Volume 2, No. 6December 2001

ISSN 1532-642X

Rural RootsNews, Information, and Commentary from the Rural School and Community Trust

continued on page 6

Standards and Testing

Where Does Place-Based Learning Fit In?

By Alison Yaunches

tandards. Assessment. Accountability. These wordscan sound daunting even to the most seasonedplace-based educator. However, in today’s educa-

tion environment they are a daily reality, and so practi-tioners must find ways to take the two seemingly oppositeconcepts of place-based curriculum andstate-imposed standards and link themtogether.

Three programs in three differentstates involved with the Rural Trust’sportfolio design team process have beenable to take their innovative strategiesin teaching and curriculum and dem-onstrate the quantitative power ofplace-based education. These sites haveproven the credibility of place-basededucation in meeting or even exceedingstate standards. One site using place-based education has shown improve-ment in students’ high-stakes testscores. From opposite corners of themap, organizations representing the

states of Louisiana, Vermont and Wyo-ming are proving that place-based edu-cation can easily walk hand-in-handwith state-imposed standards, high-stakes tests and accountability.

East Feliciana ParishSchools, LouisianaA case of using place-basedlearning to tackle statestandards and testing

In the rolling hills 30 miles north ofthe Louisiana state capital of BatonRouge, sits the East Feliciana Parish

(Louisiana’s equivalent of a county).Spanish for “happy land,” East Feli-ciana is an area of limited resources andmultiple educational challenges. Theparish is one of the poorest in the state,and serves approximately 3,000 stu-dents, 79 percent of whom are African-American. Forty-two percent of parishresidents do not have a high schooldiploma.

It was in this environment that aninitiative dubbed Project Connect waslaunched to address the parish’s histori-cally low test scores in science and math.With high-stakes testing in grades 4, 8,

SPhoto courtesy of East Feliciana Parish Schools.

2 Rural Roots The Rural School and Community Trust December 2001

Rural RootsVol. 2, No. 6 December 2001

ISSN 1532-642X

Rural Roots is published six times a yearby the Rural School and CommunityTrust, a nonprofit educational organ-ization dedicated to enlarging studentlearning and improving community lifeby strengthening relationships betweenrural schools and communities and en-gaging students in community-basedpublic work.

Through advocacy, research, and out-reach, the Rural Trust strives to create amore favorable environment for ruralcommunity schooling, for student workwith a public audience and use, and formore active community participation inschooling.

Founded as the Annenberg RuralChallenge in 1995, the Rural Trust todayworks with more than 700 rural elemen-tary and secondary schools in 35 states.

National Office

1825 K Street, NW, Suite 703Washington, DC 20006Phone: (202) 955-7177FAX: (202) 955-7179

To subscribe, visit our website at:www.ruraledu.org

Director of Communications:Kathryn E. Westra

Editor: H. Alison YaunchesDesign: Gerry Cervenka

Printed on Recycled Paper

RuralDatebook

February 24–27, 2002

StrengtheningCommunities: EnhancingExtension’s RoleOrlando Airport Marriott Hotel,Orlando, Florida

This first national Cooperative Exten-sion conference will bring togetherExtension professionals from acrossthe system to share resources and in-formation related to community re-sources and economic developmentprogramming. Seven program areatracks will be covered: economic de-velopment, community decision mak-ing, education and workforce devel-opment, information technology, lo-cal government education, land andnatural resources use, and communityservices.

The registration fee is $175 anddoes not include room and board.Contact the Southern Rural Develop-ment Center at (662) 325-3207 formore information, or go to theirwebsite at http://ext.msstate.edu/srdc.

March 7–9, 2002

No Child Left Behind:The Vital Roleof Rural SchoolsJohn Ascuaga’s Nugget Hotel,Reno, Nevada

This conference is especially valu-able for educators, pre-service educa-tors, administrators, service providers,parents, and policy makers who wouldlike to share information on specialeducation, and address critical issuesaffecting the delivery of services forindividuals with disabilities living inrural areas. More information will beavailable in the coming months.

Contact Judy Weyrauch at theAmerican Conference on Rural Spe-cial Education (ACRES) headquartersat (785) 532-2737 or acres@ksu.edufor more information.

March 8, 2002

Schools as Caring Communities:Learning and Leading byEngaging the PublicMarriott Riverwalk Hotel,San Antonio, TX

This is one of many institutes held a daybefore ASCD’s (Association for Supervi-sion and Curriculum Development) an-nual conference. If teachers, parents, andother members of your learning commu-nity ever question the role your schoolplays in creating a caring community,here’s an opportunity to think more deeplyabout this issue and learn how to engageothers in constructive discourse aboutcommunity priorities for public education.This institute will challenge you to take acloser look at: what role your school shouldplay in promoting the larger well-being ofresidents; how to organize a “town meet-ing” for the purpose of opening a dialoguebetween residents and school district stake-holders; why you should focus on creatinga sustainable, long-term agenda; and howto initiate a public engagement project inyour community. The institute is $229(ASCD members)/$279 (nonmembers).

The ASCD conference, Choosing toDance: Taking Bold Steps for the Sake of OurChildren, will be held from March 9–11,2002. Go to ASCD’s website at www.ascd.org or call (800) 933-2723 for moreinformation on the conference and insti-tutes, or to register for both.

