ensure that NREA will be a positive model of diverse people working together

Bob’s aspirations for his presidential year reflect his skills as a researcher. His goals are clearly stated, understandable, measurable and achievable. He doesn’t over promise what he can deliver nor does he lower expectations.

Congratulations Bob, you got my attention and support. Not an easy thing to do.

Rural Ed SIG Steps Up

It wasn't until recently I realized that the Rural Education Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association has migrated it's website over to Blogger and added some new features. These new features make the site one of the most valuable online resources available to those interested in rural education issues. Of particular note is the addition of links to other rural education blogs and news items. The combination of research, news and commentary creates, what could be, a powerful forum to address rural education issues. The challenge for the SIG is to maintain an online community that pushes all of us out of our comfort zones.

Well done to SIG President Dennis Mulcahy and to everyone who has worked on the site. Visit the site by clicking the headline of this post or go to http://ruralsig.blogspot.com/

World Wide Growth in Agriculture

If you live near a rapidly expanding city that is steadily gobbling up agricultural land for development, you might be surprised by a small piece in the most recent Smithsonian magazine. According to University of Wisconsin researchers, the percentage of the world's landmass devoted to agriculture has increased significantly over the past century. Using satallite images and ground-level surveys, scientists estimate that 40 percent of the earth's landmass is under cultivation or used to graze animals. That figure is up from about 25 percent a hundred years ago. South America accounts for a good portion of this growth thanks to an increase in soy bean production, most of which is exported to China.

You can find the item on page 18 of the February 2006 Smithsonian magazine.