In 2002-2003, 27% (12.5 million) of public school students attended school in communities of fewer than 25,000 and 19% (8.8 million) attended school in smaller communities of fewer than 2,500. In this report, the authors focus on the schools in those smaller communities, the most rural schools in America. They frame the report around 22 statistical indicators grouped into four gauges measuring: (1) the relative importance of rural education; (2) the level of poverty in rural schools; (3) other socio-economic challenges faced by rural schools; and (4) the policy outcomes achieved in rural education. A combination of the four gauge rankings gives an overall ranking, the Rural Education Priority Gauge. The top quartile on this gauge includes states in quintessentially rural regions of the country: the Mid-South Delta (Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and Arkansas), the Southeast (South Carolina, Georgia, and North Carolina), the Southwest (New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Arizona), and Central Appalachia (Kentucky and West Virginia). No state scores in the highest quartile on all four gauges, but six score in the highest quartile on three of the gauges (New Mexico, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Arizona, and Oklahoma). The lowest ranking states on the Rural Education Priority Gauge are urban states in the East and in the Great Lakes Region. These and other findings are discussed in detail in this report. (Contains 9 tables, 27 figures, and 2 notes.)
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