Rural Missouri classrooms were the first to use a promising new way to teach students how to read

Ashley Wood, a second-year kindergarten teacher in Phelps County, Missouri, is learning 
to teach her students reading with the new coaching model. (Photo via Missouri Independent)

Teachers in rural Missouri are helping students learn to read with a model that applies the science of reading to student learning, paired with teacher support and coaching. 

Through the Rural Schools Early Literacy Collaborative, literacy coaches from the national nonprofit TNTP "work directly with teachers in [select Missouri] schools, helping them implement structured reading instruction grounded in the science of reading," reports William Hehemann of the Missouri Independent.

Part of the effort includes coaches trained in reading sciences who regularly visit classrooms to observe teachers in action and model foundational lessons with students for practicing teachers. Hehemann explains, "Teachers receive feedback tied directly to classroom instruction. Coaching conversations are specific, practical and immediately applicable, accelerating growth in instructional practice."

The RSELC is working to improve reading proficiency across the state, where a majority of students are struggling. Hehemann reports, "According to the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, only 27% of Missouri fourth-grade students scored at or above the proficient reading level . . . . Improving early literacy is critical because reading proficiency by the end of third grade is closely linked to long-term academic success."

Early data show that students taught with the coaching model have made significant strides in reading skills. "In Rolla Public Schools, more than 94% of first-grade students demonstrated year-long growth in reading after coaching support began," Hehemann writes. "In Dent-Phelps R-III School District, the share of first graders reading at grade level increased from 25.5% in the fall to 89.4% by the spring."

What began as an experiment in one rural Missouri county is "expanding across the state," Hehemann reports. "The coaching model is being implemented in 60 schools statewide. . . . Education leaders say the expansion reflects growing recognition that improving reading outcomes requires not only a strong curriculum but also sustained coaching and support for teachers."

New $100,000 visa fee leaves rural schools with few options to fill in-person teaching positions

Many rural schools have depended on foreign teachers
to fill teaching positions. (Photo by K. Eliason, Unsplash)

At a time when rural schools can least afford to lose teachers, some school administrators have stopped offering international teacher contracts or contract renewals due to higher visa costs and uncertain immigration policies, reports Michael Melia of The Associated Press.

Teachers are in short supply across the U.S., with the shortage most acutely felt in rural counties that can't offer higher salaries or city amenities to recruit new educators. To fill the gaps, rural schools turned to international teachers. Melia writes, "More than 2,300 people with H-1B visas work as educators across 500 school districts."

Superintendent Vallerie Cave, who oversees schools in rural Allendale County, S.C., has consistently employed foreign teachers to fill roughly 25% of her open teaching positions, Melia reports. But this year, Cave is ending contracts and not extending new offers. She told AP, "Some of my very best teachers are having to return to their countries."

Early in 2025, the Trump administration raised H-1B visa fees to $100,000, which allowed "highly skilled foreign workers to be employed in the U.S," Melia explains. "The Trump administration argued American employees were being replaced, particularly in highly paid roles at tech companies."

In rural counties like Allendale, where poverty is high and teacher salaries are low, paying higher visa fees isn't feasible. And while many rural administrators will try to hire locally to fill gaps left by international teachers, many will add more online teaching or "consider hiring uncertified instructors, combining classes or dropping course offerings."

Some international teachers could teach in American schools with a J-1 visa, which "is not subject to the new fee," Melia adds. But many international teachers have decided not to teach in the U.S. for now and have chosen to go home. In turn, many American rural school districts are avoiding any visa issues by eliminating international teacher hires.

Like many rural school superintendents, Cave says she will do all she can to fill teaching gaps with certified teachers, but admits it will be hard. She told the AP, "I can’t really do competitive pay. For rural America, impoverished America, it is still a problem recruiting teachers.”

Opinion: Rural kids need more than trade school training to lift themselves out of hopeless circumstances

Working-class rural kids need more than trade school training to help pull themselves out of unhealthy living situations, including abject poverty, writes Jessica Grose in her opinion for The New York Times.

Grose cites the new book by Beth Macy, Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America, as a source for insight and solutions on how the U.S. education system could help more rural youth recover from trauma and set their lives on a different track.

"Macy, a former newspaper reporter and the author of 'Dopesick,' the 2018 best seller about how the opioid crisis ravaged Appalachia, returned to her hometown, Urbana, Ohio, for the new book," Grose explains. "She is trying to figure out how a working-class girl like her got to college and the middle class from Urbana 40 years ago, while that journey is much more arduous for today’s rural working class."

"How do young people, especially those without supportive parents, make a future for themselves? . . . While learning a trade is excellent advice for many students, it is not the cure-all for inequality that our commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, hopes it might be when he says he wants Harvard to build vocational schools,'" Grose explains.

Grose points out that "learning a trade" isn't easy and that trade work requires "the same kinds of executive functioning, people skills and intelligence that a college education requires, just applied differently."

Giving working-class youth the help they need through rural schools is one of the best solutions, according to Macy. "Rural schools need better access to wraparound services, providing students with necessities like food, but also health care in the form of school nurses and counselors on site," Grose adds.

But providing those types of services in rural areas is a tall order. Grose writes, "Most school systems run on economies of scale and a per-student funding model; it poses a great challenge to provide wraparound services to districts with fewer students who have a lot of needs and who are also spread out."

"My dark prediction is that kids with more stable families and better developed life skills will occupy the trade jobs that used to be a reliable route to the middle class," Grose asserts. "We need to support working-class kids before the 21st century abandons them completely."

Rural schools may face dire teacher shortages as federal funding is canceled, and H-1B visas are priced out of reach

In many rural schools, the majority of teachers are
not from the U.S. (Adobe Stock photo)

Federal funding cuts and skyrocketing H-1B visa fees are likely to deepen teacher shortages in rural schools, where international teachers helped fill staffing shortages.

Earlier this year, the federal Department of Education canceled teacher residency and training grants for rural schools. In September, President Donald Trump "announced a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications — visas hundreds of schools use to hire international teachers for hard-to-staff positions," writes Ariel Gilreath of The Hechinger Report, which covers education.

Melissa Sadorf, the executive director of the National Rural Education Association, told Gilreath the H-1B fee increase could cause the rural teacher workforce to "collapse."

Halifax County School District in rural North Carolina serves as an example: "Districtwide, 101 of 156 educators are international," Gilreath reports. "Of the 17 teachers who work at Everetts Elementary School in the district, two are from the United States."

Since few rural schools have the funding to pay $100k for an H-1B visa, districts will be forced to hire international teachers through the J-1 visa, which requires recipients to return home after three to five years.

While the J-1 visa helps schools fill staffing holes, it doesn't deliver a return on investment through retention because teachers have to leave the country just as they are hitting their stride in the classroom.

With fewer American college students choosing elementary and secondary teaching as a profession, the U.S. has an overall teacher shortage "that’s made filling vacancies one of the most challenging problems for school leaders to solve," Gilreath explains. 

In rural Bunker Hill, Illinois, where "more than 500 students attend two schools, some positions have gone unfilled for years," Gilreath reports. "Students often end up with a long-term substitute or an unlicensed student teacher."

Rural kids rally: Nature nerding; 4-day school week; hikes instead of detention; farm safety; the 'Little White Duck'

Whether it's discovering a ginormous toad, finding the most gooseberries or uncovering troves of fossils, when kids venture into the great unknown of rural places, adventures unfold. A new graphic novel by cartoonist Tiffany Everett, Diary of a Nature Nerd, celebrates all the discoveries and learning nature nerding youth can make while tramping over hill and dale. "Everett encourages readers to explore new places, keep journals about what they encounter, and think like scientists," reports John R. Platt of The Revelator.

Rural school districts with teacher hiring and retention challenges turned to 4-day school weeks as an employment perk that also saves districts money. The 4-day school week schedule has been criticized as cutting too deeply into student learning time, and yet some rural schools are keeping the shortened schedule because it's a practical fix. "The schedule is especially popular with rural communities, where students and teachers often have to travel long distances to get to school," reports Anya Petrone Slepyan of The Daily Yonder. "But when it comes to assessing how the four-day school week affects students’ educational outcomes, the results are inconclusive."

At the end of the 3 1/2-mile hike, the students grab their 
backpacks and head home. (All Trails photo)

Instead of sitting in detention for breaking school rules, some high schoolers at Morse High School in Maine have opted to take mandatory hikes instead. Morse counselor Leslie Trundy was inspired to start the program after attending an outdoor conference, reports Madi Smith of NPR. Trundy told Smith, "I hoped that time in the woods, like, I could sort of take the skills that I have on the road with them, or on the trail, and be a listener for them and [while students] pay back the time to the school and sort of serve their consequence, [they] also receive more care and attention."

While growing up on a farm may sound wholesome and safe, farms can be dangerous places for children and young adults. The list of risks is long and can include everything from cows and barbed-wire fencing to big tractors and grain bins. To help farming families build safety awareness and habits, the National Farm Medicine Center and National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety support the "Cultivate Safety" website, which offers free resources in English and Spanish. For a quick safety check, Rural Mutual shares its "Top Tips" list for farmers and kids to review.

Often remembered as the voice of Sam the Snowman from the classic 1964 Christmas television special "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," Burl Ives also acted and sang. For children who need to calm down after rowdy play or to get ready for bed, Ives' recording of "The Little White Duck and Other Children’s Favorites" is delightfully soothing. Ives’s collection of "traditional folk songs for children is as much fun for the kids as it is for the adults (I dare to say)," writes Jan Pytalski of The Daily Yonder. "Ives was central in promoting traditional folk tunes all the way back in 1940s and continued performing for many decades after."

