The students’ home districts 鈥� Agua Dulce, Premont, Brooks County, Freer and Benavides 鈥� used to operate separately. They had a shrinking student population, were unable to provide much career and technical education, and struggled with low achievement. But seven years ago, a handshake between the superintendents of the Premont and Freer independent school districts gave rise to what would become the .

Today, the consortium, created to stave off consolidation threats and improve student outcomes, is being lauded as a . And the Texas legislature has encouraged other districts to follow its lead.

The five districts, located 45 to 90 minutes southwest of Corpus Christi and serving a student population that is at least 75% Hispanic, share six academies: Early College, for credit toward an associate degree; Grow Your Own, for future teachers; Ignite Technical Institute, focusing on welding; Next Generation Medical Academy, offering nursing and pharmacy education; Willa Zelaya STEM Discovery Zone, featuring computer technology, drone aviation and robotics; and Trade Winds Academy, for HVAC, construction and electrical.

Students wishing to participate in an academy choose the program they want in eighth grade. They take traditional core classes at their home high school and travel to the academies twice a week and every other Friday 鈥� about 10 times a month. 

Sophomore Juliana Farias catches a 6:45 a.m. van, driven by school staff and internet-equipped, at her high school in Agua Dulce for the 45-minute trip to the Grow Your Own Academy. Her friend Emmerson Perez, also a sophomore, does the same in the small town of Freer, nearly an hour west. 

They meet up at Premont Collegiate High School around 7:30 a.m. and walk to a nearby elementary to begin their day as teacher interns. The two won鈥檛 be in Premont long. They’ll return to their respective high schools by midday to continue their regular classes. 

Mylan Pena, a junior at Falfurrias High School in Brooks County Independent School District, chose the welding academy because it offers the chance to earn a free associate degree as well as industry credentials. When Pena was a child, his uncle and grandfather worked as oil pipeline welders, leaving home for weeks at a time. It鈥檚 a job he wants to pursue after he graduates.

鈥淚’m blessed to even have this opportunity,鈥� he said. 鈥淢y mom is a single mother. I know she wouldn’t have the funds to provide this for me. Getting the opportunity to take college (classes) for free and learning to weld for free means a lot.鈥�

Pathways like these are more commonly found in larger, wealthier metropolitan school districts. Texas has more schools in rural areas than any other state 鈥� about . As families flock to more densely populated communities, rural schools are left with scarce resources and sometimes merge as they struggle to serve isolated towns. 

That was the situation in 2019, when the Rural Schools Innovation Zone officially launched. 

The districts had to find something innovative to keep the doors open, said Michael Gonzalez, Rural Schools Innovation Zone director. 鈥淲e had no opportunities for kids,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e needed to do something about it.鈥�

The Premont and Freer districts obtained grant funding and partnered with Brooks County Independent School District to form the consortium. It expanded to include the Agua Dulce and Benavides districts in 2023. The five districts together have about 3,250 students.

Last year, 424 students were enrolled in the academies. Now, there are nearly 600. Gonzalez said 680 are projected to participate in the 2026-27 school year.

It 鈥渨as phenomenal鈥� how the Rural Schools Innovation Zone turned trends around for the communities in south Texas, Gonzalez said. He鈥檚 been the consortium’s director since it was created and was the sole employee for five years, before recently hiring a liaison to help coordinate between the districts and their college partners.

Premont, which had the worst of the partner school districts, increased its student population from 570 students in 2012 to in 2024. From 2018-19 to 2023-24, the school districts the percentage of their graduating students who pass the state鈥檚 in both math and reading from 30% to 51%. The percentage of seniors with dual credit jumped from 16% to 50%, while those with industry certifications increased from 8% to 38%.

Based on the program鈥檚 success, Texas legislators in 2023 to create a that funds similar collaborations among rural districts. The Rural Schools Innovation Zone is such partnerships across Texas. Last year, lawmakers for career technical and education programs, including the rural collaborations, and promoted them as a key strategy for economic growth in the state. 

Here’s a look inside some of the academies, and what their students have to say about their experiences.

Grow Your Own Educator Academy 

Farias chose the Grow Your Own Educator Academy at Premont Collegiate High School to fulfill dreams she鈥檚 had since she was a little girl.

