Thriving Together: Connecting Rural School Improvement and Community Development

Why Bother?

Just the Facts: Conflicting Goals for Rural Students

A study analyzing data from High School and Beyond found that "rural youth were more likely to leave their hometowns than metropolitan youth" (p. 134, Joyce Ley, Steven Nelson, and Svetlana Beltyukova, "Congruence of aspirations of rural youth with expectations held by parents and school staff." Citing Pollard, O'Hare, and Berg (1990). Journal of Research in Rural Education, Winter 1996, pp. 133-141). A 1995 study "found that conflict over whether to stay or move was greater among rural as compared to nonrural adolescents. According to [this] data, rural youth felt 'more empty and angry about their futures'" (p. 151, Craig B. Howley, Hobart L. Harmon, and Gregory D. Leopold, "Rural scholars or bright rednecks? Aspirations for a sense of place among rural youth in Appalachia." Journal of Research in Rural Education, Winter 1996, p. 151).

"Conventional wisdom asserts that a major advantage of rural settings is the value of highly personal relationships with family, the land, community values and traditions. Yet, factors associated with such community ties—community leadership, stewardship, family connections, civic affairs, social responsibility, voluntary service, close friendships, and other community contributions—all ranked in the bottom half of factors considered important for successful adulthood. Not only was this true among the ideals of the majority of rural young adults which were surveyed, but also for the expectations of more seasoned, mature parents and teachers. It would appear that personal career and economic success overshadowed more selfless concern for the common benefit of the community. Civic mindedness does not stand out as central to the 'American dream'...

"Rural communities concerned with long-term sustainability and survival see youth as their future. Yet, the importance of community leadership and activism, interpersonal connectedness, and stewardship of place are not attributes to which rural youth are expected to, nor do they, aspire. While a premium is placed upon personal character, it is not being invested in the local community" (pp. 139-140, Joyce Ley et al., pp. 139-140).

Given everything that's already on your plate, why should you take up your valuable time with yet another project? And why should your neighbors and colleagues pay attention when you try to get them involved?

The need for rural development.

In many rural areas, both communities and schools are under threat. For many country towns and villages, changes in agriculture, business, technology, and society have decimated the local economy and eroded the social cohesiveness that once characterized rural life. Farming and ranching are dominated by agribusiness enterprises. Manufacturing and industry keep moving to other countries. Rural residents must look to larger towns and cities for their livelihoods, moving away altogether or commuting long distances to work.

Most newcomers to the area are commuters, too, or retirees. Retired persons, living on fixed incomes, often tend to be frugal in their spending and reluctant to support bond initiatives or tax increases. And people who work in the city tend to spend their money in the city. The boom in mail order and Internet sales doesn't help, either. One by one, the little shops on Main Street close their doors, unable to compete with the big discount stores, suburban shopping malls, and dot.com enterprises.

Another problem faced by many rural communities is the degradation of the local environment, due to big companies or big cities that look to the countryside either as a cheap and easy source of things they need—water, minerals, room to grow—or as a garbage dump. As rural expert Bruce A. Miller points out,

Rural America has become the dumping ground for the waste products of urban core areas. With the decline in extractive industries, the quality of the environment may be one of the last marketable resources available in many rural communities. (p. 100, Bruce A. Miller, "Rural distress and survival: The school and the importance of 'community.'" Journal of Research in Rural Education, Fall 1993, pp. 84-103.)

Rural schools in turn suffer from the drain of dollars and people. As the remaining residents loosen their ties to the local community, support for the school—once a center of daily life in many locales—erodes even further. Many rural districts lack the resources to maintain school buildings, much less to offer competitive teacher salaries or support instructional reforms. At the same time, rural schools must address the issues that face educational systems across the nation: how to strengthen student achievement, how to work effectively with diverse student populations, how to engage students whose connections to the values and responsibilities of human citizenship seem ever-more tenuous.

