The New York State Center for Rural Schools aims to be a leader in solving systemic problems and improving opportunities, practice, policy for rural schools and the communities they serve. The Center is working with many partners to assist rural communities and the state of New York to (re)create socially and economically vibrant communities across the state of NY.

The Center has begun building connections among key constituents, capacity for data access, research, and programmatic support to schools, and knowledge through high quality and interdiscplinary research on timely and important problems facing rural New York State schools and the communities they serve.

The Center will operate in concert with numerous other organizations such as the Rural Schools Association of NYS, Cornell's Program in Applied Demographics, Community and Rural Development, and Office of Land Grant Affairs, and Sharing Success. Together, the Center and its partners will provide a comprehensive set of opportunities and information including the Integrated Data System to assist and inform local and state decisionmaking.

Should you have interest in workingwith the Center on addressing key problems faced by rural communittees or have improvements for this website, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Announcements (cont.)

Cornell Population Program Seminar - Life Choices: Rural Youth Balance Occupational, Educational, and Residential Aspirations - Diane McLaughlin, Penn. State - Friday, February 12, 2010, 12:00 - 1:00 pm, 153 MVR Hall

Mini-symposium on STEM issues in Rural Schools will be held on Thursday, January 28th, 2010, 3:30-5pm. Mann Library, Cornell University - download Announcement

Working to Recruit and Prepare Tomorrow’s Physics Teachers
Robert Thorne, Professor of Physics, Cornell University
Jim Overhiser, PhysTEC Teacher in Residence, Cornell University

Bridging the Gap between Rural Children’s Local Knowledge and STEM
Julia Thom, Assistant Professor of Physics, Cornell University
Leanne Avery, Associate Professor of Education, SUNY Oneonta
Lora Hine, Outreach Coordinator, Department of Physics, Cornell University

Public Lecture by Chris Kjolhede, MD, MPH (Pediatrician and Research Scientist, Basset Research Institute, and College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University) on Thursday, December 10, 2009. His topic was School-based Heath Centers (see brief on SBHCs). View the Slides and Video from the presentation.

At the annual board retreat for the Rural Schools Association of NYS, Prof. Joe Francis and Jan Vink of Cornell's Program in Applied Demographics and Robin Blakely of Cornell's Community and Rural Development Institute presented their work on new data systems highlighting both Census and School District Data. Please download and view their presentation in either .pdf or .ppt formats.

John Sipple, Lisa McCabe, and Hope Casto were awarded the Howard A. Dawson Award for the Top Research Paper at the 2009 meeting of the National Rural Eucation Association (NREA) on October 10, 2009.

The research was based on a three year study of the implimentation of Universal Pre-K in NYS in rural communities in NYS. Find this research under the "Knowledge" tab on this site.

2009 Local Government Leadership Institute
Cornell University, ILR Conference Ctr
Thur, August 13 - Fri, August 14, 2009
More information

Northern NY Leadership Conference
July 8th - 10th
View slides: .ppt or .pdf

Rural Schools, Local Knowledge, and Classroom Science:
An Educational Forum & Field Experience for Rural Teachers
July 6th - 8th, 2009
More information

Small Schools Summit
Superintendents and Board Members from 27 school districts came together on March 26, 2009 for a summit exploring issues in common to districts serving fewer than 500 students. Regent Botar, Prof. Max Pfeffer, and John Clarkson spoke to the group, and district representatives discussed issues in small regionally organized groups.

John Sipple presented new Policy Recommendations for UPK and Early Care and Education in Rural NY at the March 10th REAC Showcase in Albany, NY

Please send us photos of your rural schools and community – we'll include the pictures on our site.