Although the difficulties of urban schools may be better publicized than those facing rural educators, a unique set of challenges for rural schools nonetheless does exist - and they present considerable obstacles to the effective schooling of our country's rural youth. In recent decades, powerful forces have been undermining this traditional sense of belonging. Because economic restructuring has led to a widespread deterioration in most traditional rural economies simultaneously, rural communities throughout the country find themselves in a precarious situation. These conditions affected education as well.
Local communities rely heavily on the use of property taxes to fund education.
As property values erode with the declining fortunes of rural communities in many states, there is generally less to spend. The result for much of Rural America is underfunded schools, declining enrollments, limited curricula, aging facilities, and persistent pockets of illiteracy. Like their urban counterparts, schools participating in the Rural Challenge operate in networks with external partners experienced in promoting K-12 educational reform. By uniting schools with each other and with community organizations, the Rural Challenge aims to overcome the isolation and marginalization that characterize so much of rural education. So far, thirty-two projects, serving approximately 300 schools in thirty states, are involved in the Rural Challenge.