# From the Bluegrass State to Boston: Bringing Home the Lessons of the Rural Summit June 21, 2024 ## From the Bluegrass State to Boston: Bringing Home the Lessons of the Rural Summit ![Paris Elementary in Kentucky](/sites/g/files/omnuum3601/files/styles/hwp_21_9__1920x825/public/ncrern/files/paris_elementary_01.png?itok=bicZ_vWe) (LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY)— From April 29th to May 1st, the National Center for Rural Education Research Networks (NCRERN) joined the Annual Rural Summit hosted by [Partners for Rural Impact](https://partnersrural.org/). The summit convened over 700 teachers, principals, superintendents, higher education leaders, legislators, and nonprofit leaders to share ideas and strategies to increase opportunity for rural youth on all points along the cradle-to-career pathway. NCRERN, a project based out of the Center for Education Policy Research (CEPR) at Harvard University, was founded on the central mission of increasing opportunity for rural students and communities through the power of actionable data and evidence. Since 2019, it has partnered with over 70 rural district partners across New York and Ohio, helping them use data through continuous improvement processes to align research-based solutions to their identified challenges. The visit to the summit also gave the NCRERN team the chance to learn about nearby Paris, Kentucky and Berea, Kentucky—locations close to home for one member of the team, research analyst Sativa Thompson, who was born and raised in Berea and started her career as a first-grade teacher in Paris. These site visits offered an opportunity to reflect on how evidence-based reforms take shape on the ground, as well as an invigorating reminder of the team’s mission to support their rural partners in targeting the most effective levers for student success. ## **Making Data Actionable** At the start of their visit to the Bluegrass State, members of the NCRERN team— Director Jennifer Ash, Senior Research Program Manager​ Kellie Solowski, and Research Analyst​ Sativa Thompson—led an interactive session at the summit entitled *Making Data Actionable: Generating & Using Rural Evidence for Continuous Improvement.* The session unpacked the continuous improvement process, through which rural districts review their data, diagnose root causes of challenges, select a promising solution to pilot and test, and then decide on next steps by comparing the impact of the intervention to the effort required to implement it with fidelity. ## **Putting the Process into Practice** Participants also had the chance to try the first step of the process: understanding the challenge. NCRERN’s work with partner districts has revealed the value of data diagnostics, reports that use descriptive analyses to help districts understand issues like absenteeism and postsecondary transitions in their context. Reviewing an example data diagnostic report, session participants discussed insights about students’ postsecondary readiness and intentions. The report reveals that many NCRERN students are completing key college-going milestones, but fewer eventually enroll—significantly lower rates than nationally. While the diagnostics have also shed light on possible ways that districts can better support students transitioning into non-college pathways, such as the workforce, apprenticeships, or the military, the sample report unlocks a key insight: 9th grade GPA strongly predicts persistence to the second year of college. With this data in hand, schools can better focus and direct their efforts—9th grade is an important moment to target along the student success pathway, where extra support could make a lasting difference for students. ## **Making Connections to the Kentucky Community** While in Kentucky, the NCRERN team took the opportunity to explore and learn from local communities. ![Paris Elementary](/sites/g/files/omnuum3601/files/styles/hwp_1_1__960x960_scale/public/ncrern/files/paris_elementary_01.png?itok=kRQsdlFd) First, the team toured Paris Elementary School in Paris, KY, a home rule-class city of six square miles and 10,171 residents. They met with Principal Leann Pickerill to learn about the school community, its priorities, and the broader Kentucky education landscape. Faced with the daily challenges of running a school, Principal Pickerill has turned resilience into a verb, reminding herself and her staff to “Resil, resil, resil.” Pickerill is focused on creating an open culture where teachers can prioritize their mental health and take care of themselves so they take the best care of their students, efforts Director Jenn Ash described as inspiring. ![NCRERN team at Paris Elementary](/sites/g/files/omnuum3601/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/ncrern/files/ncrern_team_at_paris.png?itok=cvm5Jr6N) (Left: Paris Elementary, [credit](https:/www.paris.kyschools.us/pariselementaryschool_home.aspx); Right: Pickerill, Thompson, Solowski, and Ash at Paris Elementary) For Thompson, the visit was a joyful reunion with her former students, now grown into fourth