Ten States Seen as Topping Rural Education Priority List

By Bess Keller

Seven Southern states and three in the Great Plains lead an advocacy group's list of places where tending to the serious needs of rural schools could make a big difference in student achievement. But even those states have largely ignored the schools' problems, the group charges in a recent report.

"This report documents our basic message that 'rural matters,' " said Marty Strange, an author of the report and the policy director of the Rural School and Community Trust, a Washington-based nonprofit group that works with more than 700 schools across the nation to strengthen rural education. "It is an important part of our society, with all the complexity of the urban part, but it doesn't get the attention."

The report, which was released late last month, urges policymakers to take action on behalf of all rural schools, especially those on the "top 10" list: Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South...