Educational Facilities

The buildings, both permanent and mobile, that house the process of educating youth. This entry discusses the current conditions of rural facilities including statistics, consolidation and cooperative options, multiple use issues and technological advances. The entry also addresses the challenges faced by those utilizing rural educational facilities.

Current Conditions

Statistics. Rural school districts represent roughly twothirds of all public school systems in the country. They are responsible to educate between one-fourth and onethird of all students in the country. Rural school facilities come in many forms. The physical plant may be a one-room school, a larger building that houses students from many communities due to consolidation efforts popular in the 1970s, or a community building that can be converted into a school during the week. Most buildings are constructed of brick and concrete today, whereas in the past most were made of wood. Some rural schools are located in trailers. Of the facilities built or remodeled since 1984, 73 percent are specifically designed as one-room schools. Twenty percent of these were buildings that at one time were larger schools (The Rural Exchange 1992).

At the turn of the twentieth century, over 200,000 one-room schools existed. These simple buildings represented the nation’s commitment to education and were the center of community life. The country school continues to be a powerful cultural symbol. One-room schools, according to a National Education Association survey, have declined in number from 23,965 in 1960 to 837 in 1984 (Muse and Smith, 1987). Since 1980, most one-room school buildings were largely self-contained, newer and structurally sound. The condition of older buildings still in use is frequently poor, and the cost of renovating to meet modern health, safety and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations often is prohibitive. These older buildings often have poor insulation, wiring and plumbing. Seventy-four percent of the existing one-room schools have been renovated or modified. According to a 1993 Nebraska school facilities study, 40 percent of the administrators believed that their facilities impeded desired changes in instructional programming, and 55 percent of the buildings were not handicapped accessible. Generally, the smaller the school district, the higher the rate of inadequate buildings. Most buildings were between 40 and 90 years old, and contained uncomfortable and obsolete classrooms (Pool, 1993). Many of the one-room schools that were closed are preserved by historic societies and are documented in Country School Legacy, A Collection of Histories of Schools and in Swanson’s Rural One-room Schools of Mid-America.

New schools based on the one-room model are being built. Many are private or parochial with ties to home schooling. Churches start the schools for students in the congregation and eventually expand to two or three classes. Many unique qualities of small schools have been recognized and are being revisited in this way. A 1988 survey found student satisfaction and attendance in general is better in smaller schools. It is even more so for low socioeconomic students and underachievers (Green and Stevens, 1988).

Consolidation. Over the years, school consolidation often has been promoted as the answer to the financial problems of many small schools. School districts consolidated to economically justify a comprehensive school program. In many cases small schools were adversely affected by state funding formulas. A flat per-pupil rate resulted in rural schools being able to purchase fewer materials for student use. Research indicates that between 300 and 500 students is a breakeven point if funds are distributed in this way (Planning and Research School Buildings Services, 1984). The consolidation effort was a blow to many rural communities. Consolidation usually has low public support among the communities affected, and the costs of transportation outweighed most benefits. Savings were found in some areas such as personnel and energy costs. In one 1988 study, of six expenditure categories, only administration costs showed significant savings three years after consolidation (Streifel, 1991).

Constraints of rural physical plants can be a challenge. The lack of libraries, gyms and music rooms make smaller schools seem deficient. Vocational education is limited by facilities, but many students in rural areas are exposed to the work ethic early, and job training is completed in the home or community. Facilities for athletics and organized sports also may be limited. These needs often are met by using community buildings or outdoor classrooms.

Multiple Uses. In many instances rural school buildings become the social centers of the community and serve multiple purposes. Buildings are centers for political activity, parties, Bible study, dances, films, funerals, voting, weddings, meetings and classes for adult education. Students benefit from teachers who live in the community and the intense involvement of community members and parents. Most rural and oneroom schools have citizen band radios and extra supplies in case of weather emergencies. Most teachers in rural areas are required to take emergency survival courses. These contingencies help the entire community in times of crisis.

Some rural schools coordinate community social services. Schools can provide recreation and health services for the community. Community partnerships are designed to combine resources to enrich all aspects of community education. Collaborative agreements with social service agencies are essential to provide adequate service in rural areas. Often the school is one of the largest economic enterprises in a community, and becomes the only viable public service agency.

Alternative Service Delivery Models. In place of the all-or-nothing reorganization approach typically sought by state legislatures and departments of education, a range of alternative service delivery models emerged for rural schools. Schools may join in a consortium to pool finances, personnel and building resources to address a common problem or initiative. These agreements can be formal or informal, variable in length, and solve one objective or many. Often state department personnel or university staff help with resources. Rural education cooperatives help to deliver needed services such as vocational training, special education, coaches, music, art and other hard-to-find services by jointly hiring the staff needed. Cooperatives offer help in technology, centralized facilities and sharing of resources. Mobile classrooms sent by cooperatives provide vans equipped with work space, assessment tools and training activities for both teachers and students.

