Spencer Clark, director of the Rural Education Center, recently participated in a roundtable discussion as part of U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona’s Back to School Bus Tour 2023: Raise the Bar.
Clark was invited to the roundtable of state and local leaders, held in partnership with the Kansas Department of Education on Sept. 5, to highlight the work of the REC. The session was designed for participants to share highlights of their projects and discuss how the U.S. Department of Education can support their work. The event was held at the Kansas Association of School Boards headquarters in Topeka.
In addition to the Kansas visit, Secretary Cardona’s multi-state tour featured stops in Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
The REC has gained recognition for its various projects. These include:
- Grants totaling more than $10 million so far, including receiving funding for a $4 million grant last month.
- Technology training for teachers and resources, such as double robots, drones, and virtual reality equipment.
- Its development of a Rural Professional Development Schools network that now includes 15 rural districts from across the state.
- Sponsoring two successful summer STEM camps:
- The LEAPES (Learning, Exploration, and Application for Prospective Engineering Students) camp trained more than 50 educators in rural areas and provided camp opportunities in the STEM areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math for nearly 500 middle and high school students.
- The Virtual STEAM Academy featured topics in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math. Nearly 360 students participated, including nine Kansas sites and eight international sites.
Clark is a professor in the College’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction.