CRRE Overview

•  Montana is the 4th largest state; population density is 48th in the US
• 42 of 56 counties less than 5 people/square mile
• 96% of our public school districts are classified as “small rural”
• “no state has a higher percentage of rural schools or small rural districts” (Showalter, et al., 2017, p. 138)

• 819 schools in MT
• Only 51 have more than 500 students
• More than 50% have fewer than 100 students
• 92 schools have only one teacher
• 65 schools are considered “one room school houses”
• Last year, 83% of teacher vacancies were in rural schools

Supporting the Vitality of Montana's Rural Schools and Communities
through Rural Education Innovation & Research

1. Preparing PK-12 Teachers for Rural Contexts

• Current IES application pending for the National Center for Research Partnerships in Rural Education

Rural Colloquium Series

• Bringing together MSU’s pre-service teachers and MT’s K-12 rural administrators

2. Providing STEM Professional Development for Rural Teachers

3. Supporting Rural Community Workforce Development

• Nationally, 17% of the rural population lives in poverty (compared with 13% of the urban population) and 25.2% of rural children live in poverty (compared to 21.1% of urban children)
• “The schoolhouse is a physical symbol of a community’s belief in their future” (Rogers, 2016)

4. Impacting International Rural Education

  International Symposium for Innovation in Rural Education 2018
  http://www.montana.edu/crre/isfire2018/index.html

Rural Education International Research Alliance (REIRA)

Building an international research alliance focused on improving the learning and wellbeing of rural
students, their teachers, and school communities -– members from: Australia, USA, Scotland, Norway,
Canada.

• Connecting international researchers to a range of research support, other researchers and associations dedicated to rural education
• Building an international evidence base to best inform and enable future policy and practice to meet the needs of all rural students, their families, and communities