鈥淢y mom was an aide for special education students and some of my best friends are autistic, and as a little kid, you don’t realize the differences until you grow up,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 get a lot of, 鈥榊ou don’t want to do special education. It’s a hard place to be and it’s a lot of work.鈥� But that’s what I want to do, so looking into the program, I was like, 鈥業 need to be in this. It’s something I want to do and I get to start early on in my life.鈥欌��

It was initially intimidating for Farias to travel to Premont, because she was the only Agua Dulce High School student in the teaching academy. But soon she met Perez, from Freer High School, and Ava Gutierrez, a Premont senior.

鈥淭hey’ve made it so much more than just the program, and I think that’s what keeps our programs going 鈥� because we all have relationships within the program that make it so much more than just college hours,鈥� Perez said. 鈥淚t’s cool because we’re from different districts, but we’re still friends.鈥�

The trio assist classes at Premont鈥檚 elementary school and day care before taking college courses at the high school. Premont High School staff teach some of the classes, while others are in person at colleges closer to Corpus Christi, like Texas A&M University’s campus in Kingsville, about 30 miles away.

鈥淥n Tuesdays and Thursdays, I was traveling to Kingsville, and then on Monday, Wednesdays and every other Friday, I was in the classroom in Premont,鈥� Gutierrez said. 鈥淚t was pretty overwhelming for a while, having to travel back and forth, but you get used to it. After a while, it just kind of starts becoming part of your routine.鈥�

Will Zelaya STEM Discovery Zone 

Andrew Herrera, 16, is a junior firefighter for a Brooks County volunteer fire department. He has been known to stay up until 5 a.m. at the station fixing equipment and changing the oil in the fire trucks.

His dad, the department chief, encouraged the Premont sophomore to enroll in the school鈥檚 science, technology, engineering and mathematics academy because of his passion for drones and fire truck mechanics. The program offers instruction in computer technology, engineering, oil and gas drilling, robotics and drone aviation. 

Herrera is pursuing a drone pilot license to assist with fire department calls. 

鈥淚 want to do it because nowadays it’s been getting a lot more difficult for ranch (owners), since they’re building so many houses and stuff like that,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f there’s ever a fire, I’ll be able to fly (the drone) up and I can do 3D mapping or I can find better routes for the trucks to take.鈥�

Haven Farias, a Premont senior, earned his drone pilot license this year. He said he鈥檚 also proud of his work building a life-size robot in one of his academy classes. The two passions are something he wants to continue to follow when he pursues a mechanical engineering degree in the fall at Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas.

鈥淚’m licensed to fly, so I’ll have more opportunities with jobs and everything for the drone side,鈥� Farias said. 鈥淚 think it’s a great opportunity. Even though I’m in, like, 10,000 sports, and I’m doing five college classes, and then I have to do all my high school classes, it鈥檚 not really difficult. It’s all about time management.鈥�

Ignite Technical Institute 

For Amber Garcia, a commitment to achieving an associate degree is what鈥檚 kept her going at Ignite Technical Institute, the welding pathway at Falfurrias High School in Brooks County Independent School District. 

The Premont senior works two part-time jobs 鈥� sometimes overnight until 6 a.m. 鈥� while taking her regular classes, pursuing pathway courses and gaining college credit. Garcia was in the foster system when she was introduced to the Rural Schools Innovation Zone. Now she鈥檚 one of the best welders in the program, Gonzalez said, and one of the few female students.

鈥淚n my eighth grade year, my older brothers were doing it, and I was kind of inspired by it, but they didn’t like it,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 wanted to do it. I fell in love with it.鈥�

Garcia said it鈥檚 sometimes hard to get up in the mornings and make it to school, but she always attends her welding classes. Gonzalez said he calls her on days she doesn鈥檛 travel to Falfurrias to make sure she鈥檚 still going to Premont High School. The work has paid off, she said, because soon she鈥檒l go straight into the workforce as a welder.

鈥淎 lot of kids are lazy, and our generation is horrible, but you just have to want it,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to push yourself. You have to say, 鈥業’m going to do it.鈥� And no matter how frustrated you get, you just have to keep going. It’s just the growth mindset, but a lot of people don’t have that.鈥�

Next Generation Medical Academy

Mary Alice Cantu was admiring neighborhood Christmas lights with her children and Freer High School鈥檚 curriculum director in 2016 when she heard the school had landed a grant to build a health science pathway. She was the school nurse at the time.

