Why Rural Matters 2003 Aims to Highlight the Needs of Rural Schools Nationwide

On February 12, 2003, the Rural School and Community Trust released a report strongly urging policymakers, and rural residents to pay attention to the unique concerns of rural schools. Although one-third of America's schoolchildren are educated in rural areas or towns with 25,000 people or less, policy director Marty Strange of the Rural Trust asserts that their needs are often ignored, especially in the wake of the passing of the No Child Left Behind Act. (For summary and analysis of No Child Left Behind, see the ACCESS NCLB pages). "In most of the 50 states, they are left behind from the start."

Why Rural Matters 2003: The Continuing Need for Every State to Take Action on Rural Education rates every state in Importance, or the relevance of rural education to that state, and Urgency, the degree to which it is vital for decision makers to act on rural education issues in the state. The Importance Gauge's factors include the percentage of a state's population that is rural, the percentage of public schools in rural areas, and the percentage of rural children living in poverty, while the Urgency Gauge takes into account average rural teacher salaries, average student-to-teacher ratios, the percentage of schools with declining enrollments, and the percentage of rural teachers using computers in class, among others. Together, the Importance Gauge and the Urgency Gauge comprise each state's "Rural Education Priority" ranking.

The 13 states with the highest priority rankings are (with highest first): Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, North Dakota, South Dakota, North Carolina, Arkansas, West Virginia, South Carolina, Louisiana, Tennessee, Montana and Maine. Strange emphasizes, however, that all states must ensure that no child is left behind because he or she attends a rural school.

Prepared February 14, 2003