November 5, 2020

EDC Presents at National Forum to Advance Rural Education

Join EDC virtually at the 2020 National Forum to Advance Rural Education, November 12–13, The forum will be led by Battelle for Kids and the National Rural Education Association. This year’s theme is “Recovery, Renewal, and Resilience: 21st Century Education in Rural America.” Registration is open now.

Pamela Buffington, leader of EDC’s Rural & Ready STEM initiative, and Clare Waterman Irwin, both senior researchers on the REL Northeast & Islands at EDC team, will collaboratively lead a virtual session with colleagues from REL Central and REL Midwest.

During the virtual session, “Supporting the Need for Resilience in Rural Areas,” Buffington, Irwin, and their colleagues will share findings from two studies that focused on building capacity and using data-driven decision-making to improve student outcomes in rural locations.

Buffington and Irwin will spotlight the first study of the REL Northeast & Islands’ Vermont Universal PreK Research Partnership. The results of this study deepened state education leaders’ and policymakers’ understanding of how child and geographic characteristics were associated with program enrollment across rural locations of the state. The REL Midwest team will present findings from a descriptive study on how educators in rural high schools in Iowa have used technology to support development of 21st century skills.

Learn more about EDC’s Research and Policy work.