鈥淚 said, 鈥業 really would love to do that,鈥� 鈥� Cantu said. 鈥�(My co-worker) turns around and goes, 鈥榊ou’re running it.鈥� And I’m like, 鈥業’m what?鈥� So I went from the school nurse to this, which was a totally different hat that I wasn’t expecting, but I’ve loved it ever since.鈥�

Cantu began teaching classes at what would become the Next Generation Academy without an education degree. She soon pursued a master鈥檚 program to have the credentials under her belt and entered her district鈥檚 new teacher academy. 

鈥淚 realized it’s one thing to be a teacher and another to be a nurse,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 behavior management, pedagogy 鈥� all these terms. I was like, 鈥榊ou want me to do a lesson plan?鈥� It’s like a patient care plan, but it’s for your class.鈥�

The nearest college program and hospital is close to an hour away, so it鈥檚 important that the medical academy be equipped as closely to a professional setting as possible, Cantu said. The high school鈥檚 home economics kitchen was into a model hospital, complete with a reception desk, patient beds, drug administration carts, IV stands and dummy patients. 

Students wear blue scrubs, clock into class with timecards and poke needles into silicone arms to draw synthetic blood before they practice on each other. There are multiple 7-foot-long touchscreen tables with digital replicas of bodies donated to science. Cantu can peel back layers of the cadavers and simulate health conditions for her anatomy or physiology classes.

Students can earn certifications in phlebotomy, electrocardiogram testing, patient care and medical assistance that can be used in the workplace. The academy got so popular that Freer鈥檚 next school nurse was hired as a second educator.

鈥淚t’s a good problem to have that we’re going to have so many students with certifications, and I don’t mind it, the numbers are growing, and we’ll just figure it out,鈥� Cantu said. 鈥淭here’s just so much opportunity for these students, whether they decide to go into nursing or not, they’re going to have the confidence and the people skills to be able to step into any setting and succeed.鈥�

This growing enrollment is a double-edged sword, Gonzalez said. As more students join academies like Next Generation, teachers have to play a game of Tetris with class schedules and schools have to consider hiring more staff in a remote area that鈥檚 hard to recruit for. 

Student attendance can also be tricky. Gonzalez said some teachers and coaches value athletics or extracurriculars over their academy programs, and students may miss a class they get only twice a week if their team has to travel for a game or conference. 

The number of educators who were present during the zone鈥檚 creation is also dwindling. The partner districts have gone through five superintendents in the past three years together, meaning more people are coming in who are unfamiliar with the model and how it works, Gonzalez said.

A couple of districts have the traditional eight class periods, while the others have block schedules, making it difficult to coordinate transportation between schools. And then there are the students who switch academies or decide to leave a program altogether. The STEM academy has the lowest retention rate, at 86%. Next Generation Medical Academy retains more than 96% of its students.

鈥淚t’s crucial that we have 鈥榢id magnets,鈥� or teachers who have a relationship with these youngsters,鈥� Gonzalez said. 鈥淭hey keep them in there, right? I’m not going to lie 鈥� we lose kids all the time.鈥�

Gonzalez鈥檚 own job keeps him working all hours of the day. That dedication earned him a from South by Southwest last year.

鈥淚 didn’t realize the magnitude of it,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t’s pretty neat. You know, I just try to stay the course, try to stay on it. I use the word 鈥榞rinder’ a lot because that’s just the way I was raised.鈥�

Gonzalez said the Rural Schools Innovation Zone allows the remote, small districts of south Texas to remain operating and, in turn, keep their communities alive. 

Each town can still gather under bright stadium lights on autumn Fridays to cheer on its football team. Students can continue to walk to their neighborhood school. And families stay because their children can still get big-city opportunities, he said.

鈥淲hy do kids pick schools? Usually for programs. They don’t go because they have the best English teacher, right?鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey have the best nursing program, the best baseball program, the best football program. They go for programming and then the 鈥榢id magnet鈥� teachers running the program. So if I can allow you to be involved with the best program in the world and you don’t have to leave your school district, it’s a no-brainer. That’s what we did.鈥�

New research has found that rural LGBTQ+ teens experience significant challenges in their communities and turn to the internet for support.

The from Hopelab and the looked at what more than 1,200 LGBTQ+ teens faced and compared the experiences of those in rural communities with those of teens in suburban and urban communities. The research found that rural teens are more likely to give and receive support through their online communities and friends than via their in-person relationships.