March 15–17, 2002

25th Annual AppalachianStudies ConferenceUnicoi State Park, Helen, Georgia

Entitled Voices from the Margins, Liv-ing on the Fringe, this conference will fea-ture special sessions on Hispanic, African-American and Cherokee communities, aswell as women and girls, gays and lesbi-ans, prisoners and others from the outskirtsor margins of Appalachia. There will be apre-conference tour of the John C. Camp-bell Folk School and the usual panels,

films, readings, dancing and fashionshow.

Preliminary program and registrationmaterials will be available by early Januaryon the Appalachian Studies website,www.appalachianstudies.org. Room reser-vations at Unicoi are available now ontheir website. Contact Patricia Beaver,(828) 262-4089, beaverpd@appstate.edufor further information.

To list your upcoming events in the Feb-ruary 2002 newsletter please contact Ru-ral Roots at editor@ruraledu.org or call(202) 955-7177, ext. 13.

December 2001 The Rural School and Community Trust Rural Roots 3

NewsBriefsNew Volume of Oral HistoryVoices of the Valley, Volume III is now available from North Coast Rural ChallengeNetwork’s (NCRCN) Anderson Valley site. The book, which includes a CD ofrecorded oral histories, is a continuation of earlier volumes focusing on studentinterviews with Anderson Valley Elders. Contact Mitch Mendosa at (707) 895-2199 or mmendosa@avusd.k12.ca.us to order.

Survey of Rural Americans Finds Participants RatingQuality of Life HighIn a national survey conducted by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change entitledVoices of Rural America, over three-quarters of rural residents surveyed rate the qualityof life in their community as either excellent or good. Running counter to com-mon perceptions of isolation and real physical detachment, rural residents weremore likely to feel connected to their communities than urban residents and equallyoptimistic about their community’s prospects for the future. Eighty percent of thosesurveyed indicated that they feel their community’s best years might lie ahead. Formore survey results, go to www.pew-partnership.org.

A Box of Tea to Support California Taoist TempleInspired by Mendocino High School students, who traced their community’s Chi-nese history and became advocates for the resto-ration of their local Taoist Kwan Tai Temple, theThanksgiving Coffee Company created its KwanTai Temple Tea. With each purchase of thisOolong tea, a portion of the proceeds will go tothe temple in Mendocino, California for preser-vation and educational programs. To order, con-tact Loretta McCoard via e-mail at lmccoard@mcn.org; to learn more about the temple and pres-ervation efforts, go to www.kwaintaitemple.org.The box of tea is $8.00, which includes shippingand handling.

Wallace-Reader’sDigest FundsAward Grantfor SchoolLeadership

The Wallace-Reader’s DigestFunds has awarded a planning grantof $50,000 to the Rural Trust for anew initiative to improve ruralschool leadership in the “Black Belt”states of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisi-ana and Mississippi. With this grant,the Rural Trust will create a work-ing group of rural principals and su-perintendents to design a plan forprofessional leadership developmentin rural areas.

Ultimately, the Rural Trust hopesto strengthen the abilities of ruralschool superintendents and princi-pals to improve student learning andteacher quality, and create a networkof support, mentoring and trainingfor rural school leaders.

“In addition to lacking qualityprofessional development programs,school leaders in the rural Black Beltoften face obstacles of isolation, lowprofessional pay and scarce re-sources,” said Rural Trust PresidentRachel Tompkins. “This grant willhelp rural principals and superinten-dents overcome these obstacles byworking together at the state and re-gional level to get the help they needto improve rural schools.”

The grant was awarded as part ofthe Wallace-Reader’s Digest Funds’Ventures in Leadership program,whose goal is to help nonprofit or-ganizations and public schoolsaround the country test innovativeideas for improving educationalleadership.

Ramirez JoinsRural Trust

Francisco Ramirez joined the Rural Trust as the Director ofFinance and Administration in October 2001, after eight yearsas the Chief Financial Officer at the International Youth Foun-dation, where he was in charge of financial, administrative and

human resources affairs. Prior to that, he worked in a variety of management posi-tions at the International Planned Parenthood Federation in both New York Cityand London for 17 years.

A native Chilean, Ramirez has a wealth of experience working with 501(c)(3)organizations and handling multi-million dollar budgets. He is on the Board ofDirectors of both the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations and theMultiple Sclerosis Association of America. Ramirez is a fluent Spanish speaker,with working knowledge of Portuguese, Italian and French.

4 Rural Roots The Rural School and Community Trust December 2001

FirstPersonA First Person Account of the Rural Trust Portfolio Design Process

A Light Shining on LearningThat Happens Within theContext of Community

continued on page 5

By Ginny Jaramillo

In the Spring of 1999, our school wasinvited by the Rural Trust to participatein the design of a portfolio assessmentprocess that would broaden the scope ofschool assessment to include both stu-dent and community learning and con-tributions, student voice, and the deep-ening and spreading of place-based in-struction. As network members of theRural Trust, we were already familiarwith the place-based work being donein more than 700 sites throughout thenation, and we were eager to help find away to develop high-quality assessmenttools for such important work. In fact,the experience turned out to be far morevaluable than any of us had imagined.

