Issues Relating to Schools in Rural Areas

[Chef Dave]

I am starting a thread about issues related to rural schools. This thread evolved out of another thread, “American Education, Does it Make the Grade?”

I teach at a rural school in southeastern Arizona. As a rural school, we’re rather fortunate. My community has a census population of just over 4,400 people and we’re only five minutes away from the county seat which has over 18,000 people.

Although we don't have a mall, we do have a Wal-Mart. We also have three supermarkets, a movie theater, a public library, and a small junior college.

We are 2 hours from Tuscon and 3 hours from Phoenix.

My high school has just over 400 students. Although we don’t have an extensive special education department, we have been able to refer students to a neighboring district which actually has a special needs schools.

Other rural districts are not as fortunate.

Next week I’ll be visiting another rural high school that’s 45 minutes away. This school only has 135 students. Average class size in this district ranges from 15-35 students. Given their small numbers, teachers at this high school are generalists instead of specialists. Most of them have to teach more than one subject area to a number of different grade levels which limits their planning/preparation time. Their remote location also limits their ability to attend state sponsored workshops which are always held in metropolitan areas where the state can receive “more bang for the buck” in terms of teacher attendance.

Teacher salaries offered by rural districts are always less than those offered by metropolitan areas. The average rural district can only pay 86% of what teachers could make in an urban district. Even if a district were able to pony up the money, many teachers are simply unwilling to live in a small isolated community that is hours from the nearest city.

Schools in poor rural area also have tremendous problems with funding. Although one quarter of our nation’s children attend rural schools, rural schools only receive 18% of all Federal funding. (The NEA is currently lobbying to double the amount of funds that rural schools receive).

Given the fact that many rural students spend anywhere between 1 ½ hours to 4 hours being transported to and from school, the sheer cost of transportation, exacerbated by the rising cost of fuel, makes it difficult for some rural schools to pay for changes that would improve the overall quality of their education programs. Textbooks, equipment, computers, and facilities at rural schools are often antiquated, in poor condition, or are in short supply.

Rural schools often lack the community resources that many metropolitan communities take for granted. They may not have convenient access to public libraries, museums, theaters, community activity centers, or colleges.

Children who attend rural schools are at a tremendous academic disadvantage compared to students in metropolitan and suburban school districts. Although we don’t have the high drop out rates characterized by the average urban school, fewer rural students go on to attend college. Part of this may be due to the fact that the quality of education from teacher generalists in rural high schools is simply not up to par with those of larger districts.

One of the few advantages attributed to a rural school is that there’s generally a stronger sense of community in these areas. Most students find that they have a very limited peer group, so the bonds of friendship that are formed can be deeper and longer lasting than friendships formed in other communities.

Conversely, I think that students who don’t make friends easily are more isolated in rural communities. According to the Center for Disease Control, the rate of teenage suicide deaths is higher in non-metropolitan areas compared to metropolitan areas.

As a teacher, I must say that I am really quite pleased to be where I am. My community is too small to have many of the problems that are characterized in metropolitan areas … but we’re large enough to be able to offer a top notch education to the children we serve. I am also fortunate to have excellent administrative support. Rude, disobedient, and/or disruptive students are simply not tolerated at our school.

Do any of you teach in a rural community?

I’d be interested in hearing about your viewpoints and experiences.

[Ima Teacher]

I love teaching in a rural area, but I'm also from a rural area which makes a lot of difference. My husband is NOT from a rural area, and he's had to make a big adjustment to living here. Often teachers who are not familiar with rural schools or rural areas in general.

Here is some information about our county.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 15,307 people, 6,108 households, and 4,434 families residing in the county. The population density was 23/km² (60/mi²). There were 6,824 housing units at an average density of 10/km² (27/mi²). The racial makeup of the county was 99.07% White, 0.11% Black or African American, 0.24% Native American, 0.03% Asian, 0.06% from other races, and 0.49% from two or more races. 0.53% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 6,108 households out of which 32.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.40% were married couples living together, 12.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.40% were non-families. 24.60% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 2.94.

