Rural education official says strong leadership critical to improving schools

Last week we reported a new study highlighting the benefits of the community school model for rural schools. The top rural education official in the Obama administration says the Department of Education supports the concept of full-service community schools, but strong school leadership is more critical to improving low-performing, high-need schools than making community schools an additional turnaround model, Mary Schulken of Education Week reports on the Rural Education blog. John White, deputy secretary for rural outreach, noted "the fiscal year 2011 budget will request $1.2 billion for the 21st Century Learning Centers program, which incorporates community schools," Schulken writes.

"White did not endorse adding the community schools model to the four federal turnaround options currently available to low-performing schools — a recommendation made in a report by rural education policy expert Doris Terry Williams, executive director of the Rural School and Community Trust," Schulken writes. White pointed to the success of the "transformation" turnaround model's success at West Carter Middle School in Eastern Kentucky as proof the administration's existing turnaround models work for rural schools.

At West Carter a new principal worked with existing faculty to dramatically improve student achievement. "There is no more important factor in the success of a student than the teacher, and the administration believes effective teachers and principals are the linchpins for turning around low-performing schools," White told Schulken. West Carter has 500 students, more than many tiny rural schools in the Mississippi Delta, in the Appalachian region and in Great Plains states, which are "the kinds of school districts Williams' report concluded might benefit most from an alternative turnaround option," Schulken writes. (Read more)