A West Virginia leader believes now's a golden moment to bring about education reform, but does the solution of "core standards" solve the problem for rural schools?
The Obama Administration's Blueprint for Reform mentions "rural" 18 times. But the Education Department still doesn't have a feel for what it means to operate a rural school.
President Obama used the rural school district in Dillon, South
Carolina, as an example of a place that could benefit from federal
stimulus. He's right, but under current guidelines, rural school
districts like Dillon are at a disadvantage.
Neither presidential candidate thus far has stepped forward to address the big issues of rural schools: poverty, teacher training and retention, funding for English Language Learning, and local control.