Having spent the last seven years asadministrator of Guffey School, a Pre-K-8 charter grade school with an enroll-ment of 34 in the Pike Wilderness areaof Colorado, I am familiar with the frus-tration of developing decent tools forassessing learning, particularly in small,rural schools. The State of Colorado, forexample, recently developed a criterion-referenced test, called the Colorado StateAssessment Program (CSAP). It is anexpensive, but very well designed testthat measures student competency in theareas of math, writing, and reading, withscores generated through a team of rat-ers rather than machine scored fill-in“bubbles.”

Although the design of the test is wellrespected by our staff, its intended useby the State is to rate all schools accord-ing to student performance on thatsingle measure. There are three problemsthat are immediately obvious. First, itonly measures student competency in

three areas of student performance, whilethe state mandates that schools are, infact, responsible for 12 areas of studentperformance, (and local school boardsinclude additional standards of perfor-mance that reflect local values). Second,schools with very small enrollments,such as ours, yield insignificant data be-cause the number of students is not suf-ficient to give an accurate statisticalanalysis. Third, relying on a single mea-sure to evaluate the success of schools isa dangerous journey toward the politicsof schooling and away from the mean-ingful assessment of learning.

As in other schools rooted in place-based instruction, our students haveachieved learning goals that far exceedthe “basics” of math, reading and writ-ing. Equally important, our communi-ties have benefited from the place-basedprojects that are flourishing at ourschools. Although we appreciated theone measure that the state offered us forassessing student learning, clearly wewere desperate for more comprehensiveassessment of the depth and breadth ofour work.

In March 2000, with 11 other RuralTrust network sites from across the na-tion, and under the consultation of staffmembers from Harvard University, wegathered in Omaha, Nebraska to tacklea task that turned out to be far morecomplex than any of us anticipated. Westarted by studying a draft of a rubricthat had been created by the Rural Truststaff in consultation with the Harvardstaff, based on the work that had beenaccomplished throughout Rural Trustsites.

The rubric identified nine principleswith several identifying aspects of those

principles and four “levels of perfor-mance” that described how the workwould look at different levels of devel-opment. We were asked to go back andspend some time at our sites to considerwhat could be included in a portfolioof evidence that would demonstratewhere our sites might rate on thosenine principles.

One of the most unique circum-stances of the process, and one that wasclearly ground-breaking was that the “ex-perts” were not telling us how to assessour work. Rather, we were being invitedinto a partnership that included staff,students, and community members fromour sites, as well as Harvard researchersand Rural Trust staff. We were embark-ing on a research project that engagedall the players in the learning process as“experts.”

When we met again in Omaha in July2000, each site shared their resultant“portfolios.” There was so much evi-dence presented by each site that mostof us required several suitcases to lug allof it with us. It was quickly clear to allof us that we had not yet learned how toselect truly “rich” evidence, how to over-come the desire to “show off ” our work,or how to sharpen our portfolios to fo-cus on specific issues such as studentlearning, community contributions, orstudent voice.

For the 2000–2001 school year, theteam tried a new approach. This timesix of the original design team sitesagreed to continue the work, and fivenew sites were added. We committed toquarterly national meetings, as well asongoing work at the site level. The Ru-ral Trust contracted with the EducationalTesting Service (ETS) to partner with us,in addition to the continued consulta-tion with Harvard University. Our ap-proach to the process was to first rebuildthe rubric, with four “entries” identifiedas: 1) Student Learning and Contribu-tions, 2) Community Learning andContributions, 3) Deepening andSpreading the Work, and 4) StudentVoice. Our team tackled the first threeentries, leaving the fourth entry, studentvoice, to be developed in partnershipwith a group of Rural Trust studentsfrom across the nation.

December 2001 The Rural School and Community Trust Rural Roots 5

FeedbackDo you have any questions, com-ments or feedback? Something gotyou jazzed up? Think we should coveryour story? Have an idea for us? Havea rural education need that we are notfulfilling? We greatly value yourthoughts and opinions. Write to theEditor at the Rural School and Com-munity Trust: 1825 K Street, NW,Suite 703, Washington, DC 20006.Or e-mail: editor@ruraledu.org. Welook forward to hearing from you.

Once we built a draft rubric for thethree entries, each site selected an entrythat they wanted to focus on, and thenworked with other sites that had selectedthat same entry. With the help of theETS staff, we learned to put aside ourfears of being misunderstood or judgedby “outsiders,” and turned our attentionto studying evidence to carefully deter-mine whether or not it truly offered theinformation necessary for indicatinggrowth. At the same time, we revised therubric constantly as we learned whatmade sense, what was left out, what wasrepeated, or what was unclear. Through-out the course of the year, we spent timeat our sites with teams of students, staffand community members, analyzing therubric, gathering evidence, and writingand rewriting narratives that would con-nect the evidence to the themes and as-pects of the rubric. Then we gatheredtogether at meeting sites around the na-tion (Albuquerque, New Orleans, Phoe-nix, and Denver) where we revised therubrics for each entry, gave each otherfeedback on how to improve our port-folios, and shared our frustrations.

