Tailoring integrated student supports to rural contexts 

On its surface, the familiar educational mantra “Meet students where they are” seems simple enough. But if you poke at it just a little, its complexities quickly become apparent. 

For instance, how (and where) do teachers meet a middle school student who arrives to class not just hungry, having found nothing to eat at home, but angry and stressed because Mom and Dad didn’t come home until after midnight, and he had to take care of his younger sister and brother? What about students who come to school on winter mornings wearing flip-flops, or whose families have been living out of a car, or who have no clean clothes to replace the T-shirt and jeans they’ve been sporting all week?