Update on Federal Policies Aimed at Improving Rural Education

• In Event: Systems, Structures, Policies: Rural Implications

Abstract

This session will summarize several provisions for rural education that have been included in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. These include several grant programs that work to ensure that rural LEAs are better able to compete for grant funding through set asides or language that ensures equitable geographic distribution of awards, creating technical assistance programs for rural LEAs seeking grants, and direction the US Department of education to create reports focusing on the status of rural education and internal procedures for ensuring that rural education is supported. These revisions to ESEA represent a greater focus on rural education and may present opportunities for research and collaboration to those who advocate for rural education.

Author

• Devon G. Brenner, Mississippi State University