鈥淭he rural young people we’re seeing were reporting having a lot less support in their homes, in their communities, and their schools,鈥� Mike Parent, a principal researcher at Hopelab, said in an interview with the Daily Yonder. 鈥淭hey weren’t doing too well in terms of feeling supported in the places they were living, though they were feeling supported online.鈥�

However, the research found that rural LGBTQ+ teens had the same sense of pride in who they were as suburban and urban teens.

鈥淭he parallel, interesting finding was that we didn’t see differences in their internal sense of pride, which you might kind of expect if they feel all less supported,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hat was surprising, in a very good way, was that indication of resilience or being able to feel a strong sense of their internal selves despite this kind of harsh environment they might be in.鈥�

Researchers recruited young people between the ages of 15 and 24 who identified as LGBTQ+ through targeted ads on social media. After surveying the respondents during August and September of last year, the researchers also followed up some of the surveys with interviews, Parent said.

According to the study, rural teens were more likely than their urban and suburban counterparts to find support online. Of the rural respondents, 56% of rural young people reported receiving support from others online several times a month compared to 51% of urban and suburban respondents, and 76% reported giving support online, compared to 70% of urban and suburban respondents.

Conversely, only 28% of rural respondents reported feeling supported by their schools, compared to 49% of urban and suburban respondents, the study found, and 13% of rural respondents felt supported by their communities, compared to 35% of urban and suburban respondents.

Rural LGBTQ+ young people are significantly more likely to suffer mental health issues because of the lack of support where they live, researchers said. Rural LGBTQ+ young people were more likely to meet the threshold for depression (57% compared to 45%), and more likely to report less flourishing than their suburban/urban counterparts (43% to 52%).

The study found that those LGBTQ+ young people who received support from those they lived with, regardless of where they live, are more likely to report flourishing (50% compared to 35%) and less likely to meet the threshold for depression (52% compared to 63%).

One respondent said the impact of lack of support impacted every aspect of their lives.

鈥淣ot being able to be who you truly are around the people that you love most or the communities that you鈥檙e in is going to make somebody depressed or give them mental issues,鈥� they said in survey interviews, according to Hopelab. 鈥淏ecause if you can鈥檛 be who you are around the people that you love most and people who surround you, you鈥檙e not gonna be able to feel the best about your well-being.鈥�

Respondents said connecting with those online communities saved their lives.

“Throughout my entire life, I have been bullied relentlessly. However, when I鈥檓 online, I find that it is easier to make friends鈥� I met my best friend through role play [games],鈥� one teen told researchers. 鈥淲ithout it, I wouldn鈥檛 be here today. So, in the long run, it鈥檚 the friendships I鈥檝e made online that have kept me alive all these years.”

Having support in rural areas, especially, can provide rural LGBTQ+ teens with a feeling of belonging, researchers said.

鈥淥ur findings highlight the urgent need for safe, affirming in-person spaces and the importance of including young people in shaping the solutions,鈥� Claudia-Santi F. Fernandes, vice president of research and evaluation at Born This Way Foundation, said in a statement. 鈥淚f we want to improve outcomes, especially for LGBTQ+ young people in rural communities, their voices鈥揳nd scientific evidence鈥搈ust guide the work.鈥�

Parent said the survey respondents stressed the importance of having safe spaces for LGBTQ+ young people to gather in their own communities.

鈥淚 think most of the participants recognize that you can’t do a lot to change your family if they’re not supportive,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hat they were saying was that finding ways for schools to be supportive and for communities to be supportive in terms of physical spaces (that allowed them) to express themselves safely (and) having places where they can gather and feel safe, uh, were really important to them.鈥�

Hopelab seeks to address mental health in young people through evidence-based innovation, according to its organizers. The Born This Way Foundation was co-founded by Lady Gaga and her mother, West Virginia native Cynthia Bisset Germanotta.

The organization is focused on ending bullying and building up communities, while using research, programming, grants, and partnerships to engage young people and connect them to mental health resources, according to the foundation鈥檚 website.

This first appeared on and is republished here under a .

A new initiative from the University of Vermont hopes to address the shortage of mental health professionals available to support the state鈥檚 youth.

Known as the Catamount Counseling Collaborative for Rural Schools, the program plans to train and place 52 school counselors, social workers and mental health clinicians in rural schools throughout Vermont for the next five years.

 from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found rising levels of depression and anxiety among Vermont middle and high school students. 

