The Competitive Disadvantage - Teacher Compensation in Rural America. Rural teachers, on average earn less than their counterparts in urban and suburban districts. This paper presents the issue, examines some of the implications, and offers suggestions of what states can do to improve teacher salaries in rural districts.
Distance learning is here to stay. Its future appears to be unsure only in its direction or extent of growth. This paper focuses on the applicability and potential of two-way interactive television (I-TV) for small and rural K-12 schools as a primary asset in improving educational access and equity and calls for the adoption of enlightened distance learning policies and guidelines at the state and local levels. Appendices include: (1) Characteristics of Major Distance Learning Technologies; (2) Types of Distance Learning Technologies; and (3) a Categorization of State Videoconferencing Policies. The Appendices are followed by a glossary of technical terms and list of references.
Many of America's leaders, people who have--or are--shaping the arts, academics, business, government, human rights, science, technology, and other public fields got their start in rural communities and schools.
We term these people "World Changers" and we're celebrating them and publicizing their accomplishments here on Rural Matters.
Help us add to this ongoing catalog of rural Americans who have made or are making significant contributions to our public lives. Send us the name, rural community or school, and accomplishments of rural "World Changers" of the 20th and 21st centuries.
We'll feature new nominations on the front page of Rural Matters and then we'll catalog them here on the Rural World Changers Resource page.
You can also add to, change, or comment on "World Changers" nominations already posted. If you'd like, we'll credit you for your nomination.
Nominate a rural "World Changer."
RURAL AMERICA'S WORLD CHANGERS
DOUG BURGUM is chairman of Microsoft Business Solutions, one of Microsfot Corporations seven core business centers. Burgum is a native of Arthur, North Dakota, population 400. He attended North Dakota State University and earned his MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. At Microsoft, Burgum reports to Jeff Raikes, president of the Microsoft Business Division.
DICK CAVETT, Gibbon, Nebraska. Cavett hosted a number of television and occasionally radio talk programs called "The Dick Cavett Show" on several networks. The shows began in the 1960s and continue to the present.
JAMES FERGASUN inventor, Wakenda, Missouri. Fergason is recognized throughout the world as a pioneer of modern liquid crystal technology. Starting in November of 1957 when he saw his first liquid crystal, he has continued to conduct research leading to many applications as well as a better understanding of this state of matter.
Throughout his distinguished career, Dr. Fergason developed over 150 patents on liquid crystal technology, leading to scientific advancements that improved the lives of millions of individuals. His research resulted in the introduction of many new products that leveraged liquid crystal technology including optical medical and safety devices, quartz watches, LCD displays, and much more.
JAY W. FORRESTER is a pioneer American computer engineer and systems theorist. He was born 14 July 1918, on a cattle ranch in Climax, Nebraska, twenty miles from the nearest town of Anselmo. The ranch had been homesteaded by his parents, Duke and Ethel Forrester.
Forrester was educated at MIT in electrical engineering, where he spent his entire career. During the 1940s and early 50s, he did research in electrical and computer engineering, heading the Whirlwind project and developing the "Multi-coordinate digitally information storage device" (coincident-current system), the forerunner of today's RAM. He is believed to have created the first animation in the history of computer graphics, a "jumping ball" on an oscilloscope.
AUTHERINE LUCY FOSTER was the first African American student to attend the University of Alabama. She was born and went to school through junior high in Shiloh, Alabama. She was admitted to Graduate School at the University in 1952, but the University repealed her admissionwhen it discovered that she was African American. She approached the NAACP, which filed a lawsuit under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall. In 1955 the NAACP secured a court order restraining the University from rejecting applicant students on the basis of race. In February of 1956 (seven years before Governor George Wallace made his infamous "stand in the school house door" to block James Hood and Vivian Malone from entering), Autherine Lucy began attending classes at the University as angry white mobs became increasingly violent. After three days the University suspended her "for her own safety" and then expelled her. In 1980 the University overturned the expulsion and in1992, Autherine Lucy Foster earned a Masters in Elementary Education. She is widely recognized for her courage in pioneering the desegregation of public universities in the south in what is widely considered to be one of the first tests of the Brown decision.
LORENZO DOW FULLER, JR. starred in 1947 in a 15-minute variety program on NBC, becoming the first African American to host a national television show. He also shaped early television as a special material writer and musical director. Fuller grew up in Stockton, Kansas.