Future Farmers of America are diving into agriculture, science and technology -- and membership is increasing

Former Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue welcomes Future Farmers of America students. (USDA photo via Offrange)

Young people in Future Farmers of America have stepped up the group's outreach and scope by working on "highly technical, lab-based Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAE) that are a long way from modern stereotypes about FFA," reports Sarah Murphy of Offrange. New FFA experiences include cows, pigs, plants, shows and a whole lot more.

The group is working to expand projects that prepare students for "technological advances, challenges, and opportunities facing 21st-century agriculture," Murphy explains. FFA is also recruiting new members from urban schools and communities that haven't traditionally been in the FFA mix. "So far, the efforts seem to be paying off. Membership grew 11% in 2023 alone, to nearly 950,000 students."

As FFA fans out to more communities, more non-rural students are experiencing rural and farming life for the first time. Patrycja Zbrzezny, who directs the John Bowne High School’s agriculture program in Queens, New York, told Murphy, "We try to open up the world of ag to them to experience it all.” Murphy adds, "The school’s 3.9-acre farm includes miniature horses, goats, and sheep, as well as 150 laying hens whose eggs the students sell at their agricultural stand."

National Proficiency Award projects from 2023 illustrate the depth and breadth of what some FFA students are challenging themselves and their supervisors to explore. Murphy writes, "[Students] are founding their own genetics labs to test ruminant blood for pregnancy, creating podcasts to interview agricultural leaders, flying drones, and breeding hypoallergenic Yorkie Poodles."

Students who learn the most throughout their SAE are passionate about their project and have good instructional support. FFA program specialist Brett Evans told Murphy, "The number one problem we have is not enough teachers. We have schools that want to open programs, but we are not producing enough teachers to meet the demand.” 

Parents revive the one-room schoolhouse in two rural Missouri communities

The Homestead School’s main room serves as the school's primary 
gathering space. (Photo by Kaitlyn McConnell, The Daily Yonder)

Ozark parents are going back in time to the old one-room schoolhouse concept, hoping that the past offers the best lessons on how to educate the hearts, minds and spirits of children.

"This seemingly old-timey form of schooling is reemerging in rural areas where families seek a different education for their children," reports Kaitlyn McConnell for The Daily Yonder. "Technology is very limited, and value is placed on personal character, work ethic, relationship building, and a foundation of faith in the primarily Christian region."

Starting around the end of the Civil War until the 1940s, the one-room schoolhouse was "the bedrock of rural Ozarks communities. Kids focused on learning basics that were taught by one teacher in one room," McConnell explains. The trend is re-emerging as "smaller – or at least more localized – is seen by some as better."

Not every new one-room schoolhouse runs exactly the way they did in earlier times; instead, their structure is meant to "channel close-knit classes, ideals, and beliefs – religious and lifestyle – that their leaders feel are important to instill in younger generations," McConnell reports.

Neighborhood Christian Schools serves about 40 kids from kindergarten through high school in Hutton Valley, Missouri, following the old philosophy. "The day is broken into periods that focus on traditional subjects," McConnell writes. "Kids from first through sixth grade are in the same room with one teacher. Like a traditional one-room school, more advanced students assist kids at lower levels."

Brenten and Kimberly Blake founded Homestead Schoolhouse about 100 miles west of Hutton Valley in rural Taney County. Their school "takes a more modern approach to 'one-room schooling,’" McConnell reports. "Instead of all being together in one room. . some core classes are broken down more into age or skill. In addition to coursework, the student’s experience includes 'life skills' training to recover rural knowledge, like animal husbandry and home economics."

"Whether it’s salvation or academics or better citizens, the long game is the goal for schools like these to have their impact be long-lasting beyond the core academic subjects," McConnell adds. Kimberly Blake told her, "Success really won’t be measured for several years – to see if you’re really instilling values in students."

Battle over four-day school week, teacher shortages is fought in rural school district

Parent Jason Breckenridge testified to stop the Florence-Carlton 
shift to a four-day school week. (The Hechinger Report photo)

Facing ongoing teacher shortages, rural Montana school districts have offered a four-day school week as a recruitment and retention tool since 2005. Most Montana schools accepted the shortened schedule without controversy, but the Florence-Carlton district became a loud exception. Community discussions about the change became fierce faceoffs about educational achievement, convenience and priorities, reports Alex Mitchell for The Hechinger Report, which covers education.

"There were standing-room-only public meetings with community members threatening not to support future budget levies. Parents filed two formal complaints," Mitchell writes. "One family sued. Some are transferring their children to districts miles away next year or will take on homeschooling out of concern their kids would otherwise fall behind."

The battle over the fifth day of school highlights a "larger divide and uncertainty around the four-day school week, even as districts in Montana and across the country continue to march toward it," Mitchell explains. "A three-part study from the University of Montana painted a grim picture of the four-day school week’s outcomes for both students and their schools."

