Life in Small, Rural Schools
The one-room schoolhouse evokes images of a quieter, simpler time. But the reality of rural life is far from simple. Rachel Tompkins, president of the nonprofit Washington, D.C.-based Rural School and Community Trust (www.ruraledu.org), talked to galeschools.com about the special challenges and advantages of the small, rural American school.
galeschools.com: Rachel, what's the profile of a small, rural school?
Rachel Tompkins: Rural America is very diverse, so it is hard to make generalizations about what a small rural school looks like. A lot depends on the place. But generally, these schools are in sparsely settled areas or in places that have made a commitment to keeping schools small and in the rural communities where kids live. The small number of students creates statistical challenges in using state assessments. In some regions of the country students tend to come from poor families; in fact, entire districts may be in financial distress. Students are diverse — 17% are minority, the same as the nation as a whole. Finally, many rural areas are facing depopulation and declining enrollment.
galeschools.com: It sounds as if these schools are not an ideal environment for learning.
Students from East Feliciana Parish schools in the Mississippi
Delta of Louisiana study the local environment as a way of learning
science. This "place-based" learning in East Feliciana's rural schools
has led to significant improvements in science test scores. |
At the Rural Trust, we study how to maintain those advantages and still meet the demands of the federal No Child Left Behind Act [NCLB] and other expectations.
galeschools.com: What's the biggest challenge facing your constituency?
Tompkins: Well, near the top of the list is teacher recruitment and retention. Because rural property wealth is not that high, and property taxes help fund the schools, the pay scales in our rural communities don't begin to match what teachers may be offered in larger cities or suburbs. Yearly turnover in some districts reaches 30%.
galeschools.com: That's an arresting number.
Tompkins: It's understandable. Most teacher colleges don't emphasize rural schools, and don't prepare teachers to teach multiple subjects. And even though many schools have high-tech equipment, the teachers had little training in them and were not confident of their skills. Technology training is getting better, but it's still an issue.
galeschools.com: What are the latest trends in rural schools?
Tompkins: Distance learning is becoming important, especially in remote areas of the country. You can install a relatively inexpensive unit that enables qualified teachers to offer courses via interactive video to entire districts at the same time. It's one way to offer a richer curriculum and meet NCLB requirements.
galeschools.com: Speaking of NCLB, last month's announcement that rural-school teachers of more than one subject now have three years to become highly qualified must have been good news.
Tompkins: And, they must be provided with training to get them to that level. This decision provides a real benefit for a lot of places. If you have a science vacancy, you can hire a biology major and give that teacher three years to become highly qualified in physics as well. That's reasonable.
galeschools.com: In general, how do small rural schools rate No Child Left Behind?
Tompkins: There are sets of concerns. In parts of America where test scores are already high — places like Vermont, Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas — there's a sense of "it's not broken, so why fix it?" On the other side of the coin is the challenge of the very impoverished districts — the Mississippi Delta, Appalachia, native reservations — where they say that NCLB mandates don't help them deal with their unique problems.
Also, school choice is not an option for most of us. It's a distance issue; in one area of Wyoming, the nearest "alternative" school may be 150 miles away. Most of the rural communities that have created charter schools have done so not as an option, but as a replacement for community-based public schools that have been consolidated. The charter school becomes "the" public school, allowing students to continue to go to school close to home rather than being bused long distances to a school away from their community.
galeschools.com: What do you like about NCLB?
Tompkins: The philosophy behind this law — that every child can achieve success in school — is one we agree with. In our communities, we're well aware of the potential that exists in our children. Potential should never be written off because a student is poor, or the child of immigrants, or lives in an isolated area.
galeschools.com: Let's elaborate on that. Are rural students generally college bound?
Tompkins: It varies. One aspect of rural America's diversity is seen in the education of adults in the community. In Maine or Minnesota, it's common to have 90% of the population with at least a high school education. In the coal fields of West Virginia, the rate may be under 50%. Overall, the adult educational levels in a community tend to correlate highly with the college-going rates.
Some people might say that low graduation rates occur because poor, or rural, people don't value education. But that puts a spin on a stereotype that is unfair. If a high school diploma is sufficient to find work in your town, then an expensive college education doesn't seem like it is of much value. It's a rational decision made according to the economy. Today, with fewer unskilled jobs and more emphasis on technical training, young people need to consider higher education.
But even if there will always be more jobs for janitors than computer programmers, we believe everyone benefits from lifelong learning. Not just to help you get a job, but because it helps you become a better citizen, a better parent and a better neighbor.
galeschools.com: One last question — are you a product of a small, rural school?
Tompkins: Yes! I grew up in West Virginia and started school at my mother's knee. She taught me the first grade, and then I was enrolled in the second grade in Minnehaha Springs. It was a two-room school; we sat at desks with inkwells and got our heat from a potbellied stove. We had a pump for water and, of course, an outhouse.
Our teacher handled grades 1-6, with a blackboard for each grade. When you finished the second-grade questions, you could go over to the third-grade blackboard and try those. It was a good place to be for a curious child.