Last week’s National Forum to Advance Rural Education was the nation’s 110th annual gathering of rural teachers, administrators, superintendents and state leaders from across the country.
I attended the meeting on behalf of Advance CTE to talk about our work on high-quality CTE and the CTE on the Frontier series. The meeting also served as a powerful opportunity to hear and learn from state and local innovators from rural America. Over the course of the conference, three themes stood out to me:
1. Preparing learners for careers is a priority for rural educators
We spend a lot of time trying to convince policymakers that what follows the “and” in “college and career ready” is just as important as what precedes it. But at the conference this was already understood. From the breakouts to the keynotes to the tabletop conversations, everyone emphasized the importance and value of exposure to real-world learning in high school and in college. This idea was best captured by student panelist Savannah Burris, a senior at Holyoke High School in northeast Colorado, who said that high school students need to get “real world life experience” to be prepared once they graduate. Throughout the rest of the conference, participants heard about efforts to strengthen regional career pathways, provide robust career guidance to high school students, expand access to rural career centers, and partner with employers and industry leaders in rural communities.
2. Collaboration is key in rural schools and communities
I heard a lot of stories of local and state leaders who are working collaboratively with employers, neighboring school districts and members of their community to prepare learners for success in the real world. One example is a partnership between the Widefield and Peyton School Districts, which are both located just outside of Colorado Springs. Over the past three years, Widefield and Peyton have collaborated to purchase and design a facility for hands-on instruction in industries such as woods manufacturing and construction.
The facility, called the Manufacturing Industry Learning Labs (MiLL) National Training Center, is equipped with state-of-the-art machinery that was acquired through relationships with nearly 70 industry, education and community partners. Students in the program can enroll in Widefield’s Project Lead the Way engineering program and earn CTE credit, math credit and even postsecondary credit. MiLL has gained such attention and interest that the center is now offering evening classes to community college students and is working with employers to train new hires.
3. Rural America is an incubator for innovation — because it has to be
Tight budgets, teacher shortages and small student populations have forced rural schools and institutions to be creative with how they deliver high-quality educational experiences for learners. These same challenges make rural institutions better positioned to test new ideas and see what works. Collins Career Technical Center in Lawrence County, Ohio, for example, organized a student learning experience earlier this year called “No Hazards Here.” The experience, which simulated a chemical spill resulting from a collision between a truck and a bus, involved students across all programs offered at the career center. Students in the health academy were responsible for performing CPR and caring for the dummies who suffered from the crash. Students in the auto body repair and automotive technology programs serviced the damaged vehicles. Meanwhile, forensics students tested the chemicals in the spill using full-body HAZMAT suits and rinsing hoods. Dedication from the center staff, as well as relationships with the local community college, helped make the event a success.
As Rural Teacher of the Year Wade Owlett, a Pennsylvania elementary school teacher who was awarded the title on the second day of the conference, eloquently said: “innovation is not the key to success. It is the key to survival.” The same features that make it challenging to scale high-quality CTE in rural communities can also be assets that allow for flexibility, creativity and collaboration.
Austin Estes, Senior Policy Associate