Several years ago I remember teaching an introductory course for would-be elementary school teachers and talking about the problems that No Child Left Behind created for rural states. Keeping certified teachers in the classroom became much harder in rural areas because of the law's requirements. One of the examples I was able to document from news sources was Wyoming...

The Casper Star Tribune is reporting that the University of Wyoming is going to take its elementary education degree and certification program statewide by offering it as a degree completion, distance learning program on the campuses of the state's seven community colleges beginning this fall.




According to the Star Tribune, "Students will take online and compressed video courses to complete the last two years of the university's education program, earning them an elementary education degree with an early childhood education endorsement."

Wyoming hopes to attract new teacher candidates into the program by making it more accessible.