Despite this, Vermont lacks an adequate number of . In 2023, the state鈥檚 Workforce Development Board estimated a need for 230 more providers to meet growing demand. 

The new Catamount Counseling Collaborative for Rural Schools aims to address the gap. 

Through the program 鈥� funded by a $3.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education 鈥� University of Vermont graduate students are expected to contribute at least 25,000 clinical hours annually to support rural communities.

鈥淰ermont mental health needs are pervasive and complex and they鈥檙e currently underserved and this is a way to reach them,鈥� said Anna Elliott, associate professor of counseling.

Elliott, the principal investigator for the grant, has experience running a similar initiative in Montana, where she spent five years developing a program to support rural communities with mental health professionals. 

A key part of the program, Elliot said, is to encourage graduates to continue working in rural schools or mental health facilities after completing their training. She said she tailored the program to Vermont鈥檚 unique needs. This included analyzing various statistics from community needs assessments on issues such as suicide rates, substance use disorder and the stigma associated with seeking mental health services, ensuring the program aligns closely with the landscape of Vermont鈥檚 mental health needs.

鈥淥ne of our primary goals in setting up the training program was attending to students鈥� reports that they often didn鈥檛 feel prepared to go and work in a rural environment,鈥� she said. 鈥淗aving an intensive and intentional training program that sets them up to really understand what they鈥檙e walking into and how to be prepared and how to ask for support incentivized students to stay, so we鈥檙e hoping to replicate that here.鈥�

The program offers a stipend to those who remain in their assigned schools for at least one year, helping to ease potential barriers like securing a full-time job or finding affordable housing.

In Montana, Elliott said she noticed some graduate students couldn鈥檛 stay in rural schools due to limited funding for permanent positions. Other challenges, including housing and job security, also made it difficult for them to remain in these high-need areas.

鈥淚鈥檓 taking the model that I did in Montana and integrating that in with the community schools model to not just say, 鈥榟ere鈥檚 a couple graduate students that will be here for a year鈥� but let鈥檚 actually take a systemic look at what鈥檚 happening in the school 鈥� what are the needs, resources, barriers and strength,鈥� Elliott said.

To address these challenges, the program focuses on recruiting graduate students who already come from rural areas. By offering low-residency options, the program allows these students to complete much of their coursework remotely. This means they can stay at home rather than moving to campus, making it easier for them to balance their studies with their existing commitments.

鈥淭his grant provides significant opportunity to bring students into the helping professions who might not otherwise have access to this kind of specialized training,鈥� said Danielle Jatlow, a co-principal investigator and social worker who coordinates UVM鈥檚 bachelor鈥檚 of social work program, in a press release from the university.

UVM faculty, including program co-leaders Robin Hausheer and Lance Smith, both associate professors of counseling, are starting outreach to rural schools. They hope to place graduate students in schools as early as this semester, according to the release.

鈥淭here are people and kids that are getting served this year that might not have been otherwise,鈥� Elliott said in the release. 鈥淪o that feels like everything.鈥� 

This was originally published on .

The child care movement needs a broad base of support in order to win an effective, publicly-funded system. There have been strides in this direction over the past few decades, for instance bringing into the fold respected national security figures and leaders from rural areas facing a depopulation threat. Now, a is opening another door by showing how child care is impacting that most respected of American icons: farmers.

The paper, from professors Florence Becot of Penn State University and Shoshanah Inwood of Ohio State University, uses survey data from 729 farm families. It also draws on a literature review and prior work from the authors, including farm family focus groups. Becot and Inwood start by noting that 鈥淚n the 1980鈥檚, U.S. farm women identified the need for child care support to further their agricultural careers. Yet, it has taken over forty years for child care to be formally recognized as an issue affecting the trajectory and well-being of both the farm enterprise and the farm family,” with the two largest farm advocacy groups finally adding child care as a policy priority in 2023(!). As a sign of how understudied the issue of child care and farms has been, only two previous studies were conducted prior to this one.

In the popular imagination, children are a boon for farms: they are a ready source of labor and, ideally, take over the family business. This is accurate, yet incomplete. Becot and Inwood explain: “[R]esearchers and policy makers have overlooked the time, energy and resources that the households鈥� social reproduction require. The caring of children is particularly demanding as children need to be fed, educated and emotionally supported. Care work happens simultaneously and in competition with meeting the farm enterprise production needs. As such care work affects the structure and trajectory of the farm enterprise.”

