Lessons Learned from Rural Schools - Alabama Department of ...

LLS-0010 Lessons Learned_Pub.qrk: 4/25/09 3:02 PM Page 6
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Where Tomorrows Begin
Aperfect storm–fueled by the out migration of
young adults and rising poverty and strengthened
by a declining economy and loss of jobs–swirls
across rural Alabama.
In its wake lie communities struggling not only to maintain
a certain standard of living, but just to exist. And the
most notable victims are the smallest among us, the children.
Nowhere does this show up as starkly as visiting a school
lunchroom. Here you find that six out of ten students in
Alabama’s rural public schools are receiving either free or
reduced meals. And for these six, school is often a challenge
as data from the Alabama Department of Education
shows that they trail non-poverty students significantly
in reading and math scores.
Too often these students are not on a path to a cap and
gown, but to never going to school after their 16th birthday.
The fact that rural schools have only 30 percent of
the students in Alabama, but 36 percent of the dropouts, is
testimony to this.
Rural Alabama didn’t get to this juncture overnight; it’s
been on this road for years. Ten years ago 54.2 percent of
rural students were free-reduced lunch, now 61.9 percent
are. Ten years ago there were 60 rural schools with 90 percent
or more of their students on free-reduced meals, now
there are 78. There are 31 schools in Alabama where less
than 10 percent of the students are on free-reduced
lunches, none of them in rural communities.
But we often fail to pay adequate attention to the big
picture. Instead, we form commissions and study groups
and hold meetings. And too often, rather than looking for
where the blood is coming from, we look for band-aids.
Truth is; the blood is coming from a lot of places; from
lack of decent jobs, from lack of a diversified economy,
from lack of a qualified workforce, from lack of infrastructure.
But most of all, it is coming from our children, from the
circumstances that hobble their education in both the
home and school.
And if we’re to weather this storm, all of us concerned
about the future of rural Alabama, every legislator, every
mayor, every county commissioner, every bank president,
every mama and daddy, every business owner, must begin
where every tomorrow begins—with our children.
Lessons Learned from County Schools is an honest attempt to
shed light on one of Alabama’s most pressing needs—how
do we better prepare the 30 percent of the state’s children
who go to public school in rural communities for a future
where a quality education will be the rule and not the exception?
The remaining pages of this publication explain what
was learned about 10 outstanding rural schools and 10
communities that are sprinkled across rural Alabama from
near the Gulf Coast to the Tennessee Valley. They offer
glimpses of what is possible when expectations, teamwork,
collaboration and pride become a way of life.
But to fully understand these schools and communities,
it is first necessary to understand the challenges they face.
The section, The Reality of Being Rural, provides the
backdrop and context of why rural schools face a different
set of circumstances than schools in either suburban or
inner city locations.
In Education is more than pencils and paper we
look at the “external environment” of these schools. What
are the intangibles that both community and school administration
and teachers bring to the education process?
• We learned there is a culture of expectations on each
school campus. Whether it is by having a parade, a Pride
Assembly or celebrating your Native American heritage,
schools work hard to make students feel special and instill
a willingness to achieve.
• Schools build trust with the community and parents. As
former principal Betty Warren says, “…the parents must
know you love their babies. If they know this, they will
support you.” Schools also work hard to interact with their
communities.
• Each of these schools is a clean, neat and attractive facility.
None of these schools are new, but they are all bright,
cheerful and welcoming. In case after case, principals told
stories of going the extra mile to paint, clean windows and
landscape buildings and grounds.
• There is definitely a sense of family on all 10 campuses.
Principals go out of their way to make everyone from
teachers to custodians to bus drivers to lunchroom workers
feel appreciated and a key part of the educational process.
In the section, What happens when the bell rings?
we examine the “internal environment” dealing with how
administrators manage and motivate, how students are
motivated and school culture.
• One of the key findings was that nine out of 10 princi-
The Center For Rural Alabama • (334) 240-7272