Bill McCaw, one of the study's authors, told Mitchell, "When I look at the news reporting and schools [that] are considering the four-day, there’s all these reasons, pros and cons. Student achievement is never part of the conversation. Day care, convenience, longer vacation — all that’s being discussed. But not student achievement.”

The parent who sued the district, Jason Breckenridge, didn't want his kids to be part of an educational experiment. "He felt the school district disregarded the negative aspects of the shortened week," Mitchell adds. "Virginia Mahn, a Florence-Carlton parent and graduate, brought a complaint against the school board, alleging district leaders failed to meet their required responsibility of ensuring a quality education."

The University of Montana's study wasn't the only one to call out student learning deficits linked to four-day school weeks. Mitchell writes, "In 2014, Tim Tharp, then a doctoral student at the University of Montana, assembled academic results of all of the state’s schools from 2006, when the four-day school week was first adopted, to 2013. He found that students in four-day schools had lower test scores than peers who attended school five days a week."

Tharp told Mitchell, “If you look back at it logically, it only makes sense. After a certain period of time, you’re losing days, weeks, months of instruction over the course of years. . . . The absolute best thing would be for the students to not only go 180 days, but [for the districts to] even consider making it longer.” Mitchell adds, "Tharp concedes his opinion is unpopular among friends and colleagues."

"A community survey showing that of parents and community members who responded, 51% favored a shift to a four-day school week," Mitchell reports. "The five-person board approved the model 3-to-1 in January, with one abstention. Starting this fall, the school day will be lengthened by 45 minutes, and schools will be closed on Fridays."

With little notice and no public debate, lawmakers closed a rural school district with a property tax reform bill

Rep. J.D. Prescott defends his reasons for closing USC
 at a public meeting. (Photo by Eric Weddle, NPR)

School officials and parents were shocked to learn Indiana lawmakers quietly closed their rural school district without public debate. "Tucked into a sweeping property tax reform bill with little public notice, the closing of Union School Corporation came as a surprise to nearly everyone except the lawmaker who wrote it — Rep. J.D. Prescott, a Republican from Union City, Ind.," reports Rachel Fradette of NPR, Indianapolis.

Located in tiny Modoc, Indiana, Union School Corporation educates roughly 7,500 students through its virtual programs, with around 290 students attending class in person. Fradette writes, "Under Indiana’s new property tax reform law, it will be dissolved in 2027 and the area (redistricted) among other school corporations."

At a town meeting just days after the bill passed, residents questioned Prescott about the lack of notice. Prescott told them, "The legal process was followed." Fradette reports, "Prescott told the crowd a combination of factors led him to write the legislation: prior years of discussion about district consolidation; more than half of families who live in the Union boundaries choosing to enroll their children in other districts; and poor academic performance at the virtual schools."

The closure, which was wrapped into Senate Enrolled Act 1, has been signed by Indiana Gov. Mike Braun. And while this isn't the first time Indiana lawmakers have stepped in to help struggling schools, those instances included public notice and debate. Chris Lagoni, executive director of the Indiana Small and Rural Schools Association, "said this is the first time in 50 years a school district has been closed by state mandate," Fradette writes. "District leaders now wonder if the state is applying new academic expectations to justify future closures."

Some school officials believe the district's wealth and number of virtual learners may have pegged it for closure. Superintendent of Union Schools Galen Mast "believes Union was targeted in legislation because their virtual schools attract students from other districts and charter schools," Fradette explains. "In Indiana, state funding follows the student. So if a student leaves. . . there is less funding for the home district to cover academic programs and teacher pay."

Union school officials and supporters plan to legally challenge the closure. Mast told Fradette, “We've been here for 70 years. Our intent is to be here for another 70 years.”

Retelling the history of land-grant universities and sharing their contributions is key to their survival

Gary Steinhardt taught and researched soil science issues
at Purdue and Purdue Extension. (Farm Progress photo)

Land-grant universities sit at the heart of farming research and Extension Services, but to keep them alive, their history and contribution need retelling, writes Tom J. Bechman of Farm Progress. "Education at a land-grant university helped make Gary Steinhardt who he is today. . . . He spent roughly half of his final Purdue Agronomy Department seminar explaining the history and mission of land-grant colleges and the Extension Service."

Steinhardt explained to Bechman why he felt driven to retell the land-grant success story: “We are at a point in the history of the land-grant system where we need to be careful. Some in the academic world don’t appreciate what it can accomplish. There is still a tremendous need to tell the public about research done through land-grant universities. Otherwise, education does not get passed along.”

Funding may always be a challenge for Extension Services, and "current upheaval due to efforts to cut federal spending may only intensify the fight for Extension dollars," Bechman explains. "But the threat Steinhardt refers to is within university systems. Is there still support among university leaders for practical, applied research that can be passed along to farmers and families, and to youth through 4-H? When an Extension person like Steinhardt retires, will that position be replaced?"

