Challenges and Opportunities for Community Organizing in Rural Schools

• In Event: Reimagining Family, School, and Community Partnerships as an Educational Change Strategy in the United States, Canada, and England

Abstract

Objectives and Theoretical Framework

A frequent assumption made by policy makers is that if student achievement can only be accelerated, economic prosperity and a high quality of life will surely follow. For rural America, however, high-achieving students are those that are most likely to migrate to cities and suburbs, creating a “rural brain drain” that deprives their home communities of their most precious human resource (Carr & Kefalas, 2010). To truly assist rural communities, a more complex theory of action is needed. That theory of action should not only seek to improve student achievement, but also should enhance students’ attachment to their home communities as well as empower them to be advocates for their schools and communities.

Methods and Data Sources

The paper draws on surveys and interviews to document initial challenges and opportunities experienced by the rural schools as they collaborate to promote an equal balance of attachment, empowerment, and achievement among their students.

Results

This paper will present preliminary research findings on a new rural educational network in the Pacific Northwest (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington). With support of a grant from the US Department of Education, this network aspires not only to improve student learning in rural schools, but also to revitalize them by promoting students’ identification with them and their civic leadership in their communities. This new network will begin with 15 schools spread across the 5 states by early 2014.

Authors

• Elizabeth Cox, Boston College

• Andrew Hargreaves, Boston College

• Danette Parsley, Education Northwest

• Dennis Lynn Shirley, Boston College