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Few 'i3' Winners Truly 'Rural,' Report Says

Most Grant Recipients Had Urban-Centric Projects, Rural Advocacy Group Says

Despite an effort by the U.S. Department of Education to encourage applicants for its Investing in Innovation grants to focus on rural communities, only three winning proposals in the $650 million 13 competition are “authentically rural,” according to a report released last week by the Rural School and Community Trust.

What’s more, most of the 19 winners who claimed their innovations would reach into rural America designed projects that were urbancentric, the report said, with “little more than enough rural participation to justify making the claim.”

“What we found is, if you want to use competition to spur innovation, it isn’t going to reach rural areas,” said Marty Strange, the policy director for the Arlington,...