Our first-ever Rural Education Summit, held in summer 2019 on the KSU campus, was such a success that we’d prepared an outstanding lineup for the second one! Unfortunately, COVID-19 derailed those plans.
It took us a couple years, but recently we held our second one virtually, bringing together approximately 120 individuals to share their successes and concerns regarding rural education. They came from as far away as Alaska, Indiana, Illinois, and Tennessee, as well as throughout the state of Kansas. Among the distinguished guests were six members of the Kansas State Board of Education.
It was a time of valuable presentations and rich conversations.
Among the guest speakers were Kansas Commissioner of Education Randy Watson, College of Education Dean Debbie Mercer, and COE assistant professor Tuan Nguyen, who presented his research on rural education.
The half-day event was followed by a meeting of the COE’s Rural Professional Development Schools network.
But the discussions are only beginning. The REC plans to provide links to resources and videos shared at the Summit, with plans under way to facilitate more discussions among rural educators.
Here are some of the virtual happenings of the Summit:
Kansas Commissioner of Education Randy Watson shares his thoughts in his State of Rural Education in Kansas presentation.Keynote speaker Tuan Nguyen shares a little about himself to kick off his presentation.Supt. Brett Nelson of Clay County USD 379 shares a couple of successes with the robots the REC provided for his school district.Supt. Jamie Wetig of USD 220 Ashland gets the discussion going following the keynote speaker’s presentation.Conference participants continue the discussion on rural education matters.
The Rural Education Center (REC), based in Kansas State University’s College of Education, has several projects under way.
First, our website has been updated. Check it out at REC. And keep in mind it’s a work in progress!
We also have a specific email address where you can contact us with questions about services we provide or concerns you have regarding rural education that you’d like addressed–or if you want to get involved with our grants or other efforts. Feel free to email us at ruraled@ksu.edu.
Robots are brining more learning opportunities to rural schools in Kansas, thanks to TWO national grants recently awarded to the Rural Education Center in the Kansas State University College of Education.
Combined, the two grants support 29 schools in 18 districts with a total of 118 Double Robotics robots and 23 Ohmni robots.
THE INITIAL GRANT:
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced that the center would receive a $146,031 Teaching Rural Students STEM Through Telepresence grant designed to create a distance learning network to benefit rural schools, with emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math. Participating schools will be Ashland High School, USD 220; Clay Center High School, USD 379; Dighton High School, USD 482; Haviland K-8, USD 474; Lakin High School, USD 215; Liberal High School, USD 480; Skyline High School, USD 438; and Bennington High School and Tescott High School, both in USD 240.
“We recognize the tremendous potential that exists in our rural students and are excited to take the lead in infusing our district partners with this innovative approach to STEM education,” said Debbie Mercer, dean of the College of Education.
The telepresence grant is part of the USDA’s $42.5 million investment (https://www.rd.usda.gov/newsroom/news-release/create-news-release-21) in 133 distance learning and telemedicine projects in 37 states and two U.S. territories. The USDA will provide the funding through the Distance Learning and Telemedicine grant program (https://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/distance-learning-telemedicine- grants). These investments will benefit 5.4 million rural residents. In Kansas, the grant is expected to serve 2,360 rural students and 37,964 residents in rural communities.
The funds — used solely on equipment for the schools — purchased 36 Double Robotics robots, which allow educators to teach and interact with their students who are at a different location. The schools also receive Apple iPads and laptops, as well as other equipment necessary for the project.
“This grant will allow us to provide more STEM opportunities for student learning and teacher professional learning,” said Spencer Clark, K-State associate professor of curriculum and instruction and director of the Rural Education Center. “We believe it could also possibly help address teacher vacancies in rural schools.”
Jamie Wetig, superintendent of the Ashland Public Schools, said teacher supply is always an issue in rural schools and this partnership may impact what classes his schools can offer students.
