" For Themselves and For Their Children"

Abstract

Education - and rural education - was on LBJ’s mind when he declared “War on Poverty” from the front porch of a family cabin in Inez, Kentucky. In 2021, Lyndon Johnson would find his Great Society did not fully come to fruition. In this work, I explore how responsive federal, state, and local bodies of government are to the needs of underresourced schools in Eastern Kentucky’s rural, economically distressed coal counties. National Assessment of Educational Progress (NEAP) scores demonstrate that Eastern Kentucky’s students are behind from the starting-line, thanks to economic, health, and developmental disparities. However, some school districts feature rates of improvement between fourth and eighth grade that exceed the national average, while others stay behind. This project’s central finding is that local investment is the variable most correlated with school improvement. Today, Appalachia remains a place where “working people, and those who wish there was work...battle for dignity and security, for themselves and for their children.” That battle for dignity and security, for better schools and better quality of life, has gone on for decades and continues today.