At the last meeting of that year, inDenver, we came together to analyzewhat we had learned in the final stage ofour process, which was the presentationof our portfolios for formal review at thesite level. This was a pivotal meeting foreveryone involved in the team up to thatpoint. We had spent a year or more de-veloping a tool that would offer schoolsand communities an effective way tomeasure the impact of their work on stu-dent learning, on the community, andon the changing roles of everyone in-volved. We had opened ourselves to scru-tiny within the team, and developedimportant networking relationships withone another. Many of our sites had be-gun disseminating the portfolio assess-ment tools to others.

As we shared the results of our workand our plans for further distribution, itbecame clear to everyone involved thatour work had only begun. The RuralTrust and ETS staffs, which had origi-nally intended to bring closure to the2000–2001 design team and begin field

testing the rubric with an entirely newgroup of schools, made a change inplans. They decided instead to put theirenergy into supporting the existing teamin its work to implement, improve, andcirculate the newly developed assessmentmodel.

Bringing our shared sense of enthu-siasm and responsibility to take the workto the next level, the team met in Octo-ber 2001 in North Carolina to strategizemethods for distributing the model toother sites. We learned protocols to help

25 Native sites in Hawaii to implementthe model. Their project coordinator, Dr.Mark Sorenson, explains: “The work weare doing with the local Navajo charterschools and the Native Hawaiian char-ter schools is built on the simple ideathat there is within each of these com-munities tremendous knowledge aboutthe natural world that is held by the el-ders and a tremendous need for the chil-dren to connect with the elders for thesurvival of the communities. The use ofthe rubrics as a tool or roadmap is im-portant, because we begin the activitiesabout Native science with the end inmind.”

To the north of us, a project at theUniversity of Wyoming called Coordi-nated Resource Management in theClassroom (see article p. 8) has 23 sitesaround the state that will be using En-try 1 of the portfolio model to assess stu-dent work, and then share their portfo-lios at a statewide meeting in February2002.

There is no denying that the work iscomplex, time-consuming and fraughtwith frustration, not unlike any learn-ing process. But for our small, rural,community-based schools it is a brightbeacon of hope for students, staff andcommunity members. The light fromthe beacon is shining, at last, on thedepth and breadth of learning that hap-pens within the context of community.

Ginny Jaramillo is a member of theBoard of Trustees of the Rural Trust and isthe former Director of the Colorado RuralCharter Schools Network. Contact her viae-mail at osolee@aol.com

First Personfrom page 4

We had spent a year or moredeveloping a tool that

would offer schools andcommunities an effective

way to measure the impactof their work on student

learning, on the community,and on the changing roles of

everyone involved.

facilitate the development of qualityportfolios at new sites, shared thebreadth of dissemination that we hadalready accomplished, and created atechnological network for having elec-tronic conversations about the imple-mentation of the model.

We have already felt the effects of ourwork at the regional level all across thecountry. The Guffey School, along witha consortium of sister schools in Colo-rado, was funded by the Colorado De-partment of Education to develop anddistribute a manual for teachers, studentsand community members to assist themin developing quality portfolios whichwill be shared in a statewide meeting inthe spring of 2002. (The manual can beaccessed through the consortium websiteat www.ruralcharters.org and is linkedwith the Colorado Department of Edu-cation.)

Our Rural Trust neighbors to thesouth in Arizona include Navajo char-ter school communities that have usedthe portfolio model to assess the impactof place-based work on community con-nections. They are now partnering with

6 Rural Roots The Rural School and Community Trust December 2001

10 and 11, Louisiana began a statewideaccountability program that requires stu-dents to develop a conceptual under-standing of subjects in the context ofreal-world applications. Withoutmarked improvement in test scores,schools are subject to “corrective action,”with continued and increased externaloversight and control of the school un-til improvements are evident.

Knight Roddy, project coordinator ofthe East Feliciana Parish Schools ProjectConnect, believes that using place-basededucation is the most ef-fective way of teachingthe concepts studentsneed to understand onthe state tests. “My sell-ing point to teachers,administrators andschool board members isthat place-based is suchan efficient and effectivevehicle for helping stu-dents learn these con-cepts, because it’s mean-ingful to them.”

One of his best sell-ing points, however, isthe district’s 4th grad-ers: the district’s 4thgrade passage rate ofstate science tests in-creased by 13 percent-age points in one year.In 2001, the passing average of the threeelementary schools’ (Slaughter, Clintonand Jackson) 4th graders was the sameas the state’s: 85 percent. The passagerate in 2000 was 72 percent, 10 pointslower than the state’s average.

In the case of this parish, place-basedhad to be standards-based. According toDr. Daisy Slan, the superintendent ofEast Feliciana schools, “Mr. Roddy tookeach standard required of the studentsand tailored it to resources in the com-munity. He realized that our area had somany resources that would help teach-ers connect learning to their surround-ings … we couldn’t have gotten to thispoint without his commitment anddedication.”

“By doing hands-on activities, stu-dents don’t just learn concepts, [they] re-member them,” said Roddy. “The activi-ties are minds-on as well—we’re teach-ing those concepts while enjoying the ac-tivity. In the research we have done, wehave found students still remembermonths later what they did and whatthey saw in these place-based activities.That doesn’t happen with normal cur-riculum. When [students] try to memo-rize something for a test, it has a shelf-life of an hour.”