Becot and Inwood鈥檚 study illuminated exactly what kind of changes the arrival of children鈥攁nd lack of good child care options鈥攃auses for farmers. They found 鈥渢he top three most common changes were decreasing resources allocated to the farm enterprise (i.e. cutting down the hours worked on the farm, scaling back farm production and/or farm employees helping with child care), cutting down on hours and/or stopping working the off-farm job, and hiring new workers to help on the farm and/or with household chores.鈥�

While the mere presence of young children has an understandable impact, the need to decrease resources going to the farm itself was particularly pronounced among families with child care challenges. 46% of those without adequate child care reported making such reallocations, versus 23% of those who had decent child care options. Just 18% of farm families struggling with child care made no changes to their business at all. These moves have a predictable consequence on what the farm produces: 鈥�83% of respondents with childcare supply challenges report an impact on their farm productivity compared to 62% for those not reporting that challenge.鈥�

It鈥檚 important to note, however, that this is not merely a story of how much corn or broccoli a given farm produces. It鈥檚 also a story about family flourishing. Becot and Inwood suggest, aptly, that 鈥淚n addition to triggering a cycle of changes within the household and the enterprise with the potential to alter short and long-term farm economic productivity, the choices farm parents must make likely have consequences on their mental health and quality of life as farm parents might already feel stretched thin due to role overlap and child care challenges. Indeed, if child care expenses were lower, over half the respondents would prioritize allocating freed-up resources towards the well-being of the household over the enterprise/business.鈥�

To illustrate their point, consider from one of the research participants: “Running a small farm, taking care of kids and managing jobs is really tough. Every week, we have to plan everything: meals, work schedules, kids’ activities, farm tasks and more. On top of that, we need to find babysitters. It’s a lot to handle, and it leaves us feeling tired and worn out.”

So what kind of external child care do farm families utilize when they can? Perhaps unsurprisingly, they rely heavily on caregivers, an option taken by nearly two-thirds of families who use any non-parental care. That said, a solid 42% of those families also reported using some form of paid provider, whether an occasional babysitter or a slot in a family child care program or child care center. Availability and cost continue to be a challenge for many.

All of this goes to show that farm families need a version of what all families need: good, affordable (ideally free) child care options, including direct support for trusted caregivers like FFNs as well as parents themselves. Hopefully, understanding child care鈥檚 impact on farmers will help open the eyes of recalcitrant politicians. As Becot said about the study from Penn State, 鈥渢he implication here is that child care not only impacts farm success for the families, but food availability for all.鈥�

While there is a unique legislative avenue available to help farm families鈥攖he Farm Bill, which is ostensibly supposed to be passed this year鈥攇etting farmers (and their Congressional representatives) behind a comprehensive approach holds the most promise for a sustainable solution. With such a child care system in place, farm families will be healthier, and the nation will be more prosperous and secure.

It was Dwight Eisenhower who quipped, 鈥淔arming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you’re a thousand miles from a corn field.” I might add, it also looks mighty easy when you鈥檙e not the family trying to run a farm in a nation without a decent child care system.

The analysis, from and the at Johns Hopkins University, looked at that found more than 14 million chronically absent students during the 2021-22 academic year 鈥� an increase of nearly seven million students compared to 2017-18.

Robert Balfanz, director of the Everyone Graduates Center, said an 鈥渁ll hands on deck鈥� approach is needed to address widespread absenteeism in the aftermath of the pandemic.

鈥淚f you can imagine a rising tide, students who were a little underwater are now underwater more and those that weren鈥檛 underwater before now are,鈥� Balfanz told 社区黑料.

This analysis served as a second look into the attendance trend which previously showed how across the country were enrolled in schools with high or extreme chronic absenteeism 鈥� more than twice the rate compared to the 2017-18 academic year.

Students are considered chronically absent if they miss at least , or roughly 18 days.

Although the attendance trend affected students of all ethnic backgrounds, Latino students took the brunt of the declines 鈥� increasing from nearly 2.4 million in 2017-18 to five million in 2021-22, a 53 percent jump.

Pacific Islander students saw the second biggest jump of 46 percent, white students by 39 percent, Black students by 36 percent and Native American students by 29 percent.

Balfanz said pandemic-era challenges for low-income and immigrant families pulled students away from school and contributed to the widening attendance gaps.