Steinhardt's seminar showcased the creation of land-grant universities and reviewed why they were established. A few of his highlighted events are shared below:

Land Ordinance of 1785. "Money from the sale of Section 16 in each township was reserved to fund schools," Bechman writes. "Money from land sales also helped start universities, including Miami University in Ohio, Indiana University, the University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin."

Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and Industrial universities. "This act of the Confederation Congress declared 'schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged,'" Bechman adds. "In the mid-1800s, Jonathan Baldwin Turner promoted 'industrial universities' that could teach working-class people, like those in agriculture."

Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862. Bechman explains, "In the middle of the Civil War, this act of Congress specified how public lands could be donated to 'provide for colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts, including military tactics.'"

To read more about land-grant development in the United States, click here.

New report reveals that U.S. child care workers are 'paid less than animal caretakers and dressing room attendants'

Two out of five child care workers need public assistance
to support their families. (Adobe Stock photo)

Child care teachers make such small salaries that "two out of five need public assistance to support their families," reports Jackie Mader of The Hechinger Report, which covers education. "Child care employees are paid less than animal caretakers and dressing room attendants. . . .That’s a major finding of one of two new reports on the dismal treatment of child care workers. Together, the reports offer a distressing picture of how child care staff are faring economically."

The Early Childhood Workforce Index 2024 reveals abysmal and somewhat stagnated child care worker wages, which means "43% of families of early educators rely on public assistance like food stamps and Medicaid," Mader writes. The report also shows that black child care teachers make about $8,000 less per year than their white peers. Overall, "wages for early educators are rising more slowly than wages in other industries, including fast food and retail."

Another report, by Chris M. Herbst, a professor at Arizona State University’s School of Public Affairs, suggests that many higher educated child care workers have already left the profession and others continue to leave due to low pay. Mader reports, "That’s led to a 'bit of a death spiral' in terms of how child care work is perceived and contributes to persistent low wages, he said in an interview." 

While education competencies aren't the only things that make a good teacher, "higher education levels may mean staff have a stronger background not only in English and math but also in topics like behavior modification and special education," Mader writes, "which are sometimes left out of certification programs for child care teachers."

Herbst’s full report is here.

How to support rural education: Rural researchers explore challenges and address solutions

Rural education research can support communities
by providing insight and solutions. (Adobe Stock photo)

Helping rural communities thrive requires resources from multiple places, but reinforcing the depth and accessibility of rural education is one of the most basic ways to support rural America. Some of that foundation is being built through research.

"The Rural Educator’s latest issue spotlights critical topics – showing just how vital rural research and community engagement are to the future of rural schools," reports Lane Wendell Fischer for The Daily Yonder. "We selected four articles to highlight the breadth and scope of research done to improve rural education."

Some rural places have been busy building learning pipelines for principals. Leaders at the University of Tennessee developed the Tennessee Rural Principals Network to address the lack of continuous professional development for rural principals, Fischer explains. "Researchers conducted interviews with 12 principals who participated in TRPN’s learning network, mentoring, and coaching. Participants lauded the program’s ability to connect rural principals. . . so they could share their knowledge and experiences to confront issues in the rural context."

Researcher Jana Stone, who is from rural Wyoming, is "examining how women in [educational] roles define leadership and whether their definitions align with the opportunities available to them within their communities," Fischer writes. "Stone hopes to offer a nuanced exploration of the challenges Appalachian women face when seeking leadership positions in their communities. . . . By understanding the specific obstacles faced by women in these communities, educational institutions can tailor their training programs to better equip female leaders for success in rural settings."

How to staff, develop and support mental health care in rural education is a challenge researcher Elaine S. Belansky is exploring in Colorado. "Belansky and her colleagues developed and tested several strategies aimed at recruiting and retaining mental health professionals in rural areas," Fischer reports. "One initiative is a rural immersion program for graduate students enrolled in school counseling or psychology programs. The program provides students with a firsthand experience of life in rural communities, exposing them to the unique rewards and challenges of working in these settings."

Providing support for parents is also being looked at by some rural education researchers. Carol Cutler White coauthored an article and research that looked at "an equally important aspect of rural education: college access for Black students in rural Mississippi," Fischer writes. "One of the key findings of White’s study is that parents do not view teachers or school counselors as important for making college possible. . . . To address these challenges, the article advocates for more robust community outreach efforts aimed directly at rural parents."

More than half of American teachers are worried about a school shooting on their campus; parents are worried, too

1 in 4 U.S. teachers experienced a gun-related lockdown
at their school. (Adobe stock photo)

U.S. teachers must deftly manage tasks, lessons and discipline. To get the job done, educators make an average of 1,500 decisions a day. While that description sounds challenging, most teachers have the added worry of facing school gun violence, reports Jennifer Gerson of The 19th, a nonprofit newsroom for social issues.

"The majority of American K-12 public school teachers say they are at least somewhat worried about the possibility of a shooting at their school, according to a new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center," Gerson writes. "Fifty-nine percent told Pew researchers that they were concerned about shootings on their campuses, with 18% saying they were 'very' or 'extremely' worried. Only 7% of teachers polled said they were not worried at all."

More than two decades have passed since the Columbine High School massacre, but those years have not produced an answer to gun threats in schools. Gerson reports, "Last year, roughly 1 in 4 American teachers reported experiencing a gun-related lockdown at their school. Fifteen percent of respondents said they went through one emergency lockdown, with another 8 percent saying that it happened where they teach more than once."

Regardless of party affiliation, most surveyed teachers advocated for student mental health screening as part of the solutions. "A large majority — 69% — said they believed improving mental health screening and treatment for children and adults would be extremely or very effective in preventing school shootings," Gerson explains. "This emphasis was held across party lines, with 73% of Democratic teachers and 66% of Republican teachers saying that investment in mental health resources would be an extremely or very effective prevention tool."

Teachers aren't alone in their safety concerns -- many parents also profess a significant degree of worry. "A Pew Research Center study released last fall found that a third of American parents said they were extremely or very worried about a shooting at their child's school, with an additional 37 percent saying they were somewhat worried," Gerson reports.

Student absenteeism rose sharply after the pandemic and shows no signs of improving; teachers are absent more, too

Kids need more classroom time to learn.
(Photo by Kenny Eliason, Unsplash)

Even before the pandemic, getting kids off to school wasn't easy. But in post-Covid period, school attendance has sunk for many reasons, and efforts to get students and families to return to their previous routines have failed.

"Perhaps no issue has been as stubborn and pervasive as a sharp increase in student absenteeism, a problem that cuts across demographics and has continued long after schools reopened," report Sarah Mervosh and Francesca Paris of The New York Times. Across the United States, an "estimated 26 percent of public school students were considered chronically absent last school year, up from 15 percent before the pandemic. . . .Chronic absence is typically defined as missing at least 10 percent of the school year, or about 18 days, for any reason."

Across all demographic measures, fewer kids attend school regularly, but lower-income communities face the largest number of absences. The Times reports, "Around 32 percent of students in the poorest districts were chronically absent in the 2022-23 school year, up from 19 percent before the pandemic."

Once the engrained family routine of getting up, getting dressed and getting to school was broken, families found new ways to manage mornings without school, and past habits have not returned for many. Katie Rosanbalm, a psychologist and associate research professor with the Center of Child and Family Policy at Duke University, told the Times, "Our relationship with school became optional."

Despite many families' apathetic response, returning students to the classroom is vital for learning and student success. "Today, student absenteeism is a leading factor hindering the nation's recovery from pandemic learning losses, educational experts say. Students can't learn if they aren't in school," Mervosh and Paris write. Adding to the problem is an increase in teacher absences.

Many parents and educators wonder if the degree of absenteeism and different attitudes toward education are the new normal. "Bringing about meaningful change for large numbers of students remains slow, difficult work," the Times reports. 

Many graduating high school students are considering alternatives to college for job training

Some students seek to avoid college because of cost vs.
labor mismatches. (Photo by Nathan Dumloa, Unsplash)

For three generations, going to college and earning a 4-year degree was the coveted path to a rewarding career with a higher income. But the American belief in the "college for all model" has changed, writes Douglas Belkin in an essay for The Wall Street Journal. "So how did one of the crown jewels of American society squander so much confidence so quickly?"

It began with federal student loans to almost any 18-year-old high school graduate, which had a seismic change on higher education enrollment. "Cash and prestige saturated college campuses while alternatives like vocational and technical schools withered," Belkin explains. "Between 1965 and 2011, university enrollment increased nearly fourfold to 21 million as the earning differential between high school and college graduates expanded."

"For middle-class Americans, college made sense as long as a degree generated a large enough wage premium to make the rising cost of the investment worthwhile," Belvin writes. "As that premium became less consistent, the risks of going to college grew and confidence in college as an institution declined."

A college education "is among the largest investments most Americans will make," Belkin adds. The "math doesn't work for a growing number of families. The percentage of students who enrolled in college after graduating high school fell from 70% in 2016 to 62% in 2022. . . . A poll published in 2022 asked parents if they would rather their child attend a four-year college or a three-year apprenticeship that would train them for a job and pay them while they learned. Nearly half of parents whose child had graduated from college chose the apprenticeship."

Changes are also showing up in the workplace. Belkin writes: "In what has been called the 'degree reset,' the federal government and several states eliminated the degree requirements for many government jobs."

When searching for different ways to teach college journalists, one teacher heads to the pool tables

Journalism student Hayden Smith takes a shot at the pool
tables. (Photo by Harrison Rich via The Conversation)

A novel venue with an unconventional instructional tool can be a different way to teach aspiring journalists. "I wanted to break up the monotony of having students sit at their computers and write news stories or listen to me lecture," writes Jamaal Abdul-Alim for the "Uncommon Courses" series from The Conversation, a journalism platform for academics. "So I figured I'd change the venue and try something more kinetic. I had been going to the TerpZone – a recreational area in the basement of the student union where I teach. . . . As I watched students shoot pool, I thought: It would be cool to hold at least one class meeting here."

