The CYFS-housed National Center for Research on Rural Education (R2Ed) generated discussion and disseminated findings about factors influencing the academic success of rural K-12 students when it hosted 150 researchers, practitioners and policymakers at a conference held April 3-4 in Omaha, Neb.
Titled Connect-Inform-Advance, the national conference fostered research-based dialogue about the interrelated impacts of teaching, family engagement, school environment and contextual factors on rural student performance.
The event, which drew participants from 18 states, featured nine research presentations that covered issues ranging from teacher professional development and family-school partnership approaches to American Indian education initiatives and rural school reform standards.
Roundtable discussions and moderated panels followed each series of presentations, offering participants the opportunity to engage in dialogue while providing and receiving real-time reactions through a conference-specific Twitter feed.
Multiple presenters and panelists emphasized the value in establishing partnerships among researchers, teachers and families that can lead to practical, effectual and sustainable solutions to long-standing problems such as resource limitations and relative isolation.
“All of the conference participants attended because of a personal and vested interest not only in rural education, but also in the connections among research, practice and policy,” said R2Ed Director Susan Sheridan. “It is a shared interest in determining how these sectors inform, and are informed by, each other – and how they together can promote the academic experiences and achievement of students in rural communities.”
John White, deputy secretary for rural outreach at the U.S. Department of Education, gave a special address on increasing interest in teaching careers and attracting talented educators to rural schools. Keynote speaker Roger Breed, Nebraska’s commissioner of education, discussed the challenges and opportunities inherent to rural schools in the Cornhusker State and nationwide.
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Prem Paul, vice chancellor for research and economic development, and Marjorie Kostelnik, dean of UNL’s College of Education and Human Sciences, also shared their insights on the status and outlook of rural education research.
“The primary goal of the rural center is to uncover methods for enhancing educational experiences for the 9.6 million of our nation’s children who attend rural schools,” Sheridan said. “We’re honored and excited that leaders and innovators from across the rural education spectrum contributed their collective experience and shared in our collective purpose.”
Connect-Inform-Advance was sponsored by Metropolitan Community College and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s College of Education and Human Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, and Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The National Center for Research on Rural Education is funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences.