The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) announced the establishment of the National Education Research and Development Center for Improving Rural Postsecondary Education on September 23.
A $10 million, 5-year grant from IES created the center, which will be the first to focus on improving access to postsecondary education and completion of postsecondary degrees and credentials for students from rural K-12 districts and locales. Focused on ten states, researchers will disaggregate findings about rural students to better understand variation by student subgroups including racial/ethnic groupings, levels of family income, and genders.
The Center plans an expansive research agenda that includes a national landscape study of rural studentsâ postsecondary enrollment and factors that contribute to their postsecondary success, and plans to promote and distribute the research findings widely.
The research is intended to be useful to leaders and staff in rural districts and high schools, administrators and practitioners at rural-serving colleges and universities, and state-level administrators and policymakers concerned with extending postsecondary opportunities to rural students.
Read the blog post announcement on the IES website.