Rangely is one of Colorado鈥檚 most isolated school districts. It鈥檚 90 miles from the nearest big city, and the closest major grocery store is an hour鈥檚 drive away, across the border in Vernal, Utah. (Bring a few coolers.)
There鈥檚 a stark beauty to the high desert surrounding Rangely, which is also home to some of the best fishing, hunting, and outdoor sporting in the state. But there鈥檚 no doubt that the town of about 2,300 is also small and remote.
鈥淲e did lose our stoplight,鈥� joked Jamie Trusa, the physical education teacher at Parkview Elementary, the district鈥檚 lone elementary school. 鈥淎re we still considered a town?鈥�
It鈥檚 hard to keep teachers, too: Every year, about 15 percent to 20 percent leave, Superintendent Matt Scoggins estimates.
Three hundred miles away on the state鈥檚 eastern plains sits the town of Otis, which, though smaller, with about 500 people, does have a stoplight. But it, too, struggles with keeping its two schools鈥� classes all covered.
The teacher-hiring and -retention plight is a real one for the United States鈥� rural, remote districts, but the special nature of the staffing challenges they face can get lost in policy discussions, which often lump together very different communities under the banner of 鈥渞ural.鈥�
An Education Week Research Center analysis of the most recent federal data indicates that about 18 percent of school districts nationwide are considered remote and rural鈥攎eaning they are at least 25 miles away from a city of at least 50,000 people and 10 miles from a town of at least 2,500 people. These districts educate about 2 percent of all U.S. students.
Where Are the Nation鈥檚 Most Remote School Districts?
Find the school systems that meet the U.S. Census Bureau鈥檚 definition of remote and rural on this interactive map.
Click to see rural and remote districts.
Source: Education Week Research Center Analysis of Common Core Data, 2017
Visualization and Analysis: Alex Harwin
Colorado has an unusually high proportion of rural, remote districts, even though other states educate more students overall in such places. Taken together, though, the data points suggest that Colorado鈥檚 far-flung districts are unusually small and isolated, compared with those in other states.
What that means is when towns like Rangely or Otis lose a teacher, they aren鈥檛 left with just an instructional gap. They鈥檙e losing a coach, a neighbor, and a member of a small, close-knit family, with reverberations that extend far beyond the school building.
鈥淚t really can change kids鈥� trajectories; sometimes, you can鈥檛 find someone who will continue to challenge students,鈥� said Kendra Anderson, the superintendent in Otis. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a panic when someone says they鈥檙e resigning.鈥�
Finding Talent
Both Rangely and Otis are far from the Front Range, which is what Coloradans call the thread of cities and towns along I-25, the state鈥檚 major north-south highway. Housing costs are significantly cheaper, but sundries and food often aren鈥檛, given the captive market.
The teaching job itself often demands more, too.
鈥淥ne of the most frustrating parts of being a teacher in rural schools is you鈥檙e expected to do so much more,鈥� said Mollie Dreitz, an agricultural education teacher new to Otis. 鈥淢y plate is 100 percent full鈥攖here is literally almost a meeting or somewhere you have to be every evening, and it鈥檚 exhausting.鈥�
Special education teachers in remote communities, in particular, often have crushing caseloads. And across the board, salaries are typically lower鈥攁bout $35,000 on average in Otis and $44,000 in Rangely, compared with $51,000 in Denver, according to state data.
In Otis, an influx of people from the Front Range seeking cheaper housing is elevating poverty levels in schools, and remote rural schools also have higher poverty levels in general.
All that makes finding top talent tough, especially considering that most of the state鈥檚 teacher-preparation programs are located in urban areas.
鈥淭here鈥檚 this line of 30 or 50 students there,鈥� said Scoggins, recalling the last college job fair he attended in Grand Junction, Colo., 鈥渁nd I felt like a used-car salesman trying to talk to them about Rangely. They don鈥檛 even know where it is, let alone have an interest in working here.鈥�
Over the years, he鈥檚 filled his classrooms with teachers recruited from out of state via online advertising on sites like Teachers-Teachers.com.
Anderson, who grew up on the eastern plains herself, said she鈥檚 had some success with alternative-certification programs that help adults with bachelor鈥檚 degrees鈥攕ometimes farmers or bankers鈥攂ecome teachers, though she worries they鈥檙e not a permanent solution.
鈥淚t might not be their calling or passion, but they鈥檙e trying to help out their local district,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if that鈥檚 been the most effective approach.鈥�
Better yet is the deep network of connections she鈥檚 developed after having lived on the plains for decades, and that she鈥檚 always expanding.
Dreitz, the new agriculture education teacher, was actually once her kindergarten pupil. And Anderson found her new high school English teacher, Caitlin Evans, after meeting her mom at a conference.
No connection, it seems, goes unexplored.
Standing Out
When Emma Curtis graduated from her agricultural education program in 2017, there were 27 openings for teachers in Colorado districts. In effect, she had her choice of places and knew she鈥檇 likely end up leaving Fort Collins, Colo., to teach in a small community.
So if you鈥檙e a district, how do you stand out from the pack to a would-be teacher like Curtis?
Scoggins is confident that Rangely is an attractive place to teach鈥攊f he can get applicants to come visit. And that was the case for Curtis.
The high school had the most up-to-date shop equipment she鈥檇 ever seen and a huge facility. Her predecessor on the job鈥攏ow her principal, Crandal Mergelman鈥攁cted as an interpreter of sorts, explaining the community and the realities of living in a small place, showing her the local technical college, and concluded by inviting her to dinner to meet his family.
Curtis didn鈥檛 hesitate: She accepted the job.
鈥淩eally, honestly, truly, I would say it鈥檚 because of him and the hospitality of the teaching staff here,鈥� she said. 鈥淢y personality and who I am really fit with them, and I think that鈥檚 what it鈥檚 about. If you don鈥檛 get along with your colleagues, work鈥檚 not fun.鈥�
Teachers say one age-old factor can also make a difference for applicants: salary. Rangely, under Scoggins鈥� leadership, has made strides boosting starting teacher salaries; its average now puts it in the top half of the state鈥檚 178 districts.
But districts鈥� ability to pay a premium wage is often limited by circumstance. Otis is surrounded by farmland rather than big industries, which means that it鈥檚 harder to pass bonds or tax increases to raise funding for salaries.
Retaining Talent
Getting teachers in is only half the story in remote, rural districts, of course; keeping them is the other.
All the teachers interviewed said they trusted and valued their administrators and felt that they had a fair amount of autonomy鈥攆actors that kept them on the job.
Evans, Otis鈥� new high school English/language arts teacher, formerly taught at the undergraduate level and now teaches dual-enrollment classes. She said she鈥檚 had a lot of freedom to update the curriculum to match the higher expectations of college coursework.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e been really open to my ideas鈥攖hey let me order new textbooks at the beginning of the year that were more aligned with the college-preparatory route,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e pretty open in terms of what I want to include in the curriculum.鈥�
Trusa, the physical education teacher, came to Rangely all the way from Pennsylvania. He, too, cited administration as the most important factor for why he鈥檚 stayed for three years.
鈥淭hese guys are on our side,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey listen to any kind of concern we have. They are the true definition of administrators.鈥�
Because schools in such places are often the social center of the community, too, and a lifeline for teachers without family nearby, feeling welcomed is especially important. Dreitz, now in her fourth year of teaching overall, said she left her first job at a small district because she persistently felt like she was being treated as an outsider.
鈥淎 lot of times in small towns you don鈥檛 fit if you鈥檙e not from that area, if that makes sense,鈥� she said. It鈥檚 different in Otis, close to her hometown of Akron, Colo., and where the administration is more supportive.
Maintaining top relationships with teachers, the leaders say, not only can be the deciding factor in whether an individual teacher stays or goes but can also help prevent other districts from trying to poach talent鈥攁 real concern in such a competitive hiring environment.
鈥淚 can think right off the top of my head of three districts I can easily steal teachers from that had difficulties at the school board level, which resulted in turnover in the administration and insecurities for the teaching staff,鈥� Anderson said.
Other perks do help, of course. Although the evidence is limited on how it affects student achievement, the teachers generally say they like their districts鈥� four-day work weeks, which give them time to explore Colorado and visit friends in the cities.
And in Rangely, Trusa just received a $3,000 bonus offered to teachers who complete three years with the district. Though not the predominant factor in staying, it was definitely a consideration, he said.
The overall lesson of these two Colorado districts: There is no single recruitment or retention strategy that will work; instead, approaches need to be tailored to individual applicants.
Best Practices?
But Colorado officials do think they can build a better working set of best practices. In 2016, the state helped create the Colorado Center for Rural Education at the University of Northern Colorado, in Greeley, to suss them out.
Among other measures, the center is experimenting with placing student-teachers in rural districts and offering them a stipend, so they have more opportunities to learn about those communities and consider teaching in them. It鈥檚 also tried practical strategies, bringing freshly minted teachers on buses to visit some of the farther-out districts.
The strategies are welcomed by the districts, although superintendents also say their own experiences often show how truly complex it can be to judge their impact. A prime example may be 鈥済row your own鈥� programs, which aim to get high school students interested in a teaching career, so that one day they鈥檒l return years later to teach in the schools that nurtured them.
Anderson is a fan of the idea but also recognizes its limitations. Sometimes it鈥檚 better, she thinks, for a new teacher to find his or her footing in a larger, better-resourced district with more opportunities for professional development before coming to Otis, where the workload can be high and the resources fewer.
As for the teachers interviewed for this story, none can say definitively if they鈥檙e going to stay in Otis or Rangely. But for now, they can鈥檛 imagine leaving.
Though still in her first year of teaching, Curtis is, as they say, 鈥渟ettling in.鈥� She got to be one of the judges in the recreation center鈥檚 baby Christmas dress-up contest. (Way better than having a movie theater.)
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard being away from Fort Collins and my friends,鈥� she said, 鈥渂ut the longer I stay here and the relationships I build鈥擨 see myself staying for a while.鈥�
