Rural Education

Education

4-day school week in Missouri faces scrutiny from legislature and state education board

Annelise Hanshaw

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education found little to no learning loss after switch to four-day school week.

Two electric school buses sit outside the Ralls County School District bus barn on Monday, Nov. 20, 2023, in Center, Mo.

Education

Missouri’s rural teachers have the second-worst pay in the country

Kate Grumke

A new report found Missouri’s rural teachers are paid better only than those in Arkansas.

Education

Missouri S&T is taking science education on the road in the STEM Mobile

Jonathan Ahl

The school purchased a vehicle it calls the STEM Mobile that will take portable experiments and other hands-on science opportunities to younger students.

With schools closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, students have had to adapt to trying to keep up with lessons remotely, from living rooms, kitchen tables and bedrooms.

Education

Rural Missouri school districts will be scanning their servers for signs of planned violence

Jonathan Ahl

A $2 million grant will provide software for 26 rural school districts around the state to use software to look for signs of trouble to help prevent school violence.

Education

Another symptom of the teacher shortage: 1 in 4 Missouri school districts now have a 4-day week

Kate Grumke

A professor who studies rural schools in Missouri says the teacher shortage is now a crisis, and condensed schedules reflect that.

Students board Clark Chickering's bus on Nov. 19, 2021. Chickering is a bus driver for the Hallsville and Harrisburg schools. Hallsville School Board voted Feb. 16 to follow a four-day school week for the 2022-2023 school year. Harrisburg schools also operate on a four-day week through the school year.

Education

Four day school week? In rural Missouri, more districts see it as a way to recruit teachers

DC Benincasa

There are 119 districts around the state that have transitioned to a four-day week since 2010. At least 18 more districts are planning to make the transition next year, adding up to 25% of all districts in Missouri.

School nurses from St. Charles Community Unit School District 303 deliver food and cleaning supplies to a homeless shelter in St. Charles, Ill. Many school nurses are spending their time volunteering while schools remain closed in Illinois.

Illinois School Nurses Fear For Their Students' Safety During COVID-19 Pandemic

Lee Gaines

Lisa Marlow is worried about her students. Marlow is a school nurse and educator with the Murphysboro Community Unit School District 186. The district...