In the county the population was spread out with 24.20% under the age of 18, 9.10% from 18 to 24, 29.20% from 25 to 44, 24.20% from 45 to 64, and 13.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 93.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.20 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $23,318, and the median income for a family was $27,284. Males had a median income of $29,254 versus $18,849 for females. The per capita income for the county was $12,285. About 22.50% of families and 26.40% of the population were below the poverty line, including 32.30% of those under age 18 and 21.50% of those age 65 or over.

We have one pre-k/k school, two 1-4 schools, one 5 center, one 6-8 school, and one 9-12 school. We average between 180-210 students per grade level. Our school is a Title I school.

As far as jobs, there aren't many. We used to have a sewing factory, a coal processing plant, school system, and railroad as the main employers in the community. The railroad moved most everything elsewhere, and the coal company left in recent years. Working for the school system is seen as an "uppity" job around here.

We have a few fast food places, two dollar stores, two grocery stores, and several gas stations in addition to a few locally owned places. To get to the closest large grocery or Wal-Mart, we have to drive 20 miles to the next county.

We are approximately 50 miles from the largest (by population) city in the state, but a large number of people don't go there with any regularity.

A large number of our students don't have many social/cultural experiences outside of our town . . . which isn't much. Last year I talked to a former student who was excited about buying her prom dress. Naturally she was excited about the dress, but she was even MORE amazed by the size of the mall and the escalator. She's never been to the mall or seen an escalator. Few travel for pleasure. If they do travel, it's often just to see relatives and the trip doesn't include any "culture" or activities.

We do have to contend with funding cuts as they come around, but overall we're very lucky. Our schools are in pretty decent shape, and we're able to build new schools and work on the old ones pretty well. My school opened 10 years ago, and there are 17 or us in the building who have "Smart" classrooms. Over 100 of our 6th graders received FREE computers and printers with 6 months of free internet service! We partner with a college in the neighboring county, and they give our students lots of opportunities they wouldn't normally have. Earlier in the year 40 of my students went to Chicago.

Love my rural area, but it's not for everyone!

[Karenrbw]

I am in a school that has about 400 students (pre-k - 12). We have one school in the district and three people that work in our district office (superintendent, secretary, bookkeeper). I have taught in larger districts early (21,000) in my teaching career and believe there is no comparision. We have 1 teacher for each of the core subjects in the high school and 1 teacher for each of the core subjects in the junior high. Our pre-k through 6th grade has two classes each. My two kids ride to school with me and home each day (3rd and 4th grade). All the teachers know all the kids and there is a real feeling of family that isn't there in the larger schools. We have had funding issues, but are in pretty good shape overall. Our students do lack some opportunities that would be there in larger schools, but the individualized attention that is here helps things a lot.
Our county is 537 square miles with 12,136 people. Median income for a household was around $32,000. The per capita income for the county was $15,092. About 8.40% of families and 11.80% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.60% of those under age 18 and 10.60% of those age 65 or over. A large number of our students struggle with family finances as there are really very few employers in the county that pay much above minimum wage. The brick plant closed down a few years ago and many people drive 20-30 miles to work. There is one small, expensive grocery store in our town, with a larger one in the county seat about 8 miles away. That store averages about 20-25% higher than Walmart. We are around 30 miles from the nearest Walmart. Our town has two banks, three gas stations, a doctor's office, and a weekly (6 page) newspaper. Have your heard the country song "Everyone dies famous in a small town"? That's us.
Our school recently received a grant and all students 2-6th grade will have a computer on their desk and all these classrooms have gotten SMART boards. Several high school classes (science and math) have also received grants for Smart boards, laptops, and scientific calculators. We have a computer lab with 22 desktops and two business labs with desktop computers.
We graduate 20-35 students a year. It can really vary. We have 37 this year and about 23 last year. Quite a change from when I was in high school and graduated with over 250. There were people in my senior class that I had never seen before. These kids find dating difficult as most are related or have known each other since 1st grade.