What school-community partnerships have to offer.

Integrated school-community projects benefit the community in many ways. They can stimulate the local economy, through entrepreneurial activities that generate income and encourage residents to shop at home. They can help make the community a more appealing place to live, by providing needed services, improving the local environment, and offering quality education. And they can strengthen the bonds of community, encouraging residents to take part, and take pride, in local culture and history.

Schools benefit in equal measure. Rural schools gain resources, directly through community contributions of time, expertise, or funds, and indirectly, through a strengthened local economy and broader support for educational initiatives. Schools develop an academic program that is rooted in principles of effective teaching and learning; students learn experientially and are able to see the connections between their academic subjects and the world around them. Perhaps most important, schools develop ways of coping with "the single most important problem that American society faces in its effort to educate children"

Young people [have] become segregated from the structure of responsibilities and rewards of the productive adult society. As a result, children and adolescents face historically unprecedented challenges in finding a sense of purpose in their schooling tasks and a sense of connection with adult roles of authority and responsibility. (pp.129- 130 T.B. Hoffer and James S. Colemen, "Changing families and communities: Implications for schools." 89th Yearbook, Part 2, pp. 118-134. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.)

Education that links school and community can restore students' sense of purpose, by helping them to become effective community members as well as productive workers. A central element of this approach is attention to place. By looking to, and at, the local community—recognizing "the strength of places and cultures that have usually been identified by their putative weaknesses"—(Toni Haas and Robin Lambert, "To establish the bonds of common purpose and mutual enjoyment." Phi Delta Kappan, October 1995, p. 142)—students gain a better understanding of their roles and responsibilities in family, community, and society. As Jack Shelton, founder of the PACERS Small Schools Cooperative, puts it:

In schools not connected to place, kids don't have a role and they're anonymous; the teachers are anonymous; the places are anonymous. I don't believe morality is a function of anonymity. (p. 28, "A life connected to community: An interview with Jack Shelton." The Active Learner, Winter 2000, pp. 24-29)

Community Issues Checklist

For each item, use the scale below to note how big a problem it seems in your area; use the blank lines to list other problems, and rank them as well.

1 = None 2 = Minor 3 = Pretty Big 4 = Huge

1	2	3	4	Industries moving, taking jobs with them.
1	2	3	4	Fewer and fewer jobs that pay a decent wage.
1	2	3	4	More people working two jobs to make ends meet.
1	2	3	4	Residents forced to move away to find work.
1	2	3	4	More people having to commute long distances.
1	2	3	4	Local businesses struggling for customers.
1	2	3	4	Local businesses forced to close.
1	2	3	4	Products and services not available locally.
1	2	3	4	Traffic congestion and safety problems.
1	2	3	4	Increasing air pollution.
1	2	3	4	Dwindling water supply or poor water quality.
1	2	3	4	Countryside getting torn up.
1	2	3	4	Hazardous wastes dumped nearby.
1	2	3	4	Community landmarks decaying or disappearing.
1	2	3	4	Declining interest in community events.
1	2	3	4	Fewer people concerned about their neighbors.
1	2	3	4	Fewer people stepping up as community leaders.
1	2	3	4	People losing touch with local history/culture.
1	2	3	4	_____________________________________
1	2	3	4	_____________________________________
1	2	3	4	_____________________________________

Now complete the school issues checklist below:

School Issues Checklist

For each item, note how big a problem it seems in your schools; use the blank lines to list and rank other problems.

