Education Strategy Group Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed

articles/20-3.pdf Rural children and youth represent a substantial minor-ity of U.S. students, yet the unique educational needs of rural communities have been largely ignored by the U.S. Department of Education (USDE). This statement is hardly a revelation to educators, experts, and advocates who have grown weary of seeing rural schools being treated as the poor country cousins of the U.S. education system. Recent efforts by the USDE have done little to change that perspective. Indeed, they point to a troubling trend of using resources allocated for rural education issues to fund generic programs that are just as applicable to suburban and urban contexts as they are to rural places. The most recent example of the USDE’s indifference to the needs of rural schools and communities is the 200