The Center for American Progress released a new report entitled “Additional Learning Opportunities in Rural Areas.” The report, by Roy Forbes, takes a look at an often-overlooked aspect of public education—the troubles of rural districts.

Rural, low-income students are more at risk of becoming high school dropouts than their city and suburban peers. Rural schools, especially those serving low-income areas, need the nation’s attention, but currently they are not receiving the attention they deserve.

One promising strategy that should be considered by policymakers at every level as they respond to these challenges is the expansion of learning time for all students attending schools with large concentrations of low-income students. So called “expanded learning time,” or ELT programs, when appropriately implemented, have obvious demonstrable advantages over other programs that provide additional learning time services. The problem is, ELT programs have proven difficult to put into place in rural areas.

Although limited in rural areas, these voluntary programs can have a positive impact. The keys to success are similar to those of best practices in non-rural areas. They include:

• Strong, committed leadership and quality instructional staff
• Adult-to-student ratios at levels that are low enough to make realistic the development of supportive staff/student relationships
• Emphasis on making learning engaging and exciting by providing academic- based enrichment activities while assisting students in meeting achievement standards.