Adult Ed in Rural Areas

Submitted by Paul Rogers on Wed, 02/17/2016 - 14:20
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Most of us, myself included, have very little idea of the issues facing the adult education field in rural areas.

Many years ago I investigated an ESL teaching position on a Native American Reservation and was informed that there was no electricity and computers were totally unavailable. That is to say, there was no electricity in the area at all. I almost took the position but found something else first.

In any case, below is a link to a description of a program in rural New England. Let’s use it to start looking at these issues n Rural America.

Paul

http://www.nelrc.org/practice/rural.html

Comments

This area of Vermont has been very lucky.  The needs addressed by the Center created for the area are varied and mutually supporting.  It already reports success in meeting some of its goals.

The question is, Can this multi-faceted plan be replicated in other parts of the country?  Areas with needs similar to this isolated group exist everywhere.  The structure of the program is evident from the article.  What may not be available in all places is the willingness of the various agencies involved to cooperate and to relinquish control.  From my limited experience with isolated rural areas, those two obstacles are the most difficult to overcome and are seldom controlled by the inhabitants of the area.  

It would be interesting to discover who spearheaded the effort.  Input regarding the practicalities of implementation from that individual or agency would be invaluable.

Paul and Victoria, thank you for raising several very critical issues related to rural education.

Victoria, you are right that agencies can be very unwilling to cooperate and to relinquish control. Money is tight in rural areas, and even when programs are publicly funded, the amount is certainly not enough. Rural programs must continually dig for funds to pay for not only teachers, but administrators and managers whose intense efforts are rarely state or federally funded. Public schools compete for money with programs that serve adults and, often, with no mercy.

The consequence? Underfunded services cannot attract well-qualified instructors and staff. Instead, they are lucky to have enough to pay employees $12-$18 when people can commit to longer hours while also working 2-3 other jobs. Benefits? No way! Professional development or certification? Hmmmm... When? Between 4-5 AM, prior to their having to show up for their first job?

The example of a few good practices listed in Paul's Vermont article points to hope, as least where collaboration is possible. What other innovative and promising practices can rural programs share? Leecy

Leecy, the issue of funding for rural areas is obviously much more important than it is for the rest of the country. So I would propose that Nonformal organizations should work together, first, to meet the needs of their respective constituencies, and, second, form a network that could be used as a basis to engage in fund-raising.

For example, an educational foundation is much more likely to give a grant that will help, say, 3 or 4 agencies in a joint project.

In the field of technology, I suspect that an area-wide program involving a number of NGOs would likewise be much more attractive to the movers and shakers in the Tech world.

By the way, most large companies give grants to educational projects, especially if there is a store or plant in the locale. That would be one way to write a grant.

And there are other fund-raising events. Remember Farm Aid with Willy Nelson and other singers. And – We Are The World. I think that it is quite possible to recruit famous celebrities to do concerts – but, again, it would be more likely if there were a network of organizations working together for the same goals.

And, of course, there are always day-to-day fund-raising events or activities that can serve as the mainstay. But here when we talk of Volunteers, we would need to recruit them specifically for fund-raising. I know that every Non-Profit is likely to have on its Board of Directors prominent business people – get them involved in raising money locally.

Paul

The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) published an Issue Sheet on Rural Education in August 2015.   The document notes, "The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reports that rural high school students take more credits of CTE than urban, suburban or town-based students".  This two page resource provides examples from rural districts working to support learners in accessing high quality CTE programs.   

Mike Cruse

Career Pathways Moderator

michaelcruse74@gmail.com

PBS News Hour: Students running small-town market know business is an excellent example of a strong, rural CTE program.  This video log highlights a student-run market in "a sparsely populated Nebraska town in an equally sparsely populated county". Cody, Nebraska is home to the Circle C Market, which has been making a (small) profit for the last three years. Watch the full video and transcript here.

Hi, Paul. I'm interested in hearing what folks that are actually working in rural programs think of the discussion so far. How about it, folks?

Yes, collaboration is ideal, and here's the challenge: (1)isolated rural programs are often not surrounded by other businesses and agencies with whom to collaborate and (2) when other agencies exist, such as school districts, they compete and fail to see the benefit of scratching each others' backs.

What do other rural programs do to stay alive? (Thanks for the resource, Mike!)

Leecy

Leecy, I know you are right about the competition for funds, but at the same time I think that if Nonformal or NGO groups get together, they can apply for joint grants and engage in joint fund-raising without having to deal with the competitive nature of Formal programs.

Actually I think that now is the time because more and more there is a growing dissatisfaction with the practices and results of Formal courses, which can never provide the flexibility that people need.

Here is a report that is quite thorough in its analysis of what’s wrong with adult education.

REPAIRING THE NATIONS EDUCATION SYSTEM FOR ADULT ENGLISH LEARNERS

SEAN KENNEDY LEXINGTONINSTITUTE.ORG-REPAIRING THE SYSTEMS EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM FOR ADULT LEARNERS

http://lexingtoninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/AdultELLpaperJuly13.pdf