鈥淢any kids got jobs because their parents lost theirs and became a lot more restricted,鈥� Balfanz said, adding how Latino students often faced this burden compared to other ethnic groups.

He added how 鈥渃aregiving鈥� also played a major factor in declining Latino student attendance 鈥� often coming from multigenerational families with stronger cultural expectations to look after younger siblings.

The attendance trend was also observed geographically, particularly impacting students in both suburban and rural areas.

Chronic absenteeism in suburban and rural school districts jumped to 5.1 million and 2.5 million students respectively in 2021-22 鈥� a 46 percent and 47 percent increase compared to 2.8 million and 1.4 million in 2017-18.

Schools in cities experienced an increase of 44 percent and districts in towns jumped by 42 percent.

Hedy Chang, founder and executive director of Attendance Works, said 鈥渋nequitable access to needed [healthcare] services and poor transportation鈥� during the pandemic contributed to the attendance gaps in rural areas.

The greatest increases in chronic absenteeism occurred among schools serving larger numbers of students living in poverty, the analysis found.

Among schools with 75 percent or more students receiving free or reduced-price lunch, chronic absence nearly tripled 鈥� from 25 percent to 69 percent. 

Chang said poverty was the driving force behind student chronic absenteeism nationwide.

鈥淜ids who are living in poverty are much more likely to have all of these barriers when it comes to aversion and disengagement,鈥� Chang told 社区黑料.

鈥淚t鈥檚 hard for students to keep going when they feel like nobody knows them or nobody cares,鈥� Balfanz added. 鈥淪olving that disconnect they have is a great first step.鈥�

Sandra Bishop, research director at Council for a Strong America, provided initial context before the following panelists presented.

• Thomas Dempster, director at IFAM Capital and former South Dakota State Senator
• Geoff Spalding, police chief in Astoria, Oregon
• James C. Johnson, retired U.S. Air Force general
• Mindy Young, early education consultant and trainer
• Leigh Sargent, director of Tallahatchie Early Learning Alliance

Below are our top five takeaways from the conversation.

1. Defining 鈥渞ural鈥� correctly matters. Bishop explained that there are various definitions, but two of the most common come from the U.S. Census Bureau, which defines an area that has fewer than 2,500 residents as rural, and the U.S Department of Agriculture, which has a more nuanced definition applying nine categories of rural-urban continuum coding. 鈥淯sing the U.S. Department of Agriculture definition, approximately 14 percent of the American population live in rural areas, and there are rural areas across all 50 states,鈥� Bishop said.

2. Poverty rates are on the rise. Children and families in rural areas have a higher poverty rate than those in metro areas: 22% compared to 17%. The poverty rate increases to 25% for children under the age five living in rural areas. More than three-fourths of the U.S. counties with persistently high child-poverty rates are rural. While these counties span the U.S. and have different demographic representation, they are disportionately populated by children of color. 鈥淭he children of color in those areas have rates of poverty that are more than double those of non-Hispanic white children in the same counties,鈥� Bishop said.

3. Access to quality early child care and education is essential. 鈥淲hat early childhood education does, especially with targeted investments, is allow disadvantaged children to participate and to own the American Dream,鈥� Dempster said.

However, children in these rural communities are less likely to have access to these vital programs. Chief Spalding explained, 鈥淩ural areas are more likely to be classified as child care deserts,鈥� which are areas where children under 5 years old outnumber the available licensed child care slots by 3 to 1 or more. 鈥淩esearch shows the kids who participate in high quality early learning programs are better prepared to start kindergarten, more likely to graduate from high school, less likely to have behavioral problems and less likely to become involved in crime.鈥�

4. Population and employment are declining. For the first time in history, rural America lost population between 2010 and 2016. Contributors to this population loss are threefold, 鈥淭his is due in large part to young people leaving rural areas,鈥� Bishop explained. 鈥淭here have also been fewer births and an aging population.鈥� These declines have led to a decrease in business, employment and critical services like health care.

5. Critical recruitment systems are suffering. The U.S. military and local law enforcement agencies are struggling to recruit qualified applicants, especially in rural areas, for the reasons previously explained. Of the pool of 20 million individuals ages 17-24 that have the potential to serve in the nation鈥檚 military, 3 out of every 4 are ineligible due to medical, academic or conduct issues. 鈥淭he physical, mental and emotional capabilities that we need our service members to have are all rooted in those first five years,鈥� General Johnson explained. 鈥淭hose years are foundational.鈥