1 = None 2 = Minor 3 = Pretty Big 4 = Huge

1	2	3	4	Schools unable to meet state mandates.
1	2	3	4	Student achievement not what it should be.
1	2	3	4	Schools threatened with consolidation.
1	2	3	4	Schools limited in the courses they can offer.
1	2	3	4	School buildings in disrepair.
1	2	3	4	Schools unable to keep up with new technology.
1	2	3	4	Difficulty passing school bonds or tax increases.
1	2	3	4	School salaries below the state average.
1	2	3	4	Difficulty keeping good administrators.
1	2	3	4	Difficulty keeping good teachers.
1	2	3	4	Teachers losing their motivation for teaching.
1	2	3	4	Declining community support for school events.
1	2	3	4	Hazardous wastes dumped nearby.
1	2	3	4	Community landmarks decaying or disappearing.
1	2	3	4	Declining interest in community events.
1	2	3	4	Parents not involved in their kids’ schooling.
1	2	3	4	Conflicts between school and community factions.
1	2	3	4	Greater numbers of troubled students.
1	2	3	4	Students less motivated to learn.
1	2	3	4	Student behavior problems increasing.
1	2	3	4	_____________________________________
1	2	3	4	_____________________________________
1	2	3	4	_____________________________________

If you marked any item as “pretty big” or “huge,” take a minute to compare this list with the community issues checklist. Do problems on one list link to problems on the other? School-community partnerships can help to address problems on both checklists.

You drop a pebble in the water and it ripples out: The case of Balmorhea

Balmorhea, Texas (pop. 855) is a rural community in far west Texas. The nearest town of any size, the county seat of Pecos (pop. 11,852), is thirty miles away; to reach anything resembling a city, residents must drive to Odessa, nearly a hundred miles distant. Balmorhea's roots go deep into Texas history. Indian tribes were irrigating crops from nearby springs when the first Spanish explorers came through in 1583. Since the late 1800s the town, whose population is predominantly Hispanic, has witnessed both booms and busts. In recent decades, however, Balmorhea has struggled economically, as has the rest of the county; countywide, the average weekly wage is just over $300.

The school system has suffered, too. The district is poor, as are most students, with nearly 70 percent on free or reduced lunch. A single school serves all students, K-12. As recently as 1993, scores on the state-mandated Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) hovered around the 20th percentile. But now, says assistant principal Michael Barrandey, average TAAS scores are in the 80s and still rising. Why the turnaround? A great deal of the credit, Barrandey reports, belongs to joint school-community development.

It all began in 1994, when Barrandey, at his superintendent's suggestion, attended a service learning workshop. The workshop in turn led to a $5,000 grant, which the district used to purchase supplies for the local EMS service and to plant trees in a deteriorating downtown park. These modest activities sparked a sense of possibility—and responsibility—that grows stronger each year. Today school, city, and county government work together on community improvement efforts.

The town also now boasts a school-based community health clinic, which students help operate; a school-operated weather station that provides data for area farmers and ranchers; and a technology program through which students help community residents and businesses, repairing computer systems and providing guidance in their operation. Plans are underway for students to wire the school building for fiber optics. The school is also creating a parent involvement center that offers an adult GED program and training in technology use.

And the benefits of all these efforts? In addition to dramatic increases in TAAS scores, Barrandey notes, the school has seen growth in the percentage of students who go on to college, and in the number of adults getting their GEDs. And almost half the teaching staff is now "homegrown."

In spite of such success, Balmorhea has faced problems that confront many change efforts. "It's hard for people to accept change," Barrandey explains. A couple of long-time teachers decided to retire rather than adapt to new community-based learning strategies. And, he says, problems arise due to the factionalism common in small towns. "There are still people who say, "I don't want to get involved because I don't like so-and-so." The difference is, with so much support, now it makes them look bad when they don't participate."

According to Barrandey, struggling communities don't need miracles in order to succeed. "You have to think out of the box," he says, and most small towns will need some help. In Balmorhea, the Region 18 Education Service Center provided early guidance. The health clinic operates in cooperation with Texas Tech University. But help is usually available for those who persist, he observes, and "sometimes it just takes a phone call." The main thing, says Barrandey, is that residents—school staff not the least among them—must step up and take responsibility for making change happen. In Balmorhea, he says, "when people say 'somebody needs to do something,' somebody does something."

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