Resources
Current Organizing Work
Across the country, communities are working to fight closure. Right now, one of the biggest fights is in Vermont, where the state’s legislature passed a sweeping bill, based on Governor Phil Scott’s plan, that would overhaul education in the state. The Vermont Rural School Community Alliance (see the organization’s platform here) has been organizing to fight back. Much of the work has focused on shaping the media narrative. See this video about Governor Scott’s plan and its likely effects, as well as this one on the effects of school closure. They have also published a number of op-eds (here and here). See this recent memo to the State Board of Education about support for small rural schools and schools in sparsely populated areas, as well as their proposed guidance for modifying state support for these schools.
Also, we have some wins! Community members in Pickens, West Virginia, organized to save their school from closure (using resources from this website!). Here is a link to an interview with them about how they did it, as well as the report they wrote in response to their superintendent’s statement arguing for closure and detail its impact. It’s got so many good insights, especially places where claims that closure saves money might be misguided. (And here‘s the superintendent’s statement, so you can see what they were responding to.) The fight continues for Pickens, though; in fall 2025, the superintendent again recommended closure (here‘s the community’s updated response to the superintendent). Community members are hopeful that funding reform might reduce some of the closure pressures.
And see this Act that, with the leadership of Representative Lincoln Barnett, was just passed in Arkansas; it provides a path for towns affected by consolidation to re-open their elementary schools.
Information and tools related to closure
This paper, which I wrote with Trevor Auldridge-Reveles, is a detailed (if wonky) look at the research on urban and rural school closures. It contains many citations to other studies of closure, its causes, and its effects. Here’s a less wonky op-ed that describes our current closure crisis. I also recently spoke with Andrew Lefkowits and Val Brown on the Integrated Schools podcast about school closures; listen here.
This is an excellent series that ran in the Charleston-Gazette Mail on the costs of school closures in West Virginia in the early 2000s. It also gets into how the state incentivized closure.
Education Week has published a few stories on current pressures leading to closure. Here’s one, by Mark Lieberman, and another, by Caitlynn Peetz, on enrollment pressures specifically.
Here are some talking points on the effects of closure, which might be useful for public testimony. This two-page memo summarizes how to close well. I’ve also compiled some questions that district leaders should be asking when considering closing schools.
Bus ride lengths often come up in discussions about closure. Here’s a memo, compiling the research on long bus rides, that one of my talented undergraduates, Alina Kunakbayeva, wrote.
Another related topic is school size. The bottom line is that, despite the rhetoric about “right-sizing” schools, there is no magical optimal number. Another talented undergraduate, Chidera Kalu-Uka, wrote this memo summarizing the research on school size.
Organizations
Rural Community Alliance organizes rural communities throughout rural Arkansas to build power and take action. Fighting closure has been a major part of their organizing work.
Vermont Rural Education Collaborative works to build strong rural schools across Vermont and advocate for policies and practices that support rural schools. VREC has also pushed back against closure-promoting policies in the state. Here is an op-ed one of its members recently wrote opposing school closures in Vermont. Also see this letter, written by concerned community members, to the Vermont Commission on the Future of Public Education, which has been tasked with making policy recommendations about the efficiency and quality of Vermont schools.
The National Rural Education Association is an organization of rural administrators, teachers, board members, researchers, and advocates that work to maintain the vitality of rural education systems across the country.
The Advancement Project has been a leader in the fight against school closures for many years. They have some great resources for fighting closure, including this toolkit and this resource on changing the narrative around education and closure.
Information about community organizing
For additional information about organizing your rural community, see this free online textbook: Organizing: People, power, change.
The Center for Community Change also has this helpful resource.
Here’s a comprehensive library with links to a variety of resources and websites on organizing.
If you want to learn more about developing a persuasive public policy message, see this presentation by Marty Strange.
Consolidation
Much has been written about district consolidation, which is often a precursor to school closure. This brief, by Craig Howley, Jerry Johnson, and Jennifer Petrie, is a useful digest of the research.
This comprehensive presentation by Marty Strange, for the Rural School and Community Trust, covers political lessons surrounding rural consolidation.
There’s comparatively less written about how to consolidate well. Here’s one of the few articles I can find the topic (warning: it’s pretty dated, published in the late 1990s. But I think most of these common-sense strategies stand the test of time).
Other resources for strong rural schools
This website, from Promise of Place, shares information about place-based education–that is, using the local culture and environment as a starting pointe for math, reading, social studies, and science learning.
Community schools is a model of schooling in which schools partner with local organizations to provide wrap-around services for youth and adults so that all can thrive and learn.
Dual enrollment allows students to earn college credit in high school. This report looks at some promising practices in rural districts.
Rural education collaboratives are collaboratives of rural districts and cooperative education services that come together to share resources, build programs, scale up initiatives, support college and career readiness, and influence policy.
Here’s a report by Battelle for Kids on strong RECs and a case study about an REC along the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
Fair Opportunity Project provides free college counseling (including advice on financial aid) to students remotely. High schoolers can also request a mentor.