graders. For the team as a whole, the visit was also a concrete reminder that NCRERN’s work is just the tip of the iceberg. While the team supports its network of district partners in their efforts to embed data and evidence in their operations, site visits like the trip to Paris are an instructive and sometimes sobering reminder of what it looks like to do the hard work of implementing evidence-based reform on the ground, reinforcing the lessons learned from years of partnerships in New York and Ohio. One effort they witnessed in Paris focused on implementing the science of reading at the school level. Learning about the necessary materials and training—alongside the logistical challenges of organizing substitute coverage so that enough teachers can be trained—Ash reflected, “There’s just a lot of daylight between an idea and the implementation that is needed… These sorts of visits are a helpful reminder, but not a surprise, given what we know from our experience. It is always enlightening to learn more about the many supports schools need to do the things that research suggests they should do.” Surrounded by the cheerful painted walls of the elementary school and the excitement of the students, the team was reinvigorated to return to their day-to-day work with the dual reminder of who that work is for, and all the ways in which rural educators are already striving to incorporate evidence in their schools on behalf of students. ## **Close to Home: Approaching Rural Research through a Lens of Lived Experience** ![NCRERN Team fishing in Berea](/sites/g/files/omnuum3601/files/styles/hwp_1_1__960x960_scale/public/ncrern/files/ncrern_fishing.png?itok=Kh-Or791) From left: Ash, Solowski, and Thompson fishing.NCRERN research analyst Sativa Thompson also showed the team around her hometown: Berea, Kentucky, located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Eastern Kentucky, about 45 minutes south of Lexington. Berea, 9.4 square miles that 15,539 people call home, hosts several annual festivals highlighting the art, music, and food of Appalachia. With a tight-knit community and an abundance of outdoor activities, from fishing to exploring the woods, Thompson says she couldn’t have asked for a better place to grow up. Bringing her colleagues to Berea was the first collision of her two worlds in reality, but it was not the first time they had intersected in Thompson’s work. In fact, her perspective from growing up there had long shaped her work as a rural researcher. With a lens born out of lived experience, she has engaged in her role with a deep passion. She reflected, “These places remind me of home, their people remind me of my sisters, friends, and mentors, and their challenges are not unfamiliar.” “Going home is always a good reminder of why I got into this line of work in the first place,” said Thompson. “Rural places are resilient, with a rich culture and strong sense of community that helps them persist when faced with challenges. A rural community’s greatest asset is its people.” Thompson said she views research as a tool to help provide rural communities with a more structured sense of direction, ensuring that their time is invested effectively in using evidence-based practices to address areas of need grounded in data. **“Going home is always a good reminder of why I got into this line of work in the first place. Rural places are resilient, with a rich culture and strong sense of community … I see research as a tool to help provide a more structured sense of direction.”** Sativa Thompson NCRERN Research Analyst She encourages other researchers with similar backgrounds to use their passion to motivate them to continue asking the important questions: “Good research starts with a good question, and the best questions are formed when you understand and sincerely care about the context of the communities you’re working in and the people that reside there.” ## **Final Reflections** Reflecting on the opportunities afforded by the trip, Solowski said, “We were excited to learn from other organizations dedicated to advancing rural student opportunities as well as to share our work in this space. It was also an honor to have the opportunity to enrich our understanding of different educational landscapes in Kentucky through our visits to Lexington, Paris, and Berea. We look forward to bringing back what we learned to strengthen our work and better support NCRERN districts.” Thompson concurred. “Attending the Rural Summit made it clear to me just how many amazing people there are who have this lived experience that are seeking to make a positive impact on their community. I walked away having met some incredibly driven folks with an abundance of great ideas, and I look forward to seeing the results of all the outstanding work taking place in rural America.” [### Read more about NCRERN's continuous improvement process. ](https://prod-ncrern.drupalsites.harvard.edu/file_url/161) See also:- [ Impact Story ](/news-type/impact-story) - [ 2024 ](/news-year/2024) Share on:- [ Facebook ](#) - [ Twitter ](#) - [ Linkedin ](#)