Roddy and Slan have seen improve-ments in other areas as well. Teachers arefeeling more comfortable teaching sci-ence, in part because of Roddy’s effortsto train teachers and encourage them totake advantage of Rural Trust resources.Teachers are moving into making learn-ing more interdisciplinary and commu-nicating with each other through teamcurriculum planning. “I have seen teach-ers talking to each other about how towork on standards across curricular ar-eas,” said Slan. Lastly, community part-ners are enjoying their involvement withthe school and are excited about continu-ing their partnership.

One day, Roddy was working withstudents from Slaughter Elementary who

were conducting a plot study of the landaround the school, a project started by ateacher who attended a workshop at theRoger Tory Peterson Institute. Studentswere actively identifying plants and flow-ers by using the field guides all by them-selves, without teacher direction. Twoweeks later, the students wrote a post-project essay covering what they haddone and learned.

“It’s so impressive to see them remem-bering what they did. To some it’s sur-prising, but it’s not really, because whatthey did was meaningful learning …they are going to remember what hasmeaning to them,” Roddy said.

Slan sees further proof that place-based education works for her district.

“We know it’s working,quite simply becauseour state test scores haveimproved,” she said.

Vermont RuralPartnership,VermontA case ofintegrating place-based standardsinto statewiderequirements

In the small town ofPeacham, Vermont(pop. 640), teachersmeet no barriers in theirquest to integrate place-

based education into their curriculum.Projects designed to involve communityand sustain local land and history pro-ceed with support from the communityand state, in part because in perform-ing these projects, teachers are helpingto meet the cross-curriculum studentstandards of “sense of place” and“sustainability” laid out in Vermont’sstate learning standards.

What seems like a dream come trueto place-based educators across the coun-try—statewide, place-based standards—is a reality in Vermont, where a coali-tion of community members, educatorsand government representatives unitedto make those standards a part of staterequirements.

Where Does Place-Based Learning Fit In?from page 1

Photo courtesy of East Feliciana Parish Schools.

December 2001 The Rural School and Community Trust Rural Roots 7

Vermont’s story is a learning experi-ence for anyone interested in introducingplace-based standards into discussions ofstatewide requirements. In the mid ‘90s,the State Board of Education in Vermontbegan to create their framework of stan-dards, using an inclusive approach thatinvolved wide participation from com-munity members and educators. The re-sulting integrated framework includesstandards that address the community’sexpectations of a child’s “vital results”—including communication, civic and so-cial responsibility and healthy choices,and “fields of knowledge” that coverdiscipline-based standards.

Later in the process, when the frame-work was fine-tuned by subject-specificcommittees taking a serious look at pos-sible areas of improvement, another

group of interested parties from a widerange of backgrounds formed separatelyto address what they saw as two missingstandards. These proposed standardswould address students’ understandingof place, and also their understandingof environmental, economic, social andpolitical sustainability.

The standards hit a barrier beforeacceptance, and it “wasn’t the roadblockyou would expect,” according to Mar-garet MacLean, principal at PeachamSchool and Director of the VermontRural Partnership, a Rural Trust net-work site that is an alliance of 18 smallschools and communities. “In Vermont,it was the superintendents, not theState Board of Education, who werethe largest roadblock. They were stand-ing up for the teachers who felt that

there were already enough standards toimplement,” she said.

Nevertheless, since the process in-cluded such broad public involvementfrom people of all sectors of society, itwas clear that there was enough supportto pass the standards. “The grouppointed out that many teachers were al-ready meeting the requirement … teach-ers wouldn’t have to create new lessons,but they would have to document whatthey were already doing in a differentway,” said MacLean.

The two new standards were passedabout 18 months ago, and are now a partof the personal development and civic/social responsibility standards in the vi-tal results section of the state’s standards

continued on page 8

Courtesy of Peacham School.

8 Rural Roots The Rural School and Community Trust December 2001

document. Indeed, implementing place-based projects comes with state support,and a sense of community ownership,thanks to the inclusive process thatbrought those standards to fruition. Jo-seph Kiefer of Food Works and memberof VRP suggests that the collaborativeapproach Vermont used can be mim-icked elsewhere. “It’s a grassroots ap-proach … it’s our participant democracyat work. Collaboration is key, coopera-tion essential,” he said.

Place-based educators also find roomfor alternative assessment practices inVermont. The state requires districts todevelop a comprehensive assessmentplan in partnership with the state test-

ing given in grades 2, 4, 8 and 10. AtPeacham School, teachers tackle this re-quirement by developing an individualassessment for each child.

“We have no challenges in terms ofchoosing to use place-based curriculum,because we can use and assess [it] in ourown way. We’re setting the agenda forthat through our local assessment plan,”said MacLean.

However, inclusion in state standardsis just the beginning for members ofVRP, who are intent on using the twostandards as a stepping stone to makingthe connections between learning andthe community embedded in all curricu-lum. Being a part of the standards is justa “toe hold” according to Kiefer. “Nowit’s time to ‘up the ante’ and move be-yond occasional place-based curriculumand have it completely embedded intothe pedagogy of all of our classes. To-ward that bigger step, we have a lot leftto do,” he said.

