S02E05 – Rural Education is Not What Others Might Think, A Response to the Recent New York Times Article The Tragedy of America’s Rural Schools by Casey Parks with Guest Panelist Dr. Brad Mitchell.

In this special episode of the Rural Voice, the cohosts Drs. Pratt, Bigham, and Silver invite NREA friend and contributor Dr. Brad Mitchell, to respond to a recent article from the New York Times titled The Tragedy of America’s Rural Schools by Casey Parks, Published Sept. 7, 2021. As noted in this article, the discussants discuss some of the challenges of making overarching claims in a single case study example. We discuss contextual challenges and benefits of education in rural America, including strategic partnerships, identifying problems at the local level, avoid stereotyping of rural education and learning as one problem and solution fits all, and the need for coordinated efforts to address these problems beyond the political sphere of influence to pragmatic accountability. This accountability is top-down and bottom-up, where we all need to work together to address these issues, including race and demographics, socio-economic challenges, and meeting the job market needs within each locale. We collectively call on the New York Times to consider addressing the policy and practices at the local level to address these issues, avoid overgeneralizations based on a single case study to include more narratives of students, teachers, and families to meet our educational goals, and recognize that justice is about precise regional understanding and implementation within schools and community. Dr. Mitchell suggests examples might include the Good Jobs Challenge, and each state should have a rural policy of practice to address these growing challenges. The article link is below. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/07/magazine/rural-public-education.html