Providing Supplemental Services to Rural Schools | NW Report: January-February 2004

Providing Supplemental Services to
Rural Schools

By Bracken Reed

From isolated schools accessible only by airplane rides over frozen tundra to pesky squirrels that knock out Internet service by chewing through the lines, providing supplemental educational services to rural areas can be both a hair-raising and hair-pulling adventure.

Administrators discuss the unique problems of providing supplemental services to rural schools.On November 4-5, 2003, administrators from the Alaska, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming departments of education gathered in the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory's board room to share their stories, identify common issues, and develop potential strategies for meeting new federal requirements.

Under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Title I schools that are in their second year of school improvement, in corrective action, or in restructuring are required to provide supplemental educational services and school choice options to low-income children. For rural districts, making these legislative ideals work in the real world can be especially challenging.

Cosponsored by the Region X Comprehensive Center and the Northwest Educational Technology Consortium (NETC), the Supplemental Services Symposium placed particular emphasis on the needs of these rural areas, as well as the potential of technology to address those needs.

Tom Corwin, representing the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Innovation and Improvement, acknowledged that the new legislation is a work in progress, and that many of the regulations need to be adapted to the realities of rural districts.

Representatives from each state spoke candidly about these realities, but also discussed basic questions, such as how to identify the most effective and appropriate services (tutoring, after-school programs, distance learning, summer school), how to meet the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse learners, how to align services to state standards, and how to identify and evaluate qualified outside service providers. While common to all states, the wide open spaces and fierce independence of the Western states can put a unique spin on these issues. School choice, for example, is difficult to offer in areas where the next closest school is more than 100 miles away by bus or—in the case of Alaska—small plane.

Choosing service providers can also be more complicated in rural areas where there is pressure to keep scarce jobs and limited resources in-state or even in-town. "We have to provide service that is supplemental and educational but is not going to displace a single job," said Jim McBride of the Wyoming Department of Education.

Sheila Box, of Alaska's Department of Education, noted that outside service providers need to be sensitive to local needs and conditions. "They have to be flexible," she said. "They can't come in with a canned program and expect to be successful."

The two-day symposium was an initial step in helping educators balance federal requirements and local realities. Several white papers will be issued to summarize the major themes that were identified.

Those looking for further information about supplemental services are encouraged to consult www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/suppsvcsguid.doc, Supplemental Educational Services Non-Regulatory Guidance August 22, 2003.

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