Abstract

We recently attended a meeting of reading teachers in a rural school district in northwestern Pennsylvania. The superintendent convened the meeting in order to address his concern with community sustainability. The superintendent knew that educators in the district, like many throughout the state, had changed their teaching practices as a result of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA), the state's standardized test. He was concerned about the ways in which shifting pedagogical practices might compound the effects of other challenging issues faced by the area. For example, the district experiences high levels of poverty: approximately 37% of the children receive free and reduced price lunches, and many more qualify but do not apply. Countless families throughout this district are "unofficially" poor, unable to make a living wage yet earning more than the $20,000 limit the federal government uses to define poverty for a family of four.

How to Cite:

Edmonson, J. & D'Urso, A., (2008) “Book Review: Rural Literacies”, Journal of Research in Rural Education 23(1), 1–3.

Rights: Copyright