Abdul-Alim, who teaches at the University of Maryland at College Park, wrote that students found that playing pool "gave them a visual way to understand what journalists do. One student found it helpful for players to 'step back and take a new look at the table before their turn' – a concept that easily applies to reporting a story. . . . 'Finding the right angle for an article requires taking a fresh look at the facts and quotes, the student wrote. . . . Another student said both journalism and shooting pool require patience. A different student touched on the benefits of remaining calm – whether as a journalist on deadline or when it's time to sink the eight ball to win the game."

Part of the pool lesson works to build journalistic integrity. "If pool – or any other game – can teach future journalists to be more thoughtful about how they pursue stories, perhaps it can lead to better coverage and help restore public confidence in what the media report," Abdul-Alim adds. "There are other reasons why an approach like this makes sense at this particular time. Students are under a lot of academic stress, which can affect their overall well-being. As many pool players will tell you, shooting pool can be a positive way to relieve stress. It also can help build self-esteem and improve concentration.

"Also, before we shot pool together, I rarely saw students socialize with one another so effortlessly. When we moved class to the pool hall, students socialized like never before. So it was a good team-building exercise. My only regret was not doing it sooner in the semester."

Report: Uvalde teachers and students correctly followed their live-shooter training, but officers weren't prepared

The 21 people who died on May 24, 2022, at Robb Elementary School.
(Courtesy photos, the Families via ABC News, Reuters, AP)

It was May 24, 2022, when Salvador Ramos entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and began shooting his AR-15-style rifle into classrooms. In the first four minutes, Ramos fired over 100 rounds that echoed throughout the building.

Surviving teachers and students knew they were targets, and instinctively followed their live-shooter training protocols. "They dropped to the floor, crouching under desks and countertops, far from the windows. . . . A few grabbed bloodied phones and dialed 911. . . . And as students across the country have been instructed for years, they remained quiet, impossibly quiet. . . and waited, report Lomi Kriel, Lexi Churchill and Jinitzail Hernández, co-authors from ProPublica and The Texas Tribune. Responding to 911 calls, "Hundreds of law enforcement officers descended on Robb Elementary School. They, too, waited. They waited for someone, anyone, to tell them what to do."

Once in the school, law enforcement waited for more than an hour to act. "They waited for the right keys and specialized equipment to open doors. They waited out of fear that the lack of ballistic shields and flash-bangs would leave them vulnerable against the power of an AR-15-style rifle. Most astonishingly, they waited for the children's cries to confirm that people were still alive inside the classrooms," according to the report. In total, 376 law enforcement officers responded, according to an investigation from the Texas House of Representatives.

After an exhaustive number of investigative interviews, listening, and watching hundreds of hours of video and body camera footage, the reporters from ProPublica, The Texas Tribune, and Frontline came to a conclusion. They write: "The children in Uvalde were prepared, dutifully following what they had learned during active shooter drills, even as their friends and teachers were bleeding to death. Many officers, who had trained at least once during their careers for such a situation, were not."

America has become a country where "mass shootings have become a fact of life, with at least 120 since the 1999 Columbine High School shooting," they write. "Debates often erupt along partisan lines as anguished communities demand change. . . . One thing that seemingly unites all sides is the notion of better training for law enforcement. But, in actuality, few laws exist requiring such instruction. . . . A nationwide analysis by the news organizations shows states require far more training to prepare students and teachers for a mass shooting than they do for the police who are expected to protect them."

Missouri's rural teachers are among the lowest paid in the country; lack of state tax revenue is partially to blame

 Missouri's rural teachers are 'second-worst paid' in the
U.S. (Photo by Tristen Rouse, St. Louis Public Radio)

American teacher salaries have not kept pace with other college graduate professions, and for rural areas, the wage disparities continue to grow. In Missouri, a new report on rural education found that the "state's rural teachers are paid better only than those in Arkansas," reports Kate Grumke of St. Louis Public Radio. "Missouri also has one of the lowest rates of state tax revenue, meaning the burden for funding schools falls heavily on local taxpayers."

The study "collected salary expenses in rural school districts across the country and divided those by the number of teachers in the district to calculate teacher pay, "Grumke explains. "They found Missouri's rural school districts spend less on each teacher than every state except Arkansas. The researchers used a cost-of-living adjustment to more accurately compare compensation."

Nationally, Missouri falls lower on teacher pay, but "this report highlights the acute issues in rural parts of the state," Grumke writes. "Low salaries in rural districts often lead to high turnover, as teachers move to nearby suburban districts that often pay significantly more, said Phil Murray, president of the Missouri National Education Association and a former teacher."

