Rural+Students

Rural Gifted Students - William Currie



“Every year students begin school who have never seen an elevator, never eaten in a restaurant (even McDonald’s), and never been to a library or zoo. These students come to school ready and eager to learn but behind their peers in life experiences" (Lawrence, 2009).

How do we define Rural?
 * Population is a factor, but cannot be a defining factor by itself. Some rural schools have very large populations (Courville, 1999).


 * Distance from urban areas is also taken into account (Courville, 1999).


 * Case study in Louisiana showed that 31.5% of schools are classified as rural. (Courville, 1999)


 * The number of rural schools per state is 21.4% nationally, with percentages generally being higher in the south (Courville, 1999).

Challenges for Rural Schools


 * 59.5% of students at rural schools in Louisiana qualify for reduced/free lunch compared to 38.5% of the nation as a whole. Rural schools are often faced with problems of low SES as well (Courville, 1999).


 * State funding is also an issue for rural schools as in many states the funding is based around property taxes (Courville, 1999).


 * Rural schools also face the problem of insufficient human resources as they often have difficulty finding employees with the proper certifications (Courville, 1999).


 * Additionally, rural schools face higher rates of turnover than other schools so they are constantly dealing with human resources problems (Courville, 1999).

Identifying Rural Gifted Students




 * Achievement cannot be the sole factor in terms of measuring whether a rural student is gifted or not. Rural students may not have had the opportunities for enrichment that other students would have (Courville, 1999).


 * Identification programs for the rural gifted may not be ideal. The lack of funding for rural schools could trickle down to the gifted program itself and result in a poor or incomplete system of identification (Courville, 1999).


 * There should be an emphasis on using portfolios and projects to see what the student is capable of, rather than leaning on test scores (Lawrence, 2009).


 * Rural schools are even more likely to assign minority students to lower tracks, as a result of this one should be especially vigilant with regard to making sure every child receives a fair chance to be properly evaluated (Lawrence, 2009).


 * Student artistic work has shown that it can be helpful in identifying gifted rural students, as well. This also suggests that the arts are a vital part of the development of all gifted students, including those in rural areas (Lawrence, 2009).

Addressing Problems for the Rural Gifted
 * Gifted programs in rural areas must be willing to accept the modern and variable definitions of gifted students (Courville, 1999).


 * Once the program's definition has been updated, they must change their assessment practices as it has new goals in mind (Courville, 1999).


 * Teachers should all have some gifted education coursework under their belt so that they can aid in the identification processes and also help to meet the needs of their students. Even minor classroom modifications have shown positive results (Lawrence, 2009).


 * Efforts should be made to give rural students the same opportunities through field trips. If field trips aren't a possibility there are always virtual field trips (Lawrence, 2009).


 * Technology will be a huge help in aiding those gifted students in rural areas both as a resource and a way to attend online classes that may not be available at their school (Lawrence, 2009).


 * If the resources are not available for gifted rural students to properly be enriched or address their needs via technology, acceleration may be the best solution (Courville, 1999).


 * Finally, the school may not be able to address the needs of a gifted rural student by itself. In this case the parents should get involved and attempt to find enrichment opportunities for their child within the community. Different community groups or even summer camps can be helpful in this case (Courville, 1999).

Other Resources
 * PDF containing many different examples of Portfolio assessments for gifted students : [|Portfolio PDF]
 * Bibliography of many different books that may be useful for gifted educators in a rural setting : [|Bibliography]

Works Cited Courville, Keith (2010). Gifted in rural Louisiana: Past, present, and future. Presented at Council for Exceptional Children State Conference. Lafayette, Louisiana.

 Lawrence, B. K. (2009). Rural gifted education: A comprehensive literature review. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 32, 461-494.

Patel, P. (2011). Portfolio Assessments. Center for Rural Gifted Education. Retrieved from: http://www.iup.edu/rural/default.aspx

Resources Available through the Center for Rural Gifted Education. Bibliography. Retrieved from: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&ved=0CIMBEBYwBg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coe.iup.edu%2Fgifted%2FCenter%2520Resources.doc&ei=ElmZT6WlMIOI8QSMopGMBg&usg=AFQjCNF7e4Cv1I-VL3qQRFXHcNk4RylPXQ