[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-585803-105":59,"doc-detail-585803-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","rural-equity-series-gaining-ground-on-equity-for-rural-schools-and-communities","Rural Equity Series - Gaining Ground on Equity for Rural Schools and Communities","","Gaining Ground on Equity for Rural Schools and Communities examines equity in rural America and how it shapes students’ well-being and educational success. The discussion links rural challenges to inequities that persist across regions, including discrimination layered within broader marginalization. It outlines five focus areas—resource allocation, physical and mental health services, support for the educator workforce, access to high-quality child care, and college readiness—while emphasizing coordinated policies and stakeholder relationships to enable rural students to flourish.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/rural-equity-series-gaining-ground-on-equity-for-rural-schools-and-communities/585803/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/rural-equity-series-gaining-ground-on-equity-for-rural-schools-and-communities/585803.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Riley West","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":34},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is the main focus of the Rural Equity Series report?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The report provides an overview of how equity relates to rural America, rural students, and rural schools, highlighting both common rural challenges and internal differences across regions.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Why does the report emphasize diversity in rural communities?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It argues that rural communities are not monolithic; students may differ across race, language, gender and sexual identity, ability, religion, socioeconomic background, and family composition, which can create layered discrimination.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"Which inequity areas does the report examine in rural communities?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It concentrates on five examples of inequity: resource allocation, physical and mental health services, support for the educator workforce, access to high-quality child care, and cultivating college readiness.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},585803,1792075921,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":34,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":41,"preview_page_count":4},1099523885074,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc","For a text version of this document please visit: [https://maec.org/resource/gaining-ground-on](https://maec.org/resource/gaining-ground-on)equity-for-rural-schools-and-communities/  \nRural Equity Series  \nGaining Ground on Equity for Rural Schools and Communities  \nHeather Biggar Tomlinson, Ph.D. September 2020  \nMountainous Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta, the wide-open Great Plains, remote Alaska, lush Hawaii, and pastoral New England all evoke images of rural America, but they are unique regions with distinct differences in people, values, landscapes, and lifestyles. These and the many other pockets of rural America showcase diverse economic engines, natural resources, affluence or poverty levels, demographics, and cultures. Yet there are commonalities that transcend the distinctions to connect rural areas and create an overarching entity that collectively identifies as “rural America.”  \nOne in five Americans, or about 60 million people, lives in a rural area. Because 97% of the nation’s landmass is considered rural, by definition these areas are sparsely populated and far from urban centers (United States Census Bureau, 2017) . Although rural school districts are small—median enrollment is fewer than 500 students—the overall numbers are not: 28.5 % of schools are rural and 9.3 million students attend them (Showalter, Hartman, Johnson, & Klein, 2019). The well-being and success of rural students is a critical determinant of the well-being and success of the nation as a whole.  \nUnfortunately, one of the commonalities connecting rural areas is a lack of access to services, infrastructure, and equitable policies and practices. This article provides an overview of how equity relates to rural America and its students and schools. While rural America has been overlooked and marginalized as a whole in many ways, there are layers of discrimination and disadvantage within that broader marginalization. Many of the inequities could be ameliorated by improved policies, approaches, and relationships between institutions that tackle inequities systemically. We examine the intersections of diversity and equity in rural communities and explain how these concepts dovetail, concentrating on five examples of inequity: resource allocation, physical and mental health services, support for the educator workforce, access to high-quality child care, and cultivating college readiness. The hope is that by better connecting the dots between equitable policies and stakeholders, and between love of place and the need for excellent educational opportunities, it’s possible to see the potential of schools, communities and states to give all rural students a chance to flourish.  \n5272 River Road, Suite 340, Bethesda, [MD 20816 | 301-657-7741 | maec.org](MD 20816 | 301-657-7741 | maec.org) 1  \nDiversity and Equity in Rural America   \nDiversity shows up in multiple dimensions. Students in rural areas may be racially diverse and linguistically diverse, diverse in gender and sexual identity, physical and intellectual ability, religious background, from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds and family composition, and more. Students from non-dominant backgrounds may face layers of discrimination and disadvantage.  \nRacial Diversity  \nThe narrative addressing rural communities has been oversimplified. The lack of nuance in the narratives can lead to false assumptions and prejudices. Although images in the popular press often present a narrow version of rural America, with a tendency to focus on poor, White communities, the nation’s contemporary rural student body is richly diverse and multifaceted. The Rural School and Community Trust (RSCT) gives the U.S. a racial diversity index of 31.9, meaning that if someone randomly chose two students from a rural district, there would be an approximately one-third chance that those students would be of different races. However, the average belies a big range. According to the RSCT, in Maine, for example, racial divers","cbCaisEJr5QVa9C5","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaisEJr5QVa9C5","pdf",209240,12,"English","# Introduction\n## Diversity and Equity in Rural America\n## Racial Diversity\n## Poverty","[{\"question\":\"What is the main focus of the Rural Equity Series report?\",\"answer\":\"The report provides an overview of how equity relates to rural America, rural students, and rural schools, highlighting both common rural challenges and internal differences across regions.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the report emphasize diversity in rural communities?\",\"answer\":\"It argues that rural communities are not monolithic; students may differ across race, language, gender and sexual identity, ability, religion, socioeconomic background, and family composition, which can create layered discrimination.\"},{\"question\":\"Which inequity areas does the report examine in rural communities?\",\"answer\":\"It concentrates on five examples of inequity: resource allocation, physical and mental health services, support for the educator workforce, access to high-quality child care, and cultivating college readiness.\"}]","Rural Equity Series - Gaining Ground on Equity for Rural Schools and Communities | PDF",1792055971]