Ordering Information for the NREA History

Yesterday I mentioned the NREA history book edited by Paula Hodges, but I neglected to mention how to order it.

To order, send $34.00 plus $7 for shipping and handling (and a note telling them what it's for) to:

National Rural Education Association
112 Fourth Street — Box 2
University of Oklahoma
Norman, OK 73019

You can save $7 if you pick the book up at the NREA Convention in November.

NREA Celebrating 100 Years: 1907-2007

My copy of the the official history of the National Rural Education Association arrived today and I have to say that Paula Hodges did a tremendous job of putting it together. Rather than a dull recitation of the history, Paula pulled together commentary, photographs and old publications to tell the story of the association

I've only skimmed through it but my first impression is the photographs themselves are worth the cost. Also of particular note are mentions of Bill Clinton and Howard Dean addressing the annual convention. I didn't see any mention of President George W. Bush speaking at the convention, but I may have missed it.

If you are a long time NREA member, you might want to buy a copy and have people sign it like a high school yearbook (Hobart Harmon's picture is on page 102). If you're a new member you'll want a copy so that you'll better understand the association.

Well done to everyone who contributed to National Rural Education Association: Celebrating 100 Years 1907-2007 !

Yes Virginia, There are Excellent Rural Schools

We take pleasure in answering the email below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of Mr. Rural ED:

Dear Mr. Rural ED—

I am 8 years old. Some education experts say there are no excellent rural schools. Daddy says, “If you see it in Mr. Rural ED, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, are there excellent rural schools?

Virginia O’Hanlon

Virginia, those education experts are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge and No Child Left Behind.

Yes, Virginia, there are excellent rural schools. They exist as certainly as love and generosity and the Rural Educaiton Achievement Program exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no rural schools! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no six-man football then, no superintendent who knows every student's name, no school breaks during hunting season to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would not make adequate yearly progress.

Not believe in excellent rural schools! You might as well not believe in standards-based education. You might get Margaret Spellings to hire desk-jockeys to watch all the schools to find excellent rural schools, but even if they did not see one, what would that prove? Desk-jockeys don't see excellent rural schools, but that is no sign that there aren't great rural schools. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies scoring Advanced on the math section of the Colorado Student Assessment Program? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, and Vice President Cheney, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No excellent rural schools! Thank God! they exist and always will. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, rural schools will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

How to Effectively Involve Parents in Schools

Research has repeatedly confirmed that parent involvement is a key component of school improvement. But developing and implementing a successful parent involment strategy can be tricky.

A new book by Hobart Harmon and Ben Dickens helps teachers and administrators overcome that problem by providing practical advice on how to involve parents in a positive and meaningful way.

In Creating Parent and Family Involvement: 101 Ideas for Teachers Who Care Hobart and Ben explain:

• how parent and family involvement creates student success.
  
• how to use a five-step process and simple self-assessment tool to create meaningful parent and family involvement.
  
• how to implement 101 parent and family involvement ideas.
  
• over 50 tips teachers can give parents in helping their child be successful in school.
  

Hobart and Ben also offer workshops aimed at helping schools more effectively involve parents in their children's education. Visit the PCRS website for more information about the book and workshops.