National Rural Education Association Official Podcast

In the first episode of the new season of the Rural Voice, we talk about the research of place and process of rural education from a data-informed perspective. We discuss the role of Ground Truthing and connecting data within the domains of politics, culture, and fear of consolidation. Dr. Mitchell talks about somewhere (rural) and anywhere (urban and suburban). The politics of these are what many would expect. Somewhere, lean more conservative, and anywhere is more liberal. However, these trends in the data are not uniform. In some rural areas, some voters lean liberal, particularly for those people of color. More rural suburban locations vote more conservatively. These spaces include many small business owners. More diverse suburbs lean more liberal as well. Similarly, we are seeing a shift toward skills-based education in high schools, such as trade education (e.g., Information Technology). Thus, educational pathways should be more connected to local needs. We discussed the role of emotion and between-group conflict, such as city and rural tension, the reemergence of populism, women's rights, diversity, and others. These trends have a trickle-down influence on education. We discuss psychology's role in explaining the American shift toward being "groupy" and how it insulates us from perceived threats to our values and groups. We talk about access to resources such as money, natural resources, services, etc. This directly connects to educational offerings and how policy influences local schools, particularly concerning policy and law. From the cultural perspective, it relates to migration and the changing rural demographics. At the same time, we see a change in Hispanic populations in rural America, but African Americans also move to rural areas, including the Southeast United States. This can place a financial strain on these small communities as, in some cases, these communities are seeing an increase in migration, particularly for public schools. This will create new challenges for educators in rural education to meet the needs of these populations (e.g., ESL services). The final domain concerns the fear of consolidating small communities to merge services where rural communities may lose their identity. Dr. Mitchell suggests that these issues will play a role in rural education in the future. Much of the curriculum and policy will be related to places, resources, and job markets and how rural education changes to meet these challenges through the somewhere versus anywhere paradigm.

In a long-overdue episode of the National Rural Education Association, we interview author and Planning Director of the Caswell County Planning Department in Yanceyville, North Carolina, Matthew Hoagland. In his recent book Think Small: A Millennial's Guide to Building a Meaningful Life in Rural America proposes a paradigm shift in many college graduate students' mindset. As many graduates are strapped with record student loan debt coupled with low wage opportunities, Rural America is becoming a new alternative to urban-based careers and lifestyle. A Western Carolina Native, Matthew realized small has immense potential as rural America provides the perfect way to find meaning in American life's hectic nature. Rural America offers an alternative. In this episode, we explore these reflections with Matthew regarding rural America, and the role of elementary and secondary education in finding revolutionary new meaning is a highly competitive and globalized world. For more information on Matthew's Book, go to https://www.howtothinksmall.com/ Win Learning sponsors the Rural Education Education Association Podcast. Please visit their website at https://www.winlearning.com/nrea

In this episode of the National Rural Education Association, Drs. Pratt and Bigham interview Dr. Penny Schwinn, Tennessee's Education Commissioner. She discusses how COVID has influenced education in the State of Tennessee with themes connected to rural education around the United States. She discusses the challenges of COVID and restructuring education to address these new challenges in education. Dr. Schwinn discusses other states and countries observing how they are reopening schools. She discusses how the United States differs from other countries in leadership, oversight, and deployment of new approaches in education to address remote or distance learning. For example, states in the US address reopening much differently than other countries where decisions are made centrally in the various nations' capitals.

In this episode of the Rural Education Association Podcasts, the cohosts interview Mr. Wade Owlett, a 5th-grade teacher at Clark Wood Elementary School in Elkland and recipient of the Pennsylvania Rural Teacher of the Year Award as well as the National Rural Teacher of the Year Award. He received the award on October 12, 2018, in Denver, Colorado. In this interview, Mr. Owlett shares his experience with teaching online in the new normal of COVID-19. He shares both the process as well as social challenges in teaching remotely. Mr. Owlett shares his concerns about the emotional development of his student when not in a face-to-face classroom. He discusses the various options that were available to teachers and school districts following social distancing and online learning, including curricular development, enrichment, teaching, and grading.

In this episode of the Rural Education Podcast the cohosts interview Mr. Ben Garrison, Social Impact Real Estate Entrepreneur of Chattanooga Tennessee regarding a method for recruitment and retention of new teachers given the challenges of hiring and sustaining employment in education. Mr. Garrison discusses the creation and sustainability of teacher housing as an added benefit for recruitment and retention of talented teachers. He discusses some of the challenges of this new idea such as safety and parking for new teachers. The team also discusses how these communities help facilitate relationships, teaching collectives, and administrative benefits of such a community.