Eric.ed.gov – Fences and Families: A University Project Providing Rural Field Experiences for Pre-Service Teachers

Rural schools are in a precarious time currently facing funding issues, decreasing resources, dwindling populations, and difficulties hiring candidates for existing vacancies. As a result, a Midwestern university’s College of Education sought to help alleviate some of those issues by exposing its pre-service teachers to the benefits of teaching in the college’s extensive rural footprint, while emphasizing a connection between school and community. Rural Arts Day (RAD) was designed to address the critical issues facing rural schools by making pre-service teachers more aware of what rural schools can offer, through an alternative field experience in a K-12 school building. With positive results, this pilot project has become the impetus for an ongoing program to be implemented on a regular basis at sites across the state. This university/school partnership, while integrating music, writing and painting across STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) topics, focuses on school and community spirit, with an overall message of the value of teaching in a rural school.