The History of Vermont Rural Education

There was a predecessor organization to VREC called the Vermont Rural Partnership. VRP was established in 1996 and initially received a large grant from the Annenburg Rural Challenge.Comprised of 7 schools (Peacham, Barnet, Peoples Academy, Millers Run, Holland, Cabot and  Walden) within 3 years VRP grew to 18 Vermont schools primarily located in the NEK and central Vermont.

A governance structure was formed which included students, teachers, principals and community representatives (one or more from each school) who met regularly and made decisions for the organization. VRP was over time able to bring significant resources to the school members from National Service Learning grants and Federal  US  History grants to private foundations beyond the Annenburg Rural Challenge such as the Henderson Foundation and the Bay and Paul Foundation.

In 1997 a Student Alliance was formed within VRP whose work developed over time and included youth meetings across VRP schools, youth organized events on a regional and state level and national youth conference attendance. Focused on  the development of  youth leadership skills this work became significant over time and in 2008 spun off into a separate non profit Up for Learning.

VRP work focused on 4 areas for whole school growth

• The development of Place based Learning

• Student Empowerment

• Assessment and Documentation - Telling the stories of rural schools

• School Community Partnerships

From the early days of VRP in the late 1990’s Mini Grants became a way for VRP to foster innovation in schools around Place based Learning and seed projects led by youth.

While VRP benefited from countless leaders in its journey significant contributors include:

• Joeph Kiefer who led the development of Place based Learning via Foodworks and its publications and who fostered innovative programs such as Cultural Literacy, school gardening , nature trails and community bread ovens in VRP schools.

• Cara Cookson who started as an 8th grader at Cabot School and  led the development of youth leadership work in her school, community and throughout VRP. Cara worked closely with Helen Beattie to develop youth empowerment activities network wide.

• Teachers  - Nene Riley, Lynn Talamini, Tracy Surridge, Cindy Mosedale, Peter Stratman and countless others used Place Based Learning in their classrooms and became leaders throughout the VRP network.

• Margaret MacLean, the Peacham School Principal was involved with VRP from the beginning and helped nurture its growth and development over time.