Rural

Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. students attend rural schools. After a two-year pandemic, issues related to funding, teacher recruitment and retention, and serving disadvantaged students have become more severe in rural school districts.

In this five-part report series, “Educational Equity for Rural Students: Out of the Pandemic, but Still Out of the Loop,” NSBA’s Center for Public Education (CEP) examines the growing diversity of rural students, and the urgent need to fix the digital divide and support rural student well-being. The series explores topics about unequal learning opportunities and the achievement gap that affect these students.

Educational Equity for Rural Students: Out of the Pandemic, but Still Out of the Loop

(A Five-Part Series)

Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. students attend rural schools. After a two-year pandemic, issues related to funding, teacher recruitment and retention, and serving disadvantaged students have become more severe in rural school districts. In this five-part series, we use data to address the growing diversity of rural students, and the urgent need to fix the digital divide and support rural student well-being. We also explore five topics about unequal learning opportunities and the achievement gap that affect these students.

Part 1: Growing Diversity of Rural Students
In this section, we discuss changes in the enrollment patterns in rural schools and the growing diversity of their students. Our data cover not only the demographic changes of rural students, but also isolation levels, poverty concentration, regional differences in poverty, and other challenges.

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Educational Equity for Rural Students: Out of the Pandemic, but Still Out of the Loop

(A Five-Part Series)

Part 2: An Urgent Need to Fix the Digital Divide

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the urgency of building equal access to internet services in rural areas. In this section, we address how the persistent digital divide ― often referred to as the homework gap ― causes underserved rural students to face more challenges and disadvantages, and what strategies education leaders may take to close the gap.

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Educational Equity for Rural Students: Out of the Pandemic, but Still Out of the Loop

(A Five-Part Series)

Part 3: Thinking Broadly and Deeply about Rural Student Achievement and Teacher Pipelines

This report focuses on the student achievement gap and teacher shortages in rural areas. We examined the diversity of rural students on the Nation’s Report Card, namely, regional, demographic, and geographical patterns in student academic performance. Based on our findings, we discuss five unique learning opportunities that rural students often miss and encourage education leaders to consider providing more policy and practice support in those fields.

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Educational Equity for Rural Students: Out of the Pandemic, but Still Out of the Loop

(A Five-Part Series)

Part 4: School Safety and Mental Health of Rural Students: Things That Matter

In this part of our report on rural education, we present data about how the COVID-19 pandemic changed rural student behaviors and aggravated mental health issues in rural schools. Challenges and considerations are examined in the areas of preventing suicide in rural schools, preventing school violence in rural areas, and partnering with parents and communities to foster a safe and healthy school culture.

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Educational Equity for Rural Students: Out of the Pandemic, but Still Out of the Loop

(A Five-Part Series)

Part 5: Parent and Community Supports Are Assets of Rural Schools
In this concluding part of our rural education series, we focus on stories of rural families that go beyond statistics and delve into specific challenges rural parents encounter when getting involved in their children's education. Strategic recommendations are provided for rural school districts to support their communities better and enhance educational outcomes.

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