Early Childhood Education in Rural Kansas: A Community Capitals Approach

• In Event: Parents and Families' Influences on Education

Abstract

This study reports on the implementation of a $1 million Early Childhood Block Grant (ECBG) in a rural Kansas school district going through hard times. Administration of the grant was through a public-private consortium of community partners. The centerpiece of the ECBG was an Early Learning Center (ELC) providing education and care to 210 children ages birth-four. The broad ecology in which the ELC was embedded encompassed expansive political, social, economic, and normative contexts and we used Flora and Flora’s (2013) community capitals framework to examine the collective impact of the partnership and the ELC’s impact on the local community. We discuss exogenous versus endogenous development approaches and the prospect for rural school reform contributing to sustainable community outcomes.

Authors

• Eric Freeman, Wichita State University

• Neil Guthrie, Wichita Public Schools

• Pamela Martin, Central Christian Academy

• John Lawrence, Wichita State University