Purdue center to support rural schools grappling with teachers shortage
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Purdue University this fall is launching what is believed to be Indiana’s first rural education center.
The Purdue Center for Rural Research, Education, and Outreach will be run by faculty in the College of Education and focus on core principles like professional development, teaching and outreach among schools in rural Indiana.
The center grew out of ideas sparked during the college’s first Rural Education Summit convened last year to study how rural schools have fared under a national teacher shortage.
Purdue Assistant Dean for Teacher Education Jennifer Barce and Kathryn Obenchain, who at the time was the university’s associate dean for Learning, Engagement and Global Initiatives, applied for a two-year, state Attract, Prepare, Retain Grant to pilot work on teacher pipelines.
Their 1-2-1 Grow-Your-Own Teacher Pipeline program provides four years of teacher preparation including a two-semester student teaching residency offered in partnership with five schools representing the Tippecanoe School Corp., Frontier School Corp., Clinton Central School Corp. and Whitley County School Corp.
In following education summits, Barce connected with Stephanie Oudghiri, a clinical assistant professor of Curriculum Studies, who will now serve at director of the Center for Rural Research, Education, and Outreach.
The center will focus on five main points, including continuing professional development; research; teaching; diversity, equity and inclusion; and outreach. Its leaders plan to establish an advisory board and apply for grant funding to help grow its reach and establish a journal promoting rural education scholarship.
The center’s founders envision it becoming a resource not just in Indiana, but for rural communities across the county.
“This center has a really great element of including communities and people in those communities,” Barce said in a news release. “How grateful and appreciative we are to the Provost for empowering us make this a world-class center.”