Crisis in Rural Schools Updated

As the 2016 presidential election has brought newfound attention to rural areas, a new 50-state report urges state and federal leaders to make rural students and their communities a far greater priority.
The new edition of Why Rural Matters, from the nonprofit, nonpartisan Rural School and Community Trust, provides an overall “priority” ranking of the 50 states, showing the greatest needs in rural education. The report also ranks the states and includes state-by-state data on demographics and poverty, student achievement, state resources, and college and career readiness.

“While some rural schools thrive, far too many rural students face nothing less than a national emergency. Many rural schools and districts face vastly inequitable funding and simply cannot provide the opportunities that many suburban and urban schools do,” said Robert Mahaffey, the executive director of the Rural School and Community Trust, based in Washington, D.C.

Rural schools offer many attributes of quality schools that parents want for their children: smaller settings, personal attention, and a strong sense of community and identity. But many rural schools and students face serious challenges, the report shows.

Some of the Why Rural Matters report’s key findings:

• Lots of students are rural: Nearly 8.9 million students attend rural schools—more than the enrollments of the New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago—and incredibly, the nation’s next 75 largest school districts combined. More than one in four schools are rural, more than one in six students attend schools in rural areas, and more than one in four rural students is a child of color. At least half of public schools are rural in 13 states.
• Many districts are very small: Half of rural school districts in 23 states have enrollment smaller than 485 students (the national median enrollment for rural districts)
• States with greatest rural needs: The top 10 national “priority” states—those with the greatest needs in rural schools across an array of measures—are: 1) Mississippi, 2) Arizona, 3) Alabama, 4) South Carolina, 5) South Dakota, 6) Georgia, 7) Nevada, 8) Florida, 9) Oklahoma and 10) Alaska.
• Most rural students live in big states: Half the nation’s rural students live in just 10 states. The largest rural enrollments are in Texas, North Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Alabama, Indiana, and Michigan.
• Achievement impressive overall—but low in some states: On average, student achievement in rural schools is comparable to those in suburban areas on the Nation’s Report Card (the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP). Even still, scores are lowest for rural students in New Mexico, Mississippi, Alabama, Hawaii, and Louisiana.
• Rural readiness varies: Measures of students’ preparedness for higher education and career paths are mixed nationally. A majority of rural 11th and 12th graders in Ohio take one or more Advanced Placement course, but only 5 percent do in Louisiana. Fewer than one in four rural juniors and seniors take the SAT or ACT in California and Oregon.
• Diversity is substantial: Rural America’s demographics are changing like those of many places across the country: The majority of rural students identify as nonwhite in several states, including California. In New Mexico, 85 percent of rural students are children of color, the highest rate in the U.S.; the state also has the highest rate of students from low-income families at 85 percent. Nevada has the nation’s highest mobility rate for rural students at 17 percent—followed by Oregon and Colorado.
• Resources, equity elusive: Resources for rural schools often are still a major problem. Per-student investment for rural students is lowest in Idaho and Oklahoma, each spending less than $4,400 per rural student, and highest in Alaska and New York, each spending roughly $12,000 per student. Rural educator pay is often low, despite challenges in finding and keeping quality educators. Salary averages are lowest in Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas, and highest in Alaska and New York.
• Lack of early childhood programs: Most of the top 10 overall “priority” states enrolled no more than 12 percent of their 4 year olds in public pre-K classes—including South Dakota, Nevada, Alaska, Mississippi, and Arizona, all of which enrolled 6 percent or less of eligible preschool students.

Despite greater attention to rural America after the 2016 presidential election and bold promises from many state - level and national leaders, many children and families in rural America still don’t have the educational resources and opportunities they dese rve. That’s among the findings of the Rural School and Community Trust’s new 50 - state report on rural education. Why Rural Matters 2018 - 19: The Time is Now shows that nearly 7.5 million students were enrolled last year in rural school districts -- nearly one in seven public school students in the U.S . About one in six of those rural students were living below the poverty line . When counted as the number who attend rural schools , including those in districts classified as non - rural by the National C enter for Education Statistics, more than 9.3 million students attend ed a rural school . That’s nearly one in five U.S. students and more students than in the nation’s 85 largest school districts combined .

Key highlights from the new report , which incl udes state - by - state data , maps, and more : • The top 10 highest - prior ity states with the greatest needs in rural education , across a wide array of measures : 1) Mississippi, 2) Alabama and North Carolina (tied), 4) Oklahoma, 5) South Dakota, 6) West Virginia, 7) Georgia, 8) South Carolina, 9) Louisiana, and 10) Florida. • In 12 states, at least half of public schools are rural: Montana, South Dakota, Vermont, North Dakota, Maine, Alaska, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Wyoming, New Hampshire, Iowa, and Mississippi. At least one - third of schools are rural in 14 other states. Oklahoma , and Nevada are two randomly - chosen students from a rural school more likely to be of different racial/ethnic backgrounds than of the same background . • Communities surrounding schools in rural districts were poorest on average in New Mexico and wealthiest in Connecticut . • Kentucky and Texas each climbed by more than 10 places in their priority rankings. Nevada and Utah had the largest drops but still have considerable rural needs. 
• About half of rural students in the U.S. live in 10 states : Texas has the most rural students (694,000), followed by North Carolina , Georgia , Ohio , Tennessee , New York , Pennsylvania , Virginia , Alabama , and Indiana . • A majority of rural students live in states where they represent less than 25 percent of school enrollment. The national median enrollment for rural districts is only 494 students. • In 23 states, h alf of rural districts enroll fewer than 494 students . In Montana, North Dakota , and Vermont , 90 percent of rural districts have fewer than 494 students. • Only 9.5 percent of the nation’s rural students pass ed Advanced Placement (AP) course s in 2018 - 19 , compared with 19 percent of all U.S. high school students, 18.8 percent of urban students, and 24.1 percent of suburban students. • Rural students outscored non - rural students on the latest National Assessm ent of Educational P rogress ( NAEP ) in a majority of states with available data . Rural achievement is very low in some states , however, relative to non - rural districts; it s lowest in Hawaii and highest in Rhode Island . • The gap in achievement between rural students in poverty an d rural students not in poverty was greatest in Maryland, Mississippi, and Washington -- and narrowest in Pennsylvania, Arkansas, and Montana. • Many states provide a larger proportion of funding for rural districts because of the higher costs in many small and rural schools , but 12 states provided less funding proportionately, including Nebrask a, Vermont, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Massachusetts, California, and Ohio. • A national average of $6,367 is spent by states on the instruction of each student in rural schools, ranging from state averages of $4,118 in Idaho and $4,737 in Oklahoma to $14,380 in Alaska and $13,226 in New York . An astonishing 33 states on average spe nd less than half the amount of Alaska on instruction for each rural student. Texas also invests relatively low amounts on instruction for each rural student ($5,386). • Many states in the Midwest/Great Plains regions invest relatively high amounts for each rural student’s instruction, but about $3,500 less than most Northeastern states. • Even when adjusted f or comparable local wages , average educator salaries in rural distric ts vary widely: Kansas had the nation’s lowest average of $54,454, Alaska the highest at $102,736. States with the lowest average salaries for rural educators: Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Florida, Missouri, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, Arizona, Tennessee, and Illinois. The highest were in : Alaska, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Wyoming.