Ed Surge – Carolyn Chuong
“In rural districts, children and youth face profound obstacles—geographic isolation and long bus rides to school, frustratingly slow internet connections, limited course options, and low college-going rates. Specifically, only one-third of rural students matriculate in college compared to nearly half of urban students. And when it comes to teachers, the human capital pipeline runs relatively dry. For example, national data from the past 15 years shows that rural schools are more likely to have STEM teacher vacancies than urban or suburban schools. Could personalized learning and the use of technology fundamentally change rural student outcomes? Perhaps, but there’s a problem. Although personalized learning is gaining momentum around the country, investment opportunities and school systems leading the charge have largely been concentrated in urban communities. One explanation is that charter schools have been at the forefront of personalized learning—they typically have more appetite for innovation and the autonomy to make large-scale changes.”(more)