At Peacham School and other schoolsinvolved with VRP, projects forge aheadand are held up as models of how thesestandards enhance learning and involveyoung people in the preservation ofVermont’s small communities.

“Many people advocated for thesestandards because they believed theywere important to the future of ourstate,” said MacLean.

Coordinated ResourceManagement in theClassroom, WyomingA case of using place-based inresponse to educators’ needs

In a state with approximately fivepeople per square mile, and more than9,000 farms and ranches that average

3,742 acres insize, the sustain-ability of Wyom-ing’s land andecological diver-sity is everyone’sbusiness. Ranch-ers, governmentagency represen-tatives, environ-mental ists andconcerned citi-

zens employ consensus-building groupsto make decisions about the use andmanagement of the land and its natu-ral resources, by using the state’s Co-ordinated Resource Management(CRM) program. By taking part inthese groups, people of differing inter-ests and opinions use logical reasoningand research to communicate their ideasand arrive at an acceptable solution forall involved.

Recognizing the educational poten-tial of the CRM process, Pete Ellsworth,a professor at the University of Wyo-ming, worked with the Wyoming De-partment of Agriculture and the Insti-tute for Environment and Natural Re-sources at the University of Wyomingto bring CRM into the classroom. Heand his wife Judy, also a professor at theUniversity, saw not only a way to teachstudents how to deal with complex, real-life issues; they also saw ways to tie theirproject into numerous state standards

and provide teachers with an activity-based curriculum.

Student passage of Wyoming’s statetesting in grades 4, 8 and 11 in literacyand math is not required in order tograduate or be promoted to the nextgrade. The onus is on individual districtsto provide a “body of evidence” that stu-dents are meeting standards in all areas,by using an assessment system chosenby the district. That can involve justabout any means of assessment, includ-ing standardized tests and class grades.

In answer to districts that wanted ac-tivity-based projects to meet state stan-dards, the Wyoming Activities Consor-tium was formed through the WyomingDepartment of Education. “This con-sortium of over half of the school dis-tricts was asking for alternatives to stan-dardized and objective testing as a wayof meeting the requirement,” accordingto Ellsworth. Composed of approxi-mately 110 educators, the consortiumworks to identify activities in variousdisciplines that districts can use as evi-dence that students have satisfied statestandards.

One such project adapted by the con-sortium is the Ellsworths’ project, CRMin the Classroom. The Ellsworthsplugged their program into the con-sortium’s listing of activities in order tostructure it and make linking it to stan-dards easy for teachers. “The relation-ship between the activities and standardshas been recognized by the state, so us-ing this framework is easy for teachers… they can just sit down with thisproject and check off the standards ad-dressed,” said Ellsworth.

This December, the SweetwaterCounty School District will join themore than 20 other districts that haveintegrated this project into the curricu-lum. In the past, the district hosted con-versations between ranchers and teach-ers in order for the two groups to ex-change viewpoints; it is also an oppor-tunity for teachers to learn ranching andland-use instructional strategies for usein the classroom. With this partnershipbetween educators and ranchers in mind,the district chose to begin the CRM inthe Classroom program in a wide rangeof grades.

Connie Nerby is a teacher on specialassignment in the district. “There are

Where Does Place-BasedLearning Fit In?from page 7

“When learning is grounded in the localcommunity, [students] learn, they aremotivated, they score well on tests,behavior problems decrease,” said

Vermont’s Joseph Kiefer.

December 2001 The Rural School and Community Trust Rural Roots 9

ranchers who see [projects like these] astheir only real survival piece,” notesNerby. “They see it as a way to garnersupport by opening up their lifestylesand sharing them with students. It’s totheir benefit to have a public that is edu-cated about the realities and the obstaclesof ranching.”

The project benefits students andschools as well. Through their involve-ment with the CRM process, studentsgain a comprehensive set of skills cover-ing science, economics, math, history,social studies and language arts. Schoolsgain a powerful tool to meet state stan-dards.

The project involves students in ei-ther existent CRM teams or perhaps aschool’s simulated group. Generally, stu-dents research and write a comprehen-sive case study of a piece of land. Thegroup conducts a thorough study of thesite, including conducting an inventoryof the land and its components andlearning the viewpoints of others who areinterested in the future use of the land.Students then use a consen-sus-based decision makingprocess to reach an agree-ment on a land managementplan. The group writes a re-port on their findings anddesigns a data collection andanalysis plan to monitor theimplementation of the man-agement plan. In someprojects, students are activeparticipants in the CRMteam, and therefore take partin all of the decision-makingdone by the group.

Addressing state stan-dards is more manageable

when schools integrate this project intotheir curriculum. And, the Ellsworthsand others will soon have a means of as-sessing the work through their partici-pation on the Rural Trust portfolio de-sign team. “Aligning activities like ourswith the standards is not difficult. Thechallenge comes in documenting studentlearning with regards to addressing thosestandards,” said Ellsworth.

Their involvement with the RuralTrust team will provide them with theproper tools to address this work. “Evalu-ating our efforts with this program willallow us to use CRM as evidence thatkids are meeting our state standards,”said Nerby.

