Higher Ed Institutions, Rural School Advocates Will Announce New Initiatives To Improve Missouri's Rural Schools

4/3/2002

From: Patrick Muenks of Linn State Technical College, 573-897-5111 or Kathy Westra of Rural School and Community Trust, 202-955-7177

News Advisory:

WHO: -- Dr. Rachel Tompkins, president, Rural School and Community Trust -- Dr. Donald Claycomb, president, Linn State Technical College -- Dr. Marianne Inman, president, Central Methodist College -- Marilyn Reznick, vice president, AT&T Foundation

WHAT: A news briefing to announce the creation of rural Education Renewal Zones in Missouri, and the inauguration of a new degree option to help Missouri's rural schools meet distance-learning and technology staffing needs.

WHEN: Thursday, April 4, 2002 11 a.m.

WHERE: Information Technology Center (ITC) Rotunda Linn State Technical College Linn, Mo. (one mile east of Highway 50, 25 mi. east of Jefferson City)

Background: Education Renewal Zones (ERZs) are an effort to reinvent teacher education in Missouri's rural schools through the effective use of technology. Collaborators on the initiative include the Rural School and Community Trust (a national nonprofit advocacy group), Northwest Missouri State University, Central Methodist College, Southeast Missouri State University, Linn State Technical College, SuccessLink, the Missouri Distance Learning Association, GreaterNET, the Center for Occupational Research and Development, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and the Coordinating Board for Higher Education. Support for the initiative has come from the AT&T Foundation, Hearst Foundation, and State Farm. The new academic program to be announced on April 4 is the first of its kind in the nation. It is designed to prepare its graduates to serve as school technology coordinators in Missouri's rural districts.