Presentation to the Rural Special Interest Group at the American Education Research Association Annual Meeting in Philadelphia in April of 2014

1. Opportunity, ambivalence, and the
purpose of schooling in Pennsylvania’s
Marcellus Shale Region
Dr. Kai A. Schafft
Associate Professor of Education and Director of
the Penn State Center for Rural Education and
Communities
Catharine Biddle
Ph.D. Candidate in Education Policy Studies

3. By June, 2013: Over 6,000 wells were drilled
Total projected: 60,000-100,000.

4. Schools as a lens for understanding
Marcellus development
• Schools are one of a handful of key
social institutions in rural areas
• Schools serve broad swathes of the
community giving educators and
youth a unique vantage point on
community change
• Educators are in a position to
influence youth educational,
occupational and residential
aspirations

5. Research questions
• How do educators and youth in affected areas
perceive social and economic change associated
with the development of the Marcellus Shale?
• For educators, how have those perceptions
shaped their curricular responses, particularly
with regard to STEM education?
• For youth, how are they evaluating their future
life, employment and educational prospects in
Pennsylvania’s new shale economy?

6. Data and methods
Spring/Summer of 2011
• 8 out of 10 school districts
in north-central
Pennsylvania
• 6 interviews
• 7 focus groups
• 41 participating educators
Winter/Spring of 2012-3
• 4 case study counties
– 2 in SW PA, 2 in NE of PA
• 7 educator focus groups
– 2 Intermediate Unit
– 4 district level
– 1 Career and Technical Center
• 5 youth focus groups
• 36 youth, 47 educators

7. Findings:
Educators and youth are weighing new economic
opportunity (jobs, growth, income) against…
1. Uncertainty about long-term effect on social and
environmental health
2. Concerns about distribution of economic benefits of
development in community
3. Concerns about the longevity, mobility and
desirability of gas industry jobs
4. Feelings of constraint around ability to adapt curricula
to address shale gas development

8. Uncertainty about long-term social and
environmental effects
Student 1: I don’t think the country life
will still be here if more people keep
coming and more drilling keeps
happening.
Student 2: It will turn it into a city.
Student 1: It’s definitely disappearing
(Greene county)
“They come up here with different
companies and they just do whatever
they want, drive as fast as they want,
however they want, wherever they
want. They have no respect for the
road or any of us out here.”
(Student, Bradford County)

9. Concerns about distribution of
economic opportunity
Not only did we lose
housing, we also took
what was limited there
and blew up the rental
cost on it, which was
really beneficial for a very
small group of people, but
for folks that are already
impoverished and needing
a place to stay? Gone.
(Educator, Greene County) Image courtesy of The Patriot News, November 10 2010

10. Desirability, Longevity, and Mobility of
Industry opportunities
I’m close to a couple of the guys. They go all over the
place. They’ll be here for a week, and then go down to
Louisiana for a month, and they come back up here…they
were telling me to stay out of the life because it’s terrible
because you never know where you’re going, and you
never know what you’re doing…
I’ve already had an offer when I turn 18. I can start out
making $3,000 a week from just as an assistant, and you
don’t even need a degree for that. I still want to go to
college and everything, but I might do that over the
summer. (Student, Bradford County)

11. Constraint of ability to adapt
curriculum
I'd like to see us and other school districts be
able to do a little bit more as far as some of the
kids because I think it would be beneficial for
them to gear them more towards that. But I feel
like we're kinda hamstrung because it doesn't
align with standards, and everything is so
standards-driven anymore in the public
educational system.
(Educator, Bradford County)

12. Ambivalence and Value conflict
New jobs
Desire for local
employment
Desire to give students
information about work
Educating in response to
local opportunity
destruction of environment and
community structure
risk that employment is not
actually local
risk of drop-out or diminished post-secondary
educational attainment
risk of educating for an industry
that may leave communities worse
off in the long-run
vs.
vs.
vs.
vs.

13. Purpose of STEM integration?
Purpose of Education?
What does it mean to be scientifically literate?
How are the possibilities of what education can be
limited by institutional blinders and the way we talk
about education?
How can schooling contribute to the agency of educators
and young people in being able to shape and define the
long-term well-being of the places in which they live?