Forming Rural Planning Teams and a Community of Practice to help rural students whose needs have frequently been overlooked.
Education policy and research attention tend to overlook the specific needs of rural students and schools compared to their urban and suburban counterparts. The former makes up a significant amount of the population in the Region 6 Comprehensive Center (RC6) coverage area. In South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia, 43% of students and 50% of schools are in rural areas —representing nearly 1.7 million students.The U.S. Department of Education (ED) frames these issues within High-Leverage Problem (HLPs) areas and HLP #2 is Support to Rural Schools.
Key strategies for supporting rural schools in the RC6 coverage area:
Develop an RC6 Rural Planning Team of SEA staff to inform the implementation of statewide initiatives and school improvement efforts in the rural context.
Implement a three-state Community of Practice of rural districts with CSI/TSI schools.
