Slow Motion
A new study by the Rural Trust finds that students who attend consolidated rural high schools face longer bus rides and are less likely to participate in extra-curricular activities because of the challenge of transportation.
The study, Slow Motion: Traveling by School Bus in Consolidated Districts in West Virginia, examined surveys of high school students in four West Virginia counties. In two counties, high schools are consolidated, and in two counties, high schools are smaller and located in or near the communities where more students live.
The investigators found that bus rides in districts with consolidated high schools are 43% longer than in districts that have not consolidated their schools. In the consolidated counties, high school students who ride the bus lose an average of 49 minutes each day, compared to students ho have other forms of transportation in those same districts.
These long commutes to school mean students participate in fewer extra-curricular activities, and many students participate in none at all. For these students, travel logistics present insurmountable challenges.
Participation in extra-curricular activities is associated with engagement in schooling, lower dropout rates, and higher grade point averages.
Students with alternative forms of transportation in consolidated districts also had longer commutes than their counterparts in the non-consolidated districts, but they were more likely than bus riders in their own districts to engage in extra-curricular activities.
The author of the study, Lorna Jimerson, Ed.D, notes: "Having access to a car apparently is a prerequisite for actively participating in extra-curricular activities for many students who live far from school, which unfairly disadvantages poorer students."
This study is an important contribution toward understanding the real effects of school consolidation and long bus rides on students' school experiences and life opportunities, especially because extra-curricular participation is so closely associated with other important achievement indicators and behavioral outcomes.
You can read this and other studies at the Rural Trust web site.