CORETTA SCOTT KING, civil and human rights activist, namesake of the Coretta Scott King Book Award of the American Library Association, and wife of Martin Luther King, Jr. She was born in Heiberger, Alabama in Perry County, where she attended school through junior high. She went to high school at Lincoln Academy in Marion, also in Perry County, and earned degrees from Antioch College and New England Conservatory of Music. Coretta Scott King established the King Center, promoted non-violence and worked for human and civil rights in South Africa and across the globe, and worked to establish Martin Luther King Day as a national holiday.
CLAUDE PEPPER represented Florida for 61 years in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, serving from 1936 to 1950 in the Senate and from 1962 to 1989 in the House. He chaired the House Select Committee on Aging and is most widely remembered for his advocacy work for the elderly. Claude Pepper was born in Dudleyville, Alabama in Tallapoosa County and attended school in Camp Hill, also in Tallapoosa County.
JEFF RAIKES, President, Microsoft Business Division. Raikes was born in Ashland, Nebraska. His brother, Ron Raikes, runs the family farm there and serves as Chair of the Nebraska legislature’s education committee.
This post is regularly updated to include new information related to consolidation and small schools. Check back often for additional materials and resources.
Small schools and small school districts frequently find themselves subject to consolidation attempts. Yet, research indicates that students perform better in smaller schools and districts, that smaller schools and districts are just as cost-effective as larger schools and districts in rural areas, and that schools and districts are essential parts of rural infrastructure and make important contributions to the economy and well-being of rural communities. There are also a number of alternatives to consolidation that make good sense educationally and fiscally.
If your schools or district is threatened with consolidation, there are a number of information resources available to help your community. Here is a partial listing to get you started:
NEW: Slow Motion: Traveling by School Bus in Consolidated Districts in West Virginia. This report from the Rural Trust finds that students who attend school in counties with consolidated high schools spend 43% more time on the bus than students who attend smaller, community-based high schools. Bus riders in consolidated counties lose 49 minutes a day compared to students in their own schools who have other forms of transportation. Students in consolidated schools were much less likely to participate in extracurricular activities. Such participation is closely linked to stronger academic engagement, higher grade point averages, and greater likelihood of graduating.
Consolidation Fight-Back Toolkit. This set of materials produced by the Rural Trust includes research references, information about alternatives to consolidation, and links to other resources.
The Hobbit Effect: Why Small Works in Education. This report from the Rural School and Community Trust examines 10 research-based attributes of small schools that are proven to have a positive effect on students and their learning.
"How to Know if Your School or District is Threated with Consolidation and What to Do About It." This article was compiled by rural education advocates and community residents who have years of experience strengthening small rural schools and protecting them from consolidation. There's lots of practical advice and useful strategy. The article first appeared in the July 2005 Rural Policy Matters.
Anything But Research-Based: State Initiatives to Consolidate Schools and Districts. This article presents a brief history of consolidation and summarizes common state policy initiatives that force or encourage the consolidation of rural schools and districts. Policy initiatives presented in 2006 in selected states are reviewed.
The Power and the Promise. This policy brief from the Rural Trust provides practical information and examples of two-way interactive television as a way for small schools to expand curriculum, retain the advantages of small-scale schooling, and keep the personal touch of a teach in low-demand and hard-to-staff classes. Easy to understand for technical novices and plenty of useful information for school personnel who have advanced technology skills.
Rural School Consolidation Report: History, Research Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations, National Rural Education Association. This report from the NREA includes just what it says in the time and is a useful summary of many of the issues related to school and distriction consolidation in rural places.
Many of America's leaders, people who have--or are--shaping the arts, academics, business, government, human rights, science, technology, and other public fields got their start in rural communities and schools.
We term these people "World Changers" and we're celebrating them and publicizing their accomplishments here on Rural Matters.
Help us add to this ongoing catalog of rural Americans who have made or are making significant contributions to our public lives. Email us the name, rural community or school, and accomplishments of rural "World Changers" of the 20th and 21st centuries.
If you are having trouble opening the email link above, email us directly at blog@ruraledu.org.
We'll feature new nominations on the front page of Rural Matters and then we'll catalog them here on the Rural World Changers Resource page.
You can also add to, change, or comment on "World Changers" nominations already posted. If you'd like, we'll credit you for your nomination.
Nominate a rural "World Changer."
SOME OF THE RURAL AMERICANS WHO CHANGE THE WORLD
DOUG BURGUM is chairman of Microsoft Business Solutions, one of Microsfot Corporations seven core business centers. Burgum is a native of Arthur, North Dakota, population 400. He attended North Dakota State University and earned his MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. At Microsoft, Burgum reports to Jeff Raikes, president of the Microsoft Business Division.
