C.O.R.A.S Partners with Ohio University Zanesville to end poverty in schools

ZANESVILLE, Ohio- A local university has partnered with a educational organization to unveil a major research initiative.

Monday, Ohio University Zanesville and the Coalition of Rural and Appalachian Schools (C.O.R.A.S)  collaborated to implement a plan to help end poverty in schools in rural areas.

“We want to work with the k-12 educators that are doing amazing things, that are taking all of those really complicated factors and doing best practices so that they can ensure that their students are in fact living to their fullest potential. We want to take those, we want to do research and gather the data. Then we want to present those to policy makers at the state level who decide on education policy,” said Janetta King, Ohio University Board of Trustees.

Lindy Douglas, Superintendent of Alexander Local Schools said that her plea to the government is that students everywhere deserve access to a quality education.

“I think the governor and the legislature need to understand the E.S.S.A waiver, Every Student Succeed Act. We can do it, we’ve done it. We’ve gotten the school of momentum award, and the district of momentum award also. We can do it but it takes these intervention programs and these support services to meet the basic needs of a child so that we can educate them to get where they need to be,” said Superintendent Douglas.

With the partnership of Ohio University and C.O.R.A.S, they hope implementing this research initiative will help many students in Rural and Appalachian areas that are facing barriers such as poverty and the Opioid epidemic.