The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the practices proposed by the contributing authors across multiple disciplines that may help to improve the educational and professional experiences of African Americans in rural spaces. The authors discuss promising practices in secondary and postsecondary education and conclude with…

Rural school communities face an array of systemic barriers that often impact students' college and career readiness (CCR). These barriers often extend to students identified as gifted and talented, a subsection with differing CCR readiness needs than their non-gifted peers. Despite these barriers, school counselors are well positioned to address…

Texas House Bill 3 established a college, career, and military readiness (CCMR) outcomes bonus, which provides extra funding to districts for each annual graduate demonstrating CCMR under the state accountability system. Some small district and rural district leaders expressed concern about the ability of their graduates to meet the career…

Nokomis Regional High School, which draws nearly 600 students from eight different towns in rural Maine, has spent 10 years transforming its instructional model to immerse students in meaningful learning experiences that relate to their interests and passions. Project-based learning, interdisciplinary courses, and career exploration units are…

Rural, economically disadvantaged communities face a bigger challenge than urban communities in recruiting and retaining high school (HS) students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) because many of these students do not have access to high-quality STEM opportunities. In this article, we describe a mentoring program we…

Community asset mapping is an approach that school counselors can use to locate resources to meet the needs of families, schools, and communities. This article provides step-by-step instructions on how school counselors might use community asset mapping to address the needs of their population(s), illustrated with an example of implementation in a…

The Indiana Commission for Higher Education has for years acknowledged and addressed the equity and achievement gaps that exist in the state's education pipeline. In 2013, the Commission passed a resolution to close Indiana's educational achievement gaps by 2025. In 2021, gaps are closing, but not quickly enough. Data must be the driving force…

In 2017 Georgia instituted a flexibility policy through which school districts enter into performance contracts with the state that grant districts waivers from state rules and allow schools and districts greater autonomy. In exchange, schools and districts must meet academic performance targets. The performance contracts are intended to…

Rural students are a unique population who tend to be overlooked on campuses, despite having hurdles to overcome that some argue are similar if not greater than their peers in urban areas. Rural students are more likely to graduate high school than urban and suburban students according to the NCES and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).…

In Indiana and Minnesota, career and technical education programs are intended to provide pathways to both postsecondary education and careers after high school. Each state's education agency, higher education agency, and workforce agency collaborated to develop career and technical education courses. These agencies partnered with the Regional…

In 2013, the Indiana Commission for Higher Education passed a resolution to cut the achievement gap in half by 2018 and close the achievement gap by 2025. The College Equity report provides a snapshot of Indiana's college achievement gap progress -- measured by the college-going rate, early success in college and college completion -- for…

Since the 2016 presidential campaign, for better or worse, the general public and media have placed rural America in the national spotlight. While the election placed an important spotlight on the lives, challenges, and strengths of people living in rural communities, the spotlight came with the perpetuation of myths of rural America (e.g., people…

This document reflects work that began prior to the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act. In 2015 the Arkansas Department of Education began engaging with stakeholders to determine how the Department could better support students, educators, school and district leaders, and communities in their efforts to improve student outcomes. The…

There is a great deal of information available related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Assurance focused on college/career ready standards and assessment, much of it very recent. So much is available that this report contains only a part of the available documents. The report is organized in sections based on issues that…