“In an evermore challenging environment to recruit and retain highly qualified teachers, the ability to provide educational opportunities in a small and rural school may sometimes be limited,” Wetig said. “By partnering with the Rural Education Center at Kansas State University, Ashland Public Schools will have the opportunity to work on the forefront in redesigning education from delivery to enhancing the curriculum. We look forward to expanding the opportunities afforded to USD 220 through the USDA telepresence grant and know this is just the beginning of using an innovative approach to support our students and our community.”
Spencer Clark stuffs a Suburban with robots before leaving the College of Education. He and Eileen Wertzberger, coordinator of Field Experiences, each spent a day traveling throughout Kansas dropping off robots to schools involved in our grants.
THE SECOND GRANT:
The REC followed that first grant by receiving its largest grant in history: a telemedicine grant to support STEM education in rural and underserved communities.
The $451,480 Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant is being administered by the Rural Utilities Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It supports the center’s Rural Enhancement of STEM Education through Tele-Presence, or RESET, program and purchased robots, microphones and laptops for the 20 schools in 10 Kansas school districts involved in the project. No funds were used to support personnel salaries.
Kansas schools participating in the grant are Andale High School, Andale; Axtell High School, Axtell; Cheylin High School, Bird City; Buhler High School and Prairie Hills Middle School, both in Buhler; Garden Plain High School, Garden Plain; Jackson Heights High School, Holton; F.L. Schlagle High School, J.C. Harmon High School, Sumner Academy, Washington High School and Wyandotte High School, all in Kansas City; Blue Stem High School, Leon; Ness City High School, Ness City; Osage City High School and Osage City Middle School, Osage City; Sabetha High School and Sabetha Middle School, Sabetha; Troy High School, Troy; and Wetmore High School, Wetmore.
Project RESET acquired tele-presence equipment necessary to support STEM education learning experiences in rural schools, with the Rural Education Center serving as the hub site for providing training, curriculum, instructors and additional resources to aid its partner rural schools.
Mercer said this grant addresses a critical need in schools across Kansas — one that came into sharp focus with the emergence of COVID-19.
“This is a phenomenal example of how College of Education faculty are positively impacting some of the most complex and labyrinth-like issues in our profession,” Mercer said. “This initiative addresses two at the top of the list: finding STEM teachers and providing schools with technology that levels the playing field for rural schools or those in underserved or low socio-economic communities.”
“This grant is an important part of our vision to create a rural distance learning network across the state,” Clark said. “It is another step toward creating more equitable access to educational opportunities for rural students.”
For Goodson, it’s both professional and personal.
“It’s exciting to see the Rural Education Center providing support for our rural education partners,” Goodson said. “As a product of a small rural school in northwest Missouri, I know the value of those small districts, and I’m glad to be a part of this effort.”
The Rural Education Center (https://coe.k-state.edu/rec/index.html), housed in the Kansas State University College of Education (https://coe.k-state.edu/), has recently established a Rural Professional Development School network to help address rural schools’ most pressing needs, provide a forum to share best practices, explore grant opportunities and highlight accomplishments.
Eight districts have joined the initial effort to date and all are part of the Kansas State Department of Education’s school redesign project: Ashland USD 220; Clay County USD 379; Dighton USD 482; Haviland USD 474; Lakin USD 215; Liberal USD 480; Pratt Skyline USD 438; and Twin Valley USD 240, which serves Bennington and Tescott. Each district received a banner (pictured above) to display.
Drawing on its award-winning Professional Development School model with school districts in the Manhattan area, the rural network provides a collaborative forum designed specifically for rural schools.
“Our faculty has taken the greatest strengths of our existing model, reimagined it for rural schools and attracted partnering districts with education leaders who have an uncompromising commitment to their communities and students,” said Debbie Mercer, dean of the College of Education. “This is innovation at its finest.”
Todd Goodson, professor and chair of the department of curriculum and instruction, believes it affirms K-State’s mission.
“As a land-grant institution, our job is to reach as many Kansans as possible,” Goodson said. “With the use of technology and a real-time understanding of the needs in rural schools, we can be more effective at enhancing learning opportunities for teachers and students in ways that are both practical and meaningful.”
The seeds for the Rural Professional Development School network were sewn when representatives from the partnering rural districts met following the center’s inaugural Rural Education Summit last summer on the K-State campus.
J. Spencer Clark, Rural Education Center director and associate professor of curriculum and instruction, said communication plays a key factor in the new network.
“The Rural Professional School Development network provides a two-way system to keep both the center and the districts informed about ways we can help each other meet the needs of our students,” he said. “We’re excited to have a strong group of districts in this partnership to help us identify issues and challenges and collectively create solutions tailormade for each district and community.”
Kelly Arnberger, Dighton USD 482 superintendent and Dighton Elementary School principal, said he’s looking to broaden educational opportunities and experiences for his students.
“Our work to transform learning for the students at Dighton USD 482 is catalyzed with our partnership with Kansas State University,” Arnberger said. “At the end of the day, it is about options, and we look forward to providing more options for our students through our work with K-State.”
We know your schedule is full, so we’re going to make things a little easier for you.
To help you stay in the know, in each issue of our newsletter, we will highlight a few interesting recent articles and videos that connect to rural education. We’ve also included a few that aren’t quite so current–but are meaningful reads. Please feel free to click through the links, and if you have topics you’d like us to highlight, email us at ruraled@ksu.edu. We would love the input!
The Rural School and Community Trust provides an extensive collection of rural statistics in Why Rural Matters 2018-2019; The Time is Now. This report is compiled by Daniel Showalter, Eastern Mennonite University; Sara L. Hartman and Bob Klein, both of Ohio University, and Kansas State University’s Jerry Johnson, who is chair of the College of Education’s Educational Leadership Department and the Lydia E. Skeen Endowed Professor in Education. Why Rural Matters
KSU’s Tuan Nguyen has co-authored a national journal article on teacher turnover. Teacher Turnover
Here’s the story of one administrator’s efforts to change her school district and community. New Approaches
Place-based language arts writing curriculum provides opportunities for rural writers. Rural writing
What helps recruit new teachers to rural areas? This article analyzes data from 14 institutions. Recruiting to Rural
A rural education expert shares some of the issues rural schools are dealing with during the pandemic in this transcript of a Harvard Graduate School of Education podcast. Covid-19’s Impact on Rural Schools
Here’s an article highlighting a Iowa rural school’s transportation, including how the need for social distancing because of the pandemic has affected their budget. Transportation
And, finally, we offer a look at North Carolina rural schools–and how they’re trying to overcome the digital divide. NC Digital Divide
The REC wants to provide support for rural education throughout Kansas…and beyond! As promised, we plan to use the newsletter to provide information on possible opportunities for your districts and other organizations.
Here are some ideas we are looking at for future projects. Please email us at ruraled@ksu.edu if you’re interested in participating.
School journalism/creative writing: We know resources are often limited, so we want to provide an online opportunity for your students to publish their work–writing, photography, and artwork. It would be a great opportunity for you to showcase their talents with a larger audience of other schools and communities.
Virtual service learning: Many of our education courses have field experiences or service learning aspects, and we would love to include your school. This is a great way to help our students understand the great opportunities rural schools can offer them as potential employers. It’s a great way for them to get their foot in the door, virtually, and then consider student teaching…in person.
Provide specific high school courses: We want to develop courses that we can provide virtually from the COE to your schools. Ex: Do you need a specific math course? We can get a licensed teacher to teach that course online at a specific time for your school. Ideally, we want to establish a regular schedule for that teacher to lead that same course at different times throughout the week to different schools. By sharing that teacher, you would provide the curriculum your students need at a fraction of the cost; you’d pay a small fee per class to the REC, which would then pay the teacher. If you’re interested, email us 1) specific classes and grade levels you need and 2) provide a person we can contact.
The Rural Education Center (REC) can put you in touch with quality professional development to fit your school or district’s specific needs. Email us at ruraled@ksu.edu.
Our first-ever Rural Education Summit, held in summer 2019 on the KSU campus, was such a success that we’d prepared an outstanding lineup for the second one! Unfortunately, COVID-19 derailed those plans.
