This landscape report explores the impact of earning micro-credentials on the social mobility of rural learners. Through four in-depth case studies, we show how earning micro-credentials may lead to credential attainment, workforce entry, promotions, and/or economic improvements (e.g., salary increase, prioritizing learners impacted by poverty),…

The Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) has been studying the four-day school week since 2015. Since then, the phenomenon of the four-day school week has spread into non-rural areas and interest appears to be growing. Given these apparent changes, the author wanted to know more about recent trends in the initiative. As districts continue…

In this descriptive and comparative study, we present results highlighting the complexity and scope of the challenges facing rural districts as they navigate the changing demographics of the students and families they serve. Rapid increases in the number and concentration of racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse students in rural areas…

In every state in the South, the percentage of residents with bachelor's degrees or higher who were born outside the state exceed the percentage born in-state, reflecting their dependence on imported talent over building their own talent-development systems. In Virginia, the Southern state with the highest percentage of residents with a B.A. or…

Using data gathered from students attending Southeast Community and Technical College in Harlan County, Kentucky, this article discusses how a commitment to place informs and shapes rural students' decisions around post-secondary education, career, and residence. Though some students connected advanced education with rural outmigration, other…

As part of the Community and Environment in Rural America (CERA) initiative, the Carsey Institute has been investigating broad trends between rural community types, including the education level of residents and their parents. Since 2007, Carsey researchers have conducted over 17,000 telephone surveys with randomly selected adult Americans from…

Focusing state and federal dollars on targeted areas, the Kentucky Appalachian Community Development Initiative helps communities in eastern Kentucky fund their own strategies for economic growth. In Hindman, the project focuses on creating the Kentucky School of Crafts, to train master artisans; supporting the Kentucky Appalachian Artisan Center;…

Perceived educational strengths and weaknesses of Appalachian schools are examined as indicators of school effectiveness in this study, which is based on the formula that the expectations people have of schools minus the perceptions of how those expectations are met equals a dissonance factor. The School Effectiveness Inventory (SEI), which…

Appalachian Kentucky's low rates of labor utilization were the result of underinvestment in human capital and unequal distribution of marketable skills. Large proportions of growth in employment have been absorbed by returned workers, young adults who otherwise would have left the region, and in-movers. Unbalanced labor utilization made the…

The rural economy has performed badly during the 1980s. While the recession of the early 1980s was responsible for much of the trouble, the slow rural recovery demonstrates the fundamental hurdles facing the rural economy. Central among these are economic disadvantages, including remote locations isolating rural producers from their markets, low…

Highlights events in the life of Jesse Stuart, who began his teaching career at the age of 17 in a remote one-room school in the Kentucky hills and went on to become widely recognized as teacher, lecturer, and significant regional writer. Emphasizes Stuart's love of teaching and his personal values. (JHZ)

Although there are many sources of information about "effective schools" programs, those that specifically address the needs of rural areas are often overlooked. This document offers a collection of program descriptions to help educators determine programs and practices that appear to be effective in rural and small schools. Program…

A random sample mail survey of residents in seven rural southeastern Kentucky counties in 1979 was a retesting of earlier studies of the attitudinal characteristics associated with Appalachian inhabitants. Results showed the value and attitude traits of individualism, self-reliance, fatalism, religious fundamentalism and traditionalism to be very…

In 1899, Katherine Pettit and May Stone established the first social settlement in the Kentucky mountains. In Chautauqua-like fashion, the women pitched tents in and around the vicinity of Knott County, Kentucky for three consecutive summers. The primary purposes of the social settlement were social justice and community uplift. While the women…

This technical assistance handbook contains information on identifying Kentucky gifted students, including gifted students who live in rural areas or who are economically disadvantaged. Included in the handbook are: (1) recommendations for ensuring equity in the identification and assessment process; (2) a draft of a school district policy on…