Biddle quoted in Charleston Gazette-Mail article on improving rural education
Catharine Biddle, an assistant professor of educational leadership at the University of Maine, was quoted in the Charleston Gazette-Mail article, “Can putting the least-experienced teachers in the highest-risk schools ever result in success?” The story is part of a reporting project looking at the six-year anniversary of a public-private initiative to revive the schools and economy in McDowell County, West Virginia. Teachers in remote rural settings are routinely called on to do things not taught in teacher preparation programs, according to Biddle, who specializes in the study of rural schools and communities. “They’re also frontline social service providers; trying to meet students’ needs with very little training and very few resources,” Biddle said.