John White, the U.S. Department of Education's deputy assistant secretary for rural outreach, will visit the Blue Valley School District's Center for Advanced Professional Studies (CAPS) on Wednesday at Noon CT in Overland Park, Kan., and address the Rural States Network annual meeting on Thursday at 8:45 a.m. CT in Kansas City, Mo.

CAPS is a nationally recognized program for high school juniors and seniors to take college-level coursework in bioscience, engineering, business, technology and human services. White will meet with the CAPS director, Donna Deeds, to learn about her efforts to replicate the CAPS program in rural areas.

In his remarks on Thursday at the annual meeting of the Rural States Network, White will discuss the Obama Administration's efforts to support education in rural areas. He will be joined by Elizabeth Grant, Special Assistant in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, who will update the rural state education chiefs on the Department's efforts to increase flