This one coming from "Mr. Rural ED - A Progressive View of Rural Education."

Atta Boy Bob!
By Michael Arnold

It’s difficult to craft a presidential address of any kind that captures my attention. They typically either set the bar so low that achieving the goals is virtually meaningless, or set the bar so high they’re essentially meaningless because there’s no way an organization can accomplish them.

An exception is Bob Newhouse’s presidential address to the National Rural Education Association that was excerpted in the Winter 2005 Rural Education News. In his address, Bob laid out his goals for his year as president:

1. To do everything required to continue building the performance, stature, reputation, and resources of NREA.
2. To ensure that the work of NREA is recognized by it’s constituency as vital matters that affect every citizen.
3. To focus intensively on maintaining access to NREA as a gateway of opportunity to the loyal members of NREA and the education community at large.
4. To ensure that NREA will be a positive model of diverse people working together

Bob’s aspirations for his presidential year reflect his skills as a researcher. His goals are clearly stated, understandable, measurable and achievable. He doesn’t over promise what he can deliver nor does he lower expectations.

Congratulations Bob, you got my attention and support. Not an easy thing to do.

World Wide Growth in Agriculture
By Michael Arnold

If you live near a rapidly expanding city that is steadily gobbling up agricultural land for development, you might be surprised by a small piece in the most recent Smithsonian magazine. The percentage of the world's landmass devoted to agriculture has increased significantly over the past century. Using satallite images and ground-level surveys, University of Wisconsin researchers estimate that 40 percent of the earth's landmass is under cultivation or used to graze animals. That figure is up from about 25 percent a hundred years ago. South America accounts for a good portion of this growth thanks to an increase in soy bean production.You can find the item on page 18 of the February 2006 Smithsonian magazine.

2005 Mr. Rural ED Awards
By Michael Arnold

2005 was a pretty good year for rural schools. The U.S. Department of Education made significant efforts to better serve rural schools and one of its comprehensive centers sponsored an important rural education summit. There were also some very good rural education articles published. On the downside, the Regional Educational Laboratories continued to neglect their obligations to rural schools, but at least they’re consistent.

And some press for us...

Rural Ed SIG Steps Up
By Michael Arnold

It wasn't until recently I realized that the Rural Education Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association has migrated it's website over to Blogger and added some new features. These new features make the site one of the most valuable online resources available to those interested in rural education issues. Of particular note is the addition of links to other rural education blogs and news items. The combination of research, news and commentary creates, what could be, a powerful forum to address rural education issues. The challenge for the SIG is to maintain an online community that pushes all of us out of our comfort zones.

Well done to SIG President Dennis Mulcahy and to everyone who has worked on the site. Visit the site by clicking the headline of this post or go to http://ruralsig.blogspot.com/

Tags: AERA, rural, education