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Morehead State University’s Ernst & Sara Volgenau College of Education is partnering with the National Rural Education Association to create a new Appalachian Hub. As part of the Rural Schools Collaborative (RSC) mission, this hub will assist rural schools and teachers from a four-state Appalachian region (Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina). These RSC hubs, established in various states and territories across the U.S., help RSC and partners exchange stories and information, collaborate on projects and seek funding opportunities to support rural schools. “We will strive to capitalize on existing assets and continue to bridge the gap between higher education and schools throughout Appalachia,” said Dr. Shane Shope, associate professor in the Education Leadership Program in the Volgenau College of Education. “We are honored to be the newest member of RSC's Rural Hub program and consider this a great opportunity for Morehead State University and the Volgenau College of Education to grow and impact rural communities.” |
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| The Rural Studies Institute (RSI) at Georgia College was officially launched on January 1, 2020, and will serve as an important strategic endeavor to assist the university in carrying out its public mission. Through scholarship and research; education; leadership development and training; practice; strategy and policy, the Rural Studies Institute hopes to develop rural innovative approaches to change. Mission The mission of RSI is to assist in developing sustainable rural communities that are equipped to address the unique challenges of the 21st century. Specifically, the institute will lead efforts to develop best practices in building sustainable rural communities with a focus on four areas of rural disparity: Health, Education, Economic Opportunity and the Environment (HEEE). |
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| “School community” means many things and looks vastly different from town to town. Yet what remains constant across the varied landscape of unique school communities is a dedication to empowering students by providing them expanded opportunities. By bringing together teachers, schools, parents, community members, and local organizations, school communities can concentrate the social forces and hard resources needed to ensure rural students thrive. “To me it means involving stakeholders. Everybody has to be a stakeholder in this because success in the community is determined by the skill level we put out and the abilities of our students. It’s the parents, the students, the teachers, the school. It’s not a triangle, it’s more like a Venn Diagram where everyone has an overlapping stake in supporting our students.” |
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| Rural Educator Weekly Spotlight: |
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Providing science instruction is an ongoing priority and challenge in elementary grades, especially in high-need rural schools. Nonetheless, few studies have investigated the factors that facilitate or limit teachers’ science instruction in these settings, particularly since the introduction of the Next Generation Science Standards. In this study we investigated affordances and constraints to elementary science instruction in high-need rural schools. Data sources included semi-structured interviews and survey responses from 49 teachers from 30 different rural schools. Through a primarily qualitative analysis, we identified four teacher reported categories of affordances and four categories of constraints to teaching science. One category of affordances, access to a variety of outdoor science resources, and one category of constraints, high levels of isolation, were closely tied to the nature of rural schools. The other affordances and constraints are broadly recognized factors influencing science instruction. Implications for supporting rural teachers’ science instruction are discussed. |
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