April 20, 2022
College of Education sponsors 2022 Rural Education Summit
Approximately 125 people attended a recent virtual Rural Education Summit sponsored by the Rural Education Center in the College of Education to share successes, concerns and research regarding rural schools and communities.
The half-day program, with the theme "Revitalizing Rural Schools," featured keynote speaker Ben Winchester, a rural sociologist from the University of Minnesota Extension Center for Community Vitality. He presented "Rewriting the Rural Narrative" and challenged the deficit framework in which rural communities are commonly discussed. National, regional and state partners also presented at the conference. See the full schedule.
"This event is a great opportunity to bring together rural voices from across the country and across stakeholders to learn and discuss with each other," said Spencer Clark, associate professor and director of the Rural Education Center. "I appreciate the perspectives shared by the various presenters and participants alike."
Lori Goodson, assistant professor and assistant director of the center, said she was pleased with the turnout for the virtual event.
"I appreciate that so many educators and community members chose to participate in the summit to support rural education," Goodson said. "Each year, the summit offers rural stakeholders to have a voice. And this year, we even had a rural school district that chose to use the summit for their schools' professional development that day."
As part of the summit, the 14 members of the Rural Professional Development Schools network were recognized by Todd Goodson, assistant dean of teacher education. Several members of the network also presented at the summit.
In its third year, the summit is designed to be an event where rural educators and community members can meet to hear about various rural projects and gain valuable perspectives from other rural stakeholders.
For more information about the Rural Education Center and its programs, including the summit, contact Diane Beets, program coordinator, at dmhess@k-state.edu or 785-532-3977.