Last fall, more than 900 teacher positions in Nebraska were either vacant or filled by underqualified personnel, according to the Nebraska Department of Education.
With so many vacancies, school districts are forced to compete for candidates from a relatively small pool — something that can have long-term negative effects on rural Nebraska communities.
Making sure rural youth have enough to eat is important for both their health and education. Attending school with an empty stomach affects a student’s ability to focus and learn, making proper nutrition essential for academic success.
Nebraska Extension educators Beth Nacke and Natalie Sehi are leading research focused on adolescent nutrition insecurity. They recently worked with the MAP Academy to create a database to analyze the nutritional and economic impact of Nebraska Extension’s statewide Monthly Meal Kit program.
As the makeup of American communities changes in coming years to grapple with impending transfers of wealth and leadership, sustainability of rural communities is a priority.
Lindsay Hastings, Clifton Professor in Mentoring Research at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, has recently worked with her team — Justine Bircher, Mary Emery and Jordan Rasmussen — on a project to build leadership development systems to sustain rural communities for the future.
In recent years, illnesses, quarantines and school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic have increased emphasis on the importance of instructional time for children’s academic achievement following absences from the classroom.
There is also recent evidence that pandemic school closures disproportionately affected U.S. schools that had students with lower third-grade standardized test scores and higher shares of students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Imagine being locked inside your own body, isolated and struggling to meaningfully connect and communicate with those around you.
Now imagine trying to cope with such isolation as a child.
For children with severe speech and physical impairments (SSPI), the lack of a reliable communication methods has devastating impacts on their quality of life, well-being, medical care and social interactions.
Becoming a teacher is not easy. Along with the required formal education, the process requires plenty of patience, preparation, curiosity and enthusiasm.
One less-apparent ingredient of learning to be a teacher is the ability to navigate the ever-changing landscape of diversity in schools, including socio-economic, racial, linguistic, cultural and other demographic characteristics.
A student’s ability to read is a critical predictor of academic and lifelong success. In Nebraska, the COVID-19 pandemic hit students with reading difficulties especially hard, particularly students attending rural schools.
A team of Nebraska researchers is working to boost reading outcomes for rural students in kindergarten through third grade by providing professional learning opportunities to teachers across the state, speeding up pandemic recovery for students with reading difficulties, as well as those at risk.
Nebraska, like other states, faces a shortage of qualified early childhood professionals to meet its demand for quality care and education. This shortage not only poses significant problems for families with young children, but also threatens the state’s future economic prosperity.
