ranks 45th in population density. With only 6.3 people per square mile, that means this state has its fair share of rural students.

When the state started its Rural Revitalization Initiative, officials required rural communities to create teams to talk about how economic activity and entrepreneurship would be introduced and expanded, the role schools and the community would play, and how those efforts would be sustained. That required the involvement of school superintendents and mayors.

These teams came up with school- and community-based projects. One school bred bees, made honey and lip balm from the wax, and sold it to the community. Another created an electronic embroidery business, while others developed teen centers, wrote and published bilingual cookbooks, and built and operated a catfish farm.

"It was amazing to sit backand watch what these people did," said Jim Holloway, New Mexico's retired assistant secretary of education for rural programs.

Holloway helped grow the program to 28 of the state's 45 rural districts, and the state planned to expand to all of its rural districts. The initiative built a reputation for success, and Kappan Magazine featured a seven-page spread this spring on it. (The educational policy magazine requires a subscription to view the article.)

The New Mexico schools involved in the state's Rural Revitalization Initiative needed money for their efforts, and the state provided it. Schools used the funds to buy resources such as embroidery machines and beehives, and the money covered training costs for teachers to learn how to offer these entrepreneurial programs.

The state gave the program $375,000 in its