DICK CAVETT, Gibbon, Nebraska. Cavett hosted a number of television and occasionally radio talk programs called "The Dick Cavett Show" on several networks. The shows began in the 1960s and continue to the present.
JAMES FERGASUN inventor, Wakenda, Missouri. Fergason is recognized throughout the world as a pioneer of modern liquid crystal technology. Starting in November of 1957 when he saw his first liquid crystal, he has continued to conduct research leading to many applications as well as a better understanding of this state of matter.
Throughout his distinguished career, Dr. Fergason developed over 150 patents on liquid crystal technology, leading to scientific advancements that improved the lives of millions of individuals. His research resulted in the introduction of many new products that leveraged liquid crystal technology including optical medical and safety devices, quartz watches, LCD displays, and much more.
JAY W. FORRESTER is a pioneer American computer engineer and systems theorist. He was born 14 July 1918, on a cattle ranch in Climax, Nebraska, twenty miles from the nearest town of Anselmo. The ranch had been homesteaded by his parents, Duke and Ethel Forrester.
Forrester was educated at MIT in electrical engineering, where he spent his entire career. During the 1940s and early 50s, he did research in electrical and computer engineering, heading the Whirlwind project and developing the "Multi-coordinate digitally information storage device" (coincident-current system), the forerunner of today's RAM. He is believed to have created the first animation in the history of computer graphics, a "jumping ball" on an oscilloscope.
AUTHERINE LUCY FOSTER was the first African American student to attend the University of Alabama. She was born and went to school through junior high in Shiloh, Alabama. She was admitted to Graduate School at the University in 1952, but the University repealed her admissionwhen it discovered that she was African American. She approached the NAACP, which filed a lawsuit under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall. In 1955 the NAACP secured a court order restraining the University from rejecting applicant students on the basis of race. In February of 1956 (seven years before Governor George Wallace made his infamous "stand in the school house door" to block James Hood and Vivian Malone from entering), Autherine Lucy began attending classes at the University as angry white mobs became increasingly violent. After three days the University suspended her "for her own safety" and then expelled her. In 1980 the University overturned the expulsion and in1992, Autherine Lucy Foster earned a Masters in Elementary Education. She is widely recognized for her courage in pioneering the desegregation of public universities in the south in what is widely considered to be one of the first tests of the Brown decision.
LORENZO DOW FULLER, JR. starred in 1947 in a 15-minute variety program on NBC, becoming the first African American to host a national television show. He also shaped early television as a special material writer and musical director. Fuller grew up in Stockton, Kansas.
CORETTA SCOTT KING, civil and human rights activist, namesake of the Coretta Scott King Book Award of the American Library Association, and wife of Martin Luther King, Jr. She was born in Heiberger, Alabama in Perry County, where she attended school through junior high. She went to high school at Lincoln Academy in Marion, also in Perry County, and earned degrees from Antioch College and New England Conservatory of Music. Coretta Scott King established the King Center, promoted non-violence and worked for human and civil rights in South Africa and across the globe, and worked to establish Martin Luther King Day as a national holiday.
CLAUDE PEPPER represented Florida for 61 years in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, serving from 1936 to 1950 in the Senate and from 1962 to 1989 in the House. He chaired the House Select Committee on Aging and is most widely remembered for his advocacy work for the elderly. Claude Pepper was born in Dudleyville, Alabama in Tallapoosa County and attended school in Camp Hill, also in Tallapoosa County.
JEFF RAIKES, President, Microsoft Business Division. Raikes was born in Ashland, Nebraska. His brother, Ron Raikes, runs the family farm there and serves as Chair of the Nebraska legislature’s education committee.
BYRON WHITE, U.S. Supreme Court Justice, 1962 to 1993. He graduated from Wellington High School in Colorado and attended the University of Colorado on a scholarship, where he graduated first in his class in 1938. He played professional football in 1938 with the Pittsburgh Pirates (now Steelers) and in 1954 he was named to the National Football Hall of Fame. White organized the Colorado presidential campaign for John F. Kennedy, who appointed White deputy attorney general in 1961 and selected White for a position on the Supreme Court a year later. Byron White was nominated as a Golden Egg by Joseph Skerjanec, Principal, Fleming School, Fleming, Colorado. You can read the full post as submitted by Skerjanec here.