Like many rural schools searching for low-cost teacher retention fixes, some Missouri schools have implemented a 4-day school week. Jon Turner, an associate professor at Missouri State University who studies rural schools, told Grumpke: "We've now passed the 30% mark of the number of schools that are on the four-day school week, and almost all of them are rural schools. One of the primary factors of that is because rural schools struggle to hire and retain high-quality teachers."

Grumpke reports,"Missouri also had one of the lowest rates of state tax revenue compared to local revenue; the state contributes about 75 cents for every dollar of local funding. This heavy reliance on local property taxes creates significant challenges in rural school districts and other districts where property values are low.

"Missouri is really an outlier here in that we put all the burden of operating rural schools on the local taxpayer," Turner told Grumpke. "And sometimes the teachers and the kids pay the price because there's not as much tax revenue coming in at the end of the year to support those rural schools." 

Home schooling is America's fastest-growing form of education, but some are concerned about the results

The Washington Post graph

Amid school shootings, political polarization, controversial mask mandates, teacher strikes and student-to-student bullying, the U.S. educational system has been under tremendous pressure in recent years. In response, many parents are opting for an unconventional approach. "Home schooling has become — by a wide margin — America's fastest-growing form of education," report Peter Jamison, Laura Meckler, Prayag Gordy, Clara Ence Morse and Chris Alcantara of The Washington Post. "As families from Upper Manhattan to Eastern Kentucky embrace a largely unregulated practice once confined to the ideological fringe, a Washington Post analysis shows. . . . It is a remarkable expansion for a form of instruction that 40 years ago was still considered illegal in much of the country."

"The analysis — based on data The Post collected for thousands of school districts across the country — reveals that a dramatic rise in home schooling at the onset of the pandemic has largely sustained itself through the 2022-23 academic year, defying predictions that most families would return to schools that have dispensed with mask mandates and other covid-19 restrictions," the Post reports. "The growth demonstrates home schooling's arrival as a mainstay of the American educational system, with its impact — on society, on public schools and, above all, on hundreds of thousands of children now learning outside a conventional academic setting — only beginning to be felt."

The Post "estimates that there are now between 1.9 million and 2.7 million home-schooled children in the United States, depending on the rate of increase in areas without reliable data."

The Washington Post graph

The sheer number of home schooled children has left some citizens worried. The Post reports, "Many of America's new home-schooled children have entered a world where no government official will ever check on what, or how well, they are being taught." Elizabeth Bartholet, an emeritus professor at Harvard Law School and child welfare advocate, told reporters: "Policymakers should think, 'Wow — this is a lot of kids.' We should worry about whether they're learning anything."

"If there is a capital of American home schooling, it may be Hillsborough County, Fla," the Post reports. "There were 10,680 children being home-schooled at the beginning of the 2022 academic year within Hillsborough County's school district, the biggest total in The Post's home-schooling database." Corey McKeown, a home schooling advocate and teacher in Hillsborough, told the Post: "Home-schoolers in Hillsborough County do not lack for anything. We have come such a long way."

But Hillsborough County School Board member Lynn Gray, a former public school teacher who taught history part-time for several years at a Catholic home-schooling co-op, told the Post, "I can tell you right now: Many of these parents don't have any understanding of education. The price will be very big to us and to society. But that won't show up for a few years."

The state of rural schools in post-pandemic America is an 'inflection point' for the nation

Data from a new report on rural student performance in grades K-12 show a student body with similar post-pandemic learning gaps when compared to their urban counterparts. The similarity is somewhat surprising since rural schools have fewer resources. Moreover, rural schools have outperformed more metro learners in specific key success measurements, a point that educators, government policymakers and politicians may want to consider, reports Libby Stanford of Education Week. The reports pulled together data from the National Center for Education Statistics and the Census Bureau to "chronicle the challenges and successes rural schools have faced since 2019."

Despite fewer resources, more rural high school students
graduated. (National Rural Education Association graph via EdWeek)

While one-third of U.S. schools are rural, Stanford reports, "Their students have less access to school counselors and psychologists, school transportation, and broadband internet, the report said. At the same time, rural students have higher graduation rates than their non-rural peers, and rural schools have smaller achievement gaps between students experiencing poverty and students not in poverty than their non-rural counterparts."

Rural students living at poverty levels outperform their
urban counterparts. (NREA graph via EdWeek)

The data can serve as a "wake-up call as policymakers alter funding formulas and make decisions about other resources for rural schools, the report's authors said during the National Forum to Advance Rural Education," according to Stanford. Bob Klein, who is the chair of the teaching, learning, and foundations department at Eastern Illinois University and one of the authors of the report, told Stanford: "We're told frequently that we're at an inflection point, be it an inflection point for inflation, or an inflection point for political coalitions, the structure of labor, the nature of work, and so on. . . . If that's true, then we're at a point of incredible importance to shape the future of the generation of rural students and the relationship to their communities and the nation more broadly."

The reports offers a deeper scope of comparisons and notes that mental health remains rural schools' biggest challenge. Read the full report here.