News Release

CHAPEL HILL — The U.S. Department of Education has awarded $10 million to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to work toward better teaching, learning and student achievement in rural schools nationwide.

The grant establishes a National Research Center on Rural Education Support, through which 20 UNC researchers will implement training for teachers in participating rural schools. They also will provide academic and social programs for students

Later researchers will compare achievement in those schools to that in similar rural schools that lack such programs – thus, identifying whether the programs made a difference.

"The aims of the center are twofold," said Dr. Thomas Farmer, center director, principal investigator for its research and assistant professor in the UNC School of Education.

"One is to implement and evaluate staff development models to enhance teacher performance in schools. The other, to assess the impact of such training on student outcomes."

Researchers are recruiting participating schools in North Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi and Virginia and identifying additional sites in the West and Midwest. The center’s activities and studies will take place in states that the Rural Schools Community Trust identifies as most needing attention to rural education policy.

"The new center demonstrates the strong commitment of this school and the university to work with all communities who face challenges as they strive to create excellent schools for their children," said Dr. Tom James, dean of the School of Education. "We will continue to intensify our outreach efforts, and we believe it is possible to make significant advances in expanding educational opportunities in rural areas."

The needs of North Carolina’s rural schools will remain an important focus for the researchers, said Dr. Lynne Vernon-Feagans, William C. Friday distinguished professor of education, co-director of the new center and co-principal investigator for its research.

"The School of Education is committed to the well-being of small communities around this state," she said. "We will work hard to make sure that North Carolina schools benefit from the progress of this new center."

The center is one of three funded this year by the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, and the only one focused on rural education. The two other grant recipients are Johns Hopkins and Vanderbilt universities.

Faculty in the School of Education will lead the five-year effort. The work will involve collaboration among faculty and researchers at the school and UNC’s Center for Developmental Science and Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute. The center houses multidisciplinary research on all aspects of human development by faculty from colleges and universities across the state.

LEARN NC — Learners’ and Educators’ Assistance and Resource Network of North Carolina -- also will play a role. A part of the School of Education, LEARN offers resources to North Carolina students and teachers via the World Wide Web. Other units represented by the 20 researchers come from the School of Social Work and the psychology and sociology departments.

Farmer hopes that by the third year of the federal grant, the center be communicating nationwide via printed materials, the Web and other means. Teachers and administrators will be encouraged to contribute their own tips, ideas, needs and questions.

"We’ll develop a dissemination network to reach rural schools across the country and let them know what we’re doing and what we’re finding out," Farmer said. "We’d like to create a dialogue to help us focus a national agenda on rural education research."

The center also will provide rural teens with guidance and information on career options via the Web.

Of the 200 poorest school districts in the country, 195 are in rural areas, he said: "Rural schools have high concentrations of children from low-income situations. These schools typically are in areas with low tax bases and low funding for resources in their schools.

"They also have difficulty attracting experienced teachers and providing professional development." Such development opportunities are widely available in urban areas, Farmer said.

"The center will develop technological support that teachers in rural schools can use, even though they’re in fairly remote and isolated areas," he said. Three center research programs will focus on transitions into elementary school; into middle school; and from high school to adulthood.

The first, Best Start, will provide training for kindergarten and first-grade teachers, emphasizing skills that studies suggest help children succeed later in school: reading and social development.

The second will train middle school teachers to teach in ways that encourage all students to participate in class and succeed; reinforce appropriate social behavior and discourage problem behavior among students; and establish positive social environments in classrooms.

The third research program will examine the use of information technology and distance learning to help teens prepare to move from high school to post-secondary education or the workforce.

"This is a great opportunity for UNC to collaborate with communities around the state and elsewhere on important educational issues," Vernon-Feagans said.

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Dr. Thomas Farmer: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/faculty/farmer_tom.jpg 

Dr. Lynne Vernon-Feagans: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/faculty/vernon-feagans_lynne.jpg 

School of Education contacts: Dr. Thomas James, dean, 919-966-7000, tjames@unc.edu 

Dr. Thomas Farmer, 919-962-8238, tfarmer@email.unc.edu 

Dr. Lynne Vernon-Feagans, 919-843-5623, lynnevf@email.unc.edu 

News Services contacts: Print, L.J. Toler, 919-962-8589; broadcast, Karen Moon, 919-962-8595