| Course Number: | EDX 5710 S08 |
| Instructor: | Sean Robinson, Ed.D. |
| Location: | Online |
| Dates and Times: | Jul 06 - Aug 17, 2026. Video meeting on July 6 at 6 pm. The remainder of the course takes place in an asynchronous format. Office hours are provided upon request. |
| Credits: | 3 Graduate Credits |
| Tuition: | $1,195 |
Rural schools are more than educational institutions—they are the social, cultural, and economic centers of their communities. Rural Education: Education at the Edge of the Map introduces educators to the study of rural education through the lenses of place, policy, and practice. Students will explore how geography, demography, and local culture intersect to shape educational opportunity and identity across rural America.
Drawing from interdisciplinary readings in sociology, history, and educational leadership, the course examines themes such as teacher recruitment and retention, rural poverty, equity and access, place-based pedagogy, and the relationship between schools and community resilience. Through case studies, reflective writing, and applied research, students will develop a foundational understanding of rural schooling as both a unique challenge and a vital context for innovation in public education.
Audience: Public school educators and administrators with a Bachelor's Degree
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Sean Robinson. Ed.D., grew up with his grandparents in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, working at his family's Bed and Breakfast. From an early age, school wasn't his thing--he graduated 14th in a class of 33 and went to college part-time. From the beginning, Sean had an interest in the place around him--what had once been a Mill town and transformed into a tourist destination. After coming to education roundabout through social work, he's worked in rural communities on both sides of the Connecticut River, focusing on supporting the unique needs of rural learners. He holds a EdD in Education with an emphasis on rural education and community development.
Cost for required readings, if any, are not included in the course tuition.
I selected these resources to provide both a foundational and contemporary understanding of rural education. Together, they trace the historical construction of the “rural school problem” (e.g., the 1909 Country Life Commission report and Theobald’s Teaching the Commons) while also examining how rural education has been framed, critiqued, and reimagined across the past century (Biddle & Azano, 2016; Carr & Kefalas, 2009).
The collection also foregrounds key themes that shape rural schooling today: social capital and resilience (Aldrich, 2012), rural literacies and identity (Donehower et al., 2007; Parmar, 2021), teacher preparation and community relationships (Eppley, 2015), and economic sustainability and entrepreneurship (Hadley, 2025; Paperny, 2016). The Bloomsbury Handbook of Rural Education and Forgotten Place provide broad, critical syntheses that situate these conversations within modern scholarship.
Taken together, these texts offer a dual lens: they ground students in the classic and structural foundations of rural education while engaging current interpretations that challenge deficit narratives and position rural communities as sites of strength, agency, and innovation.
Aldrich, D. P. (2012). Building resilience: Social capital in post-disaster recovery. University of Chicago Press.
Azano, A. P., Biddle, C., & Eppley, K. (Eds.). (2021). The Bloomsbury handbook of rural education in the United States. Bloomsbury Academic.
Carr, P. J., & Kefalas, M. J. (2009). Hollowing out the middle: The rural brain drain and what it means for America. Beacon Press.
Donehower, K., Hogg, C., & Schell, E. E. (2007). Rural literacies. Southern Illinois University Press.
Eppley, K. (2015). “Hey, I saw your grandparents at Walmart”: Teacher education for rural schools and communities. The Teacher Educator, 50(1), 67–86. https://doi.org/10.1080/08878730.2014.975061
Hadley, G. R. L. (2025). The rural affinity advantage: Reimagining schools as entrepreneurship incubators. The Rural Educator, 46(1), 95-100.
Parmar, P. (2021). Who am I? Cultural identity in rural schools. In B. Reynolds (Ed.), Forgotten place: Critical studies in rural education. Peter Lang.
Paperny, T. (2016, October 11). How lobsters are keeping students in school. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/10/how-lobsters-are-keeping-students-in-school/503642
Reynolds, B. (Ed.). (2021). Forgotten place: Critical studies in rural education. Peter Lang.
Theobald, P. (1997). Teaching the commons: Place, pride, and the renewal of community. Westview Press.
United States Country Life Commission. (1909). Report of the Country Life Commission. Government Printing Office.
Biddle, C., & Azano, A. P. (2016). Constructing and reconstructing the “rural school problem”: A century of rural education research. Review of Research in Education, 40(1), 298–325. https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732X16667700
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