Three types of educational cooperatives may be used in a rural setting. First, agreements may be mandated by an external agency such as the state education association. Second, enabled arrangements can receive sponsorship by the state education association. And third, freestanding arrangements can be maintained solely by participating local education agencies. These agreements are needed especially to offer appropriate programming for special education students.

Transdisciplinary programming is used in cooperative arrangements to help alleviate rural school understaffing, particularly in remedial or special needs programming. Professionals from various disciplines may work together cooperatively and teach each other the skills and practices of their discipline so one member can carry out needed services. This role exchange or role release allows teachers, therapists and parents to provide services that may be unavailable on a regular basis.

Technological Advances. Current technological advancements make distance education particularly useful to rural school facilities. Distance education is any form of instruction in which the learner is physically separated from the teacher. One of the most popular forms of distance education is the live simultaneous transmission of a master teacher’s lessons from a host classroom, studio or multiple receiving site classroom in a distant location. This can include but is not limited to computer-assisted instruction (CAI), computer-managed instruction (CMI), satellite television, and autographic teleteaching. These approaches to distance education are available to provide many new types of learning in rural communities. Distance education has an increasing impact on rural schools by offering classes where qualified staff are scarce, allowing for specialized classes with a very small student enrollment, and providing staff development. CAI and CMI enhance the mainstreaming and social opportunities for special needs students. Distance education and computer- or television-enhanced learning can be offered to the community and school through computer take-home programs or night classes at the school. Remote areas have the added challenge of inaccessible system relays for satellite or television reception. Remote areas use more videotaped programs for their teaching. Through the use of these independent study technologies, students become more self-reliant and independent in their learning.

Challenges

Transportation. Rural schools are by definition far from homes and other schools. Transportation costs become a major factor in decisions to keep one-room schools open, consolidate, or to use collaboratives to provide services. Smaller schools may have shorter bus rides for students than consolidated schools. Many students themselves drive to school at very young ages. Some districts with schools in remote areas pay parents isolation stipends to provide their children’s transportation to school. Some parents believe they need to send their older students to larger schools in urban areas to receive a well-rounded education. The logistics of travel for athletics are also considerable. The length of travel time often makes it necessary to plan two or more events a weekend, which claims a high percentage of rural resources.

Some rural schools experimented with four-day school weeks with longer days to reduce transportation and energy costs. This resulted in lower student and teacher absenteeism but has not impacted student achievement scores.

Since it is difficult to reach many rural and remote school buildings, instruction often is delivered through learning modules or kits made by the teacher and distributed to parents who deliver the instruction. This form of home schooling is supported by local school districts. Traveling book mobiles bring needed reference books to isolated homes and schools.

Sharing students by transporting them during the day to other schools that offer different courses is another answer to reduced curriculum offerings. There is less need to maintain expensive, double facilities such as foods, industrial arts, language and computer science laboratories. Non-traditional class periods that meet for longer hours with fewer classes during the day provide study and research time. More concentrated time with teachers in block scheduling works well for many students. Some schools use the school facility on Saturdays for classes.

Maintenance. Maintenance of rural schools is another challenge. Teachers are often responsible for their own building maintenance. This is sometimes supplemented with help from parents in the community. Other parent volunteer roles include teacher assistant, playground supervisor, hot lunch cook or server, or community-based education teacher.

Future of Rural Facilities

The future of rural school facilities seems to be a bright one. Much of the current research points to positive student outcomes in smaller schools. Restructuring led many school districts to recreate a country school atmosphere or to create schools within a school to enhance student growth. Many districts use the school facility as a community center or add health clinics and after-hours recreation programs. If the old African proverb, “It takes a whole village to raise a child” is true, then a creative use of rural school facilities to help rural children may become a model for urban schools to emulate.

— Jack T. Cole and Janaan Diemer

See also

• Computers; Education, Adult; Education, Youth; Government; Sport; Technology; Telecommunications

References

• Green, Gary and Wanda Stevens. “What Research Says about Small Schools.” The Rural Educator 10, no. 1 (1988): 9-14.
• Institute of Education Sciences. Status of Education in Rural America. NCES 2007-040. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, June 2007. Available online at: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2007/ruraled/ index.asp.
• Muse, Ivan and Ralph B. Smith, with Bruce Barker. The One-teacher School in the 1980s. Ft. Collins, CO: ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools, 1987.
• Pool, Dennis L. “Nebraska School Facilities: Educational Adequacy of Structures and Their Funding.” Paper presented at the Annual Rural and Small School Conference, Manhattan, KS, October, 1993.
• Planning and Research School Buildings Services. Small School/Large School Comparative Analysis. Alberta, Canada: Planning and Research School Buildings Services, 1984.
• Streifel, James, et al. 1991. “The Financial Effects of Consolidation.” Journal of Research in Rural Education 7, no. 2 (1991): 13-20.
• The Rural Exchange (quarterly journal). Missoula, MT: University of Montana Press. (Spring-Summer 1992).