[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-585809-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":80,"doc-detail-585809-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":73,"head_meta":75,"extra_data":77,"updated_unix":79},105,"en","reimagining-the-new-normal-equity-policy-covid-and-rural-public-schools","Reimagining the “New Normal”: Equity, Policy, COVID, and Rural Public Schools","","The document examines how COVID-19 has revealed long-standing inequities in public education, especially for students of color, low-income learners, English Learners, students with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups. It argues that rural school districts face distinctive constraints in size, resources, staffing, geography, and funding adequacy, which amplify gaps in learning opportunities. 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It highlights increased risk for vulnerable student groups during school closures, distance learning, and hybrid models.","Answer",{"name":65,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":66},"Which groups are identified as most affected in and after the pandemic?",{"text":67,"@type":63},"It names students of color, students from low-income backgrounds, English Learners, students with disabilities, and students experiencing homelessness or in foster care. It also emphasizes those in rural school districts as another group facing heavy impact.",{"name":69,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":70},"What makes challenges for rural school districts distinctive?",{"text":71,"@type":63},"Beyond similarities to mid-size and urban districts, the document points to factors that work differently in rural settings: limited resources, staffing, geography, distance, isolation, workforce development constraints, and a constrained tax base. 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Fege September 2020  \nWe can all agree that before COVID-19, not all school districts and not all communities had the same educational opportunities and resources. And we can all agree COVID-19 has exposed in a dramatic fashion the inequities and gaps that were often ignored and neglected for many years, for many children and for many school districts. Students of color, students from low-income backgrounds, English Learners, students with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups such as students experiencing homelessness and students in foster care, were less likely to have rigorous, engaging, and positive educational experiences before the pandemic. Now there is a real risk that school closures, distance learning, hybrid models, and schools opening and closing will fall heavily on these populations and on another: those in rural school districts (Economic Research Service, 2020) .  \nMuch has been written about the challenges of larger, urban school districts. Indeed, in the past, my own organization has concentrated our policy and legislative focus on mostly urban and large county school systems. Rob Mahaffy, my colleague and the executive director of the Rural School and Community Trust, and longtime friends at Organizations  Concerned About Rural Education (OCRE), were instrumental in assuring that rural, tribal, Alaskan Natives, and territories voices and needs be a seamless part of our organization’s agenda as well. The goal is the same: to assure that all children have access to and receive a high-quality public education no matter where they reside. And at the core of that mission is equity.  \nSo here we are in the midst of a global pandemic. All school districts should be planning now for how to make up this lost learning time, which particularly affects our most vulnerable students (King & Weingarten, 2020) . Ideas include implementing summer programs, and extending or restructuring school days for the 2020-21 school year, summer of 2021, and school year 2022. During this period, federal, state, and local policymakers will be making difficult decisions and deciding how to make those choices  \n5272 River Road, Suite 340, Bethesda, [MD 20816 | 301-657-7741 | maec.org](MD 20816 | 301-657-7741 | maec.org) 1  \nfair and equitable. Rural school districts have often been on the short end of these tradeoffs.  \nMany of the challenges that rural districts face are similar to mid-size and urban school districts. But there are also dynamics that work differently: size, scope, resources, community, political environment, staffing, geography, distance, isolation, workforce development, economics, and constrained tax base, to name a few. The point is not to undervalue the seriousness of the problems that urban education leaders face, but to recognize that rural districts face distinctive problems that have not received enough attention in terms of research, safety, resources, teacher and educator preparation, and certainly equitable policies and adequacy of funding.  \nRural looks different across the country, from remote Native American lands in the West, to small towns in the Great Plains and Midwest, to the Mississippi Delta and Southern“Black Belt,” to Appalachia and New England. Rural looks different even within each state:  \nit might be a town of a few thousand people, or tiny communities several hours or even days from the nearest city, as in parts of Alaska. These differences require policies that recognize that one size does not fit all. In far too many cases, rural districts still do not have the resources and opportunities they deserve compared to urban school districts, although there remain differences within rural areas and they are also hard to d","cbCaicfAxo1HhsG9","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaicfAxo1HhsG9","pdf",202115,"English","# Rural Equity Series\n## Reimagining the “New Normal”: Equity, Policy, COVID, and Rural Public Schools","[{\"question\":\"How did COVID-19 intensify educational inequities discussed in the document?\",\"answer\":\"The document states that COVID-19 dramatically exposed disparities that were often ignored for years. It highlights increased risk for vulnerable student groups during school closures, distance learning, and hybrid models.\"},{\"question\":\"Which groups are identified as most affected in and after the pandemic?\",\"answer\":\"It names students of color, students from low-income backgrounds, English Learners, students with disabilities, and students experiencing homelessness or in foster care. It also emphasizes those in rural school districts as another group facing heavy impact.\"},{\"question\":\"What makes challenges for rural school districts distinctive?\",\"answer\":\"Beyond similarities to mid-size and urban districts, the document points to factors that work differently in rural settings: limited resources, staffing, geography, distance, isolation, workforce development constraints, and a constrained tax base. It also notes insufficient attention in research, safety, preparation, and equitable policy and funding adequacy.\"}]","Reimagining the “New Normal”: Equity, Policy, COVID, and Rural Public Schools | PDF",1792055987,23]