Public Schools at the Crossroads: Addressing the Dropout Challenge in Rural America
Transcript available upon request
Dr. Hobart Harmon is one of the nation’s leading experts on public education in rural America, Dr. Hobart Harmon is codirector of the Rural Math Excel Partnership, an investing in innovation (i3) project funded by the U.S. Department of Education (U.S. DoE), and operated by the Virginia Advanced Study Strategies, Inc. Dr. Harmon has been involved in some of the most significant improvement initiatives in rural education, including the National Science Foundation’s Rural Systemic Initiatives, and the U.S. DoE’s 15-state rural dropout prevention technical assistance initiative. Dr. Harmon also advised the Alliance for Excellent Education in producing a report that brought attention to the dropout problem in rural America. Many communities in rural America are in major transition as leaders confront the realities of significant social, cultural, and economic shifts. Today, public schools are at a crossroads as they try to offer a modern education in the face of dwindling resources, changing school populations, and increasing accountability demands. With more than 12 million students enrolled in public schools in rural America, addressing the dropout challenge is vital to the future of students, their families, and rural communities. How do public schools and community leaders form meaningful partnerships to implement solutions to the dropout challenge – particularly when changing times raise the issue to crisis proportions? “Public Schools at the Crossroads: Addressing the Dropout Challenge in Rural America” will focus on: Where the rural dropout problem is most prominent in the U.S., and why there are high concentrations of dropouts in certain rural areas; What risk factors fuel dropping out of school in rural areas; and How partnerships can help confront challenges for implementing promising dropout practices in rural areas.