Higher Education's Response to the Needs of Rural Schools.

Overview & Synopsis

Although school districts with under 2,500 students represent three-quarters of all school districts and enroll about 19% of all students, few institutions of higher education have programs designed specifically for rural education. Results of a survey of administrative heads of the department/school/college of education of 24 such institutions in 23 states with a substantial rural population indicate that there is little evidence of availability of programs for educating teachers to develop the specific competencies required for teaching in small or rural schools, and that a limited number of institutions address the specific needs of rural educators with in-service and graduate education programs. A summary of responses names resource concerns, political and bureaucratic constraints, commitment and responsibility concerns, and knowledge/research concerns as barriers to meeting the needs of educational personnel in rural/small schools. To eliminate those barriers, institutions should (1) commit themselves to the development of personnel; (2) assign the overall responsibility for a rural education effort to a person or unit within the institution; (3) internally redirect resources; and (4) foster cooperative relationships and mutual support among colleges of education, state departments of education, teacher and administrator organizations, school boards, and other school/community-based organizations. (CM)