Rural Education As Rural Development: Understanding the Rural School–Community Well-Being Linkage in a 21st-Century Policy Context

Abstract

Despite the significant proportions of rural Americans, schools, and public school students situated in the geographic peripheries of an increasingly urbanizing country, rural education in the United States has consistently occupied both scholarly and policy peripheries. This is to the detriment of rural America, especially to the extent that public policy and educational practice may work at cross-purposes with the vitality and well-being of rural communities. This paper examines these issues and, more specifically, considers the relationship between rural education and rural community development. I argue that rethinking the purposes of education, particularly within rural contexts, may help not only to more clearly articulate a sensible rural education policy, but, in the process, more clearly articulate broader rural development policy.

Notes

This figure is based on author calculations using 2010 Census Urban and Rural Classification and Urban Area Criteria tables, including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The percentage of rural area in the 48 contiguous states (excluding Washington, DC; Hawaii; Alaska; and Puerto Rico) is 96.42. Regarding rural and nonmetropolitan classifications see http://www.census.gov/geo/reference/ua/urban-rural-2010.html.

In this regard, within Australia there have been some focused efforts to recruit, train, and mentor teachers for rural placements, including the TERRAnova project (Kline, White, & Lock, 2013). Similarly, in Canada, the University of British Columbia has a well-developed Rural Education and Rural Teacher Education program with an undergraduate major as well as graduate specializations in rural education and teacher preparation at the master's and Ph.D. levels. These examples and others may provide instructive models for programs in the United States.