Over the past several decades West Virginia has closed scores of small, locally-based schools (primarily high schools), as part of district-level consolidation. These consolidations have affected families and students in numerous ways. Most notably, students living in outlying towns are now required to travel much longer distances to reach…

For those rural schools and communities across the country facing declining student enrollment, there are no easy answers. But there are steps policymakers and communities can take to help cushion the negative impact of declining enrollment on schools to ensure that "no child left behind" also means "no place left behind." This report details 20…

Across the country, states are pushing to close their small rural schools with the mistaken hope of saving money, in spite of overwhelming evidence that smaller schools are beneficial for students, and that they frequently function as the glue that binds together small communities, serving as their economic and social hub. The battle is even more…

The report has three sections. The first section is a chart that examines each of the 12 policy areas and describes its significance for rural schools. For each area, the most "rural-sensitive" position has been identified. The second section examines how each of these 12 policy areas is treated in the NCLB plan for 15 of the most "rural" states.…

Over four milliion children go to public schools in Texas; of these, almost half a million (474,000) students attend school in rural areas. Thirty-six percent of rural Texas students are members of a minority group, 46% are poor, and more than 31,000 students in rural Texas do not speak English well. These are Texas-style large numbers that begin…