The Case for UsingPlace-Based

“When learning is grounded in thelocal community, [students] learn, theyare motivated, they score well on tests,behavior problems decrease,” said Ver-mont’s Kiefer. He points to Closing theAchievement Gap: Using the Environment

as an Integrating Context for Learningfrom the State Education and Environ-ment Roundtable, as his evidence.

In their research, authors Leibermanand Hoody define “environment as anintegrating context for learning” (EIC)as education that uses “a school’s sur-roundings and community as a frame-work within which students can con-struct their own learning, guided byteachers and administrators.” The re-searchers found that students involvedin EIC programs “earn higher grades andscore better in reading, writing andmath.” Other benefits include: “reduceddiscipline and classroom managementproblems, increased engagement and en-thusiasm for learning, and greater prideand ownership in accomplishments.”

“Place-based is just an effective wayto learn,” notes Louisiana’s Roddy. Andas sites in Wyoming, Louisiana and Ver-mont have shown, it’s also an effectiveway to creatively teach students whatthey need to know to meet state stan-dards and prepare for assessment.

You can contact KnightRoddy at kroddy@efpsb.k12.la.us; Margaret Mac-Lean at margaret.maclean@ruraledu.org; and PeterEl l sworth at peterc@uwyo.edu for more informa-tion on the programs inLouisiana, Vermont andWyoming.

A copy of Standards inPublic Schools: A PolicyStatement of the RuralSchool and CommunityTrust is available at www.ruraledu.org/standards.pdf.

Photos courtesyof NiobraraCounty #1District inLusk, Wyoming

Photo courtesy of Niobrara County #1 District in Lusk, Wyoming.

10 Rural Roots The Rural School and Community Trust December 2001

YouthCouncil

There’s More to Educationthan Test Scores

By Kelsey Harnist

Standards and assessment are inher-ent parts of our existence as human be-ings. Truly, not a day can pass withoutsomeone measuring and critiquing ourachievements or failures, however largeor small they may be. From grades andtests in school, performance evaluationsat work, and judgments socially, they areimpossible to escape. Americans seem tothrive on the idea of quantification; weyearn to have our actions validated. Itgives us a sense of accomplishment toknow that other people think well ofwhat we have done.

Beginning in the 20th century withthe SAT (Standard Aptitude Test), origi-nally intended to give minority studentsequal opportunity in the college admis-sion process, standardized tests have be-come an integral part of education in theUnited States. Every student is familiarwith them: days are taken out of theregular schedule of classes, passages areread, problems are solved, and endlessrows of “bubbles” are filled in. Sixmonths later, an envelope arrives in themail, notifying John Doe of his scores.The envelope is placed in a bag, maybea box, and is promptly forgotten, right?That may be about to change. The useof standardized tests as a measurementnot just of a student’s success, but nowof a school’s success, is becoming muchmore prevalent; in many states, theamount of funding a school receives isdirectly proportional to the school’s per-formance on such exams.

As the proliferation of standardizedtests continues, school districts are be-ginning to employ them in “high stakes”situations. Instead of trivia to be ob-served and then disregarded, test scoresmay now determine whether a studentattends summer school, moves on to thenext grade, and, most importantly, if astudent graduates from high school.

Mandatory tests are also used as a lensto evaluate the impact of state standards.So far, 29 states have adopted systemsrevolving around the high-stakes con-cept, while several others have it on theiragendas.

What are the benefits of these tests?According to their proponents, testshave many benefits. For one, they arean excellent device for parents to seehow their child is doing in relation tostudents around the state and the na-tion. They force schools to focus on ba-sic skills, such as reading and writing,which, oddly enough, can be neglected.Finally, the exams can be used as a toolto chart the progress of individual stu-dents and identify areas where improve-ment is needed.

In spite of all this, response to the useof high-stakes tests among students hasbeen less than enthusiastic.

In California, the High School ExitExam has been called everything from“worthless,” to “ridiculous,” to “a totalwaste of time.” Indeed, over fifty per-cent of the state’s freshmen passed theExam, yet they are required to take itagain in their sophomore, junior, andsenior years. In Texas, the Texas Assess-ment of Academic Skills brought withit problems much more serious thanboredom. Says Maria Hernandez, a resi-dent of and student in the Lone StarState: “Teachers have begun teaching tothe TAAS. Teachers teach only what isneeded to pass or master the exam andnot much else.” If instructors feel pres-sured to have their pupils succeed onsuch exams, it is because their students’performance often dictates the amountof monetary support given to the school,which in turn affects the quality of re-sources teachers have on hand. The lackof resources can be seriously detrimen-tal to the learning process, a side effectof the test its creators certainly did notintend. If students are succeeding simply

because they have been taught to the test,however, that means they are missing outon everything besides basic skills. Thatis quite a thin line to walk between realfailure and false progress.

