2019 EIU Rural School Forum
Forum Review
EIU hosted the 3rd Annual Rural School Forum on Thursday, June 13. The Forum brought together school leaders, EIU faculty and staff, and community stakeholders. Dr. Josh Norman (EIU VP for Enrollment Management) kicked off the forum with a welcome and brief overview of recruitment efforts. We also heard from Dr. David Ardrey about the Association of Illinois Rural and Small Schools, Alan Mather and Tim McCollum from the Golden Apple Foundation, and Cris Edwards (Principal at Richland County Middle School) who share IPA progress on the teacher shortage. Amanda Lessley from the Southeastern Illinois Community Foundation discussed options for generating local funding to support future teachers who would return to the community.
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Tim McCollum shares information on the EIU Golden Apple Scholars program. |
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Amanda Lessley of the Southeastern Illinois Community Foundation shared the role of community foundations to support future teachers. |
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| Cris Edwards (Richland County Elementary) shared the work of the Illinois Principals Association. |
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The highlight of the Forum was a panel discussion by EIU Rural Teacher Corps candidates on why they wanted to be teachers, and then barriers and supports for becoming a teacher. |
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Gary Funk from the Rural School Collaborative facilitated the Rural Teacher Corps Panel at the Forum (Gary Funk and members of the EIU Rural Teacher Corps) |
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The morning was completed by Dr David Skocy from Mattoon sharing his strategic planning for recruiting and retaining teachers. One of the key features of his session was organizing data about teachers in order to plan hiring five years in advance. A second point was to always be recruiting and using the web and social media. |
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The afternoon as completed in breakout groups to discuss how we can work to recruit more people who want to be teachers and provide the support necessary to keep them in our rural communities. |
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Breakout session on recruiting people to be teachers. |
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Rural School Opportunities from the Forum There are more opportunities that are in development. Please let us know which ones are the most important to you by completing this form. We will focus on those activities that have the most interest. (Submit Your Priorities) |
