Section 5005 Report on Rural Education -- Final Report (PDF)

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U.S. Department of Education

Section 5005 Report on Rural Education Final Report

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Section 5005 Report on Rural Education Final Report

September 2018

U.S. Department of Education Office of Communications and Outreach Office of Rural and Community Engagement

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U.S. Department of Education Betsy DeVos Secretary Office of Communications and Outreach Nathan Bailey Delegated to Perform Duties of the Assistant Secretary Office of Rural and Community Engagement Michael Chamberlain Special Assistant for Rural Outreach September 2018 This report is in the public domain. Authorization to reproduce it in whole or in part is granted. While permission to reprint this publication is not necessary, the citation should be U.S. Department of Education, Office of Communications and Outreach, Section 5005 Report on Rural Education: Final Report, Washington, D.C., 2018. This report is available on the Department's website at To obtain a printed copy of this report, email us at rural@ or contact the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Rural and Community Engagement, LBJ Education Building, 400 Maryland Ave. SW, Washington, DC 20202. Availability of Alternate Formats Requests for documents in alternate formats such as Braille, large print or compact disc should be submitted to the Alternate Format Center by calling 202-260-0852 or by contacting the 504 coordinator via email at om_eeos@ . Notice to Limited English Proficient Persons If you have difficulty understanding English you may request language assistance services for Department information that is available to the public. These language assistance services are available free of charge. If you need more information about interpretation or translation services, please call 1-800-USA-LEARN (1-800-872-5327) (TTY: 1-800-8778339), or email us at Ed.Language.Assistance@. Or write to U.S. Department of Education, Information Resource Center, LBJ Education Building, 400 Maryland Ave. SW, Washington, DC 20202. Content Contact Michael Chamberlain, 202-453-7527, michael.chamberlain@

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Contents

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 The Department's Self-Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 The Department's Efforts to Solicit and Incorporate Input From and Address the Unique Needs of Rural Local Educational Agencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Actions the Department Can Take to Increase Rural Stakeholder Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Appendices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Appendix A ? Section 5005 of the Every Student Succeeds Act, P.L. 114-95 (enacted December 10, 2015) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Appendix B ? Sample of Listening Sessions Conducted Before the Release of the Preliminary Report . . . . . . . . 24 Appendix C ? Department Offices and Programs of Relevance to Rural Schools and Rural Local Educational Agencies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

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Photo courtesy of Roscoe Collegiate Independent School District

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Introduction

On Dec. 10, 2015, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) (P.L. 114-95) became law. ESSA primarily reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), but includes other provisions as well. Among these, Section 5005 requires the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) to "review the organization, structure, and process and procedures of the Department of Education for administering its programs and developing policy and regulations, in order to--

(A) assess the methods and manner through which, and the extent to which, the Department of Education takes into account, considers input from, and addresses the unique needs and characteristics of rural schools and rural local educational agencies; and

(B) determine actions that the Department of Education can take to meaningfully increase the consideration and participation of rural schools and rural local educational agencies in the development and execution of the processes, procedures, policies, and regulations of the Department of Education."

Section 5005 also requires the Department to publish a preliminary report containing the information described above and provide Congress and the public with 60 days to comment on the proposed actions. Thereafter, the Department must issue a final report to the Department's authorizing committees in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and carry out each action described in the final report or explain to the authorizing committees the reason for not carrying out any action described in the final report. (See Appendix A for the full text of Section 5005.) This report constitutes the final report described above. The Department issued the preliminary report, published a Federal Register Request for Information for the preliminary report on Dec. 20, 2017, and accepted public comment through Feb. 20, 2018. The Department received 36 comments on the preliminary report, which it reviewed and used to inform the actions contained in this final report, which are included in the section titled "Actions the Department Can Take to Increase Rural Stakeholder Input," beginning on page 13.

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The Department's Self-Assessment

The Department's Organization, Structure, Processes, and Procedures

The U.S. Department of Education is a cabinet-level federal agency with no subagencies. The Department consists of 22 principal operating components (POCs) with five White House initiatives housed within it. Of these POCs, the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), the Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA), and the Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII) work almost exclusively in preschool, elementary, and secondary education. The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services houses the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA), which primarily assists states in providing vocational rehabilitation and other services to maximize employment for individuals with disabilities; and the Office of Special Education Programs, which assists states in providing early intervention services and special education and related services to children with disabilities from birth through age 21.The Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education administers programs, including programs serving local educational agencies (LEAs), that are related to adult education and literacy, career and technical education, and community colleges. While the Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE) is primarily concerned with postsecondary institutions, it also administers training programs for PK?12 teachers and programs designed to increase the number of lowincome students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education. Several POCs serve in management, coordination, support, research, and investigation functions, including the Office of the Secretary, the Office of the Deputy Secretary (ODS), the Office of the General Counsel, the Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs, the Office of Communications and Outreach (OCO), the Office of the Chief Information Officer, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, the Office of Educational Technology (OET), the Office of the Under Secretary, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the Office of the Inspector General, the Office of Management, the Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development, and the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). Federal Student Aid administers the federal student financial assistance programs. The Department also has cross-POC teams and groups, including a group that advances the use of evidence-based interventions in competitive grant programs and helps coordinate the planning of program evaluations, a team that is responsible for agency-wide data governance and data management, and a working group on early learning.

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