Are there alternative ways to measurestudent achievement? Educators in Ver-mont think so. In Vermont, studentsprepare portfolios of their best work inmath and English that include essaysconcerning how the pieces were chosenand, in math, how the student arrivedat the solution. Professionally trainedteachers then examine the portfolios inorder to determine how well they meetthe state standards. Cara Cookson, aformer student in Cabot, Vermont,says: “I think [portfolios are] a muchmore fair system of assessing studentwork. The teacher doesn’t just see whatanswer the student gets, or what thestudent wrote, but what thought pro-cesses he or she used to get there.” InGuffey, Colorado, an elementary schoolhas taken a much more radical ap-proach. Fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grad-ers, are directly involved in creatingstandards and assessment tools; the stu-dents write proposals regarding whatthey should be held accountable for andhow their achievements should be mea-sured, as well as participating in the hir-ing of teachers. Such hands-on studentinvolvement is extremely rare; neverthe-less, the program has reportedly beenvery successful.

Standardized tests are obviously notthe only way to assess student perfor-mance, but for the moment, the mo-mentum seems to favor test scores asthe sole indicator of student success.But can tests, particularly high-stakestests, really measure all of our abili-ties—or are they a “quick fix” that onlycaptures students’ skill and drill knowl-edge and robs teachers of flexibility intheir instruction, making the classrooma duller place? Will tests prove viable inthe long run when used as the singleinstrument to judge student learning?Only time and a few million darkenedcircles will tell.

Kelsey Harnist is junior at AndersonValley High School in Boonville, Califor-nia. He is a founding member of the Na-tional Youth Council of the Rural Schooland Community Trust.

Rural Trust VideoNow Available

The Rural Trust has a new video available, Communities andSchools: Getting Better Together. Using the voices of students,teachers, and community members, the video shows how place-based education is helping small rural schools and the commu-nities they serve improve teaching, learning and community life.

This video is designed to show those who may not be famil-iar with place-based education why community involvement isso critical to school success, and how kids can do incrediblethings when their academic learning is based on identifyingcommunity needs and solving real-life problems.

To order send a $20 check (includes shipping) payable to the“Rural School and Community Trust” to: Rural Trust Video,1825 K Street, Suite 703, Washington, DC 20006.

The video is only one of many resources available from the Rural Trust.Some are printed reports; many are available in both printed form andonline. For a listing, go to the Rural Trust website at www.ruraledu.org,and click on Publications.

Help Support Rural RootsWhile this newsletter is free, we welcome your contributions to help offset the major costs of printing andmailing. If you like what we’re doing, and want to help support our ongoing efforts to bring you the news,information and stories you’ve come to rely on, please make a contribution today. The Rural School andCommunity Trust is a 501(c)(3) organization (tax i.d. 56-1924246). Your generous contribution will be tax-deductible.

Please make your check payable to “Rural School and Community Trust” and send to the Rural Trust, Attn:Operations Manager, 1825 K Street, NW, Suite 703, Washington, DC 20006.

Name: _____________________________________________________________________________

Address: ___________________________________________________________________________

City: ___________________________________________ State: _________ Zip: ______________

Phone: _____________________________________________________________________________

E-mail: _____________________________________________________________________________

Amount Enclosed: ❑ $10 ❑ $20 ❑ $50 ❑ $100 ❑ $250 ❑ Other $ ______

1825 K Street, NW ♦ Suite 703 ♦ Washington, DC 20006www.ruraledu.org

ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED

Rural Roots

Nonprofit Organization

U.S. Postage

PAID

Harrisonburg, VA 22801

Permit No. 75

Publicationsof Note14 Points: SuccessfullyInvolving Youth in DecisionMaking

From Youth on Board

It just makes sense. Young peopleshould be involved in the decisions thataffect their lives. They benefit.

Organizations benefit. And so does thecommunity. This comprehensive guide toyouth involvement is a logical startingpoint for preparing young people to takeownership of their communities. It in-cludes guidelines, worksheets, tips, a re-source directory and stories from the street(all designed to help young people and

adults work together to improve theircommunities.) The book is $25. Go towww.youthonboard.org or call (617) 623-9900, ext. 1242 for ordering information.Also check out their follow-up book,Youth on Board: Why and How to InvolveYouth in Organizational Decision-Making.

Writing to Make a Difference:Classroom Projects forCommunity Change

Edited by Chris Benson and Scott Chris-tian with Walter H. Gooch and DixieGoswami

With chapters written by teachers,this book describes how to get studentsinvolved in action research and in writ-ing about issues that are important tothem and their communities. Theprojects show teachers how to engagetheir students while also teaching basicskills that appear in educational stan-

dards and assessment frameworks. Or-der it through Columbia’s Teachers Col-lege Press at http://store.tcpress.com/0807741868.shtml. The book is $21.95in paperback.

Educator’s Guide to ProgramDevelopment in NaturalResources: Education as aCommunity Resource

By Jon Yoder and Neal Maine

This manual assists educators in de-veloping natural resources programs thatuse ecosystem-based management prin-ciples and concepts to teach ecologicalsustainability, and are delivered througha community-based approach to educa-tion. This report is available free throughthe Northwest Center for SustainableResources. To order, contact LaurenElliano at (503) 399-5270 or by e-mailat elll@chemeketa.edu.

If you would like your publication to be con-sidered for Publications of Note, please sendthe book, along with ordering information,to: Editor, Rural Trust, 1825 K Street, NW,Suite 703, Washington, DC 20006.