Institute for Rural Education and Development

The mission of our research is to create a comprehensive, holistic model of STEM education and healthy development for rural students from early childhood to adolescence. 

Our research team focuses on the developmental health and STEM education exposure of rural students from early childhood through early adolescence, preschool through high school and beyond. School and career readiness is rooted in developmental milestones like motor function, social and emotional behavior and computational and literacy skills. Likewise, students' pursuit of STEM careers begins with awareness of and exposure to those fields from an early age onward.

By combining developmental skill building with STEM career opportunities in the classroom, we seek to create and measure new methodologies for rural schools as a collaborative team. We then test and iterate our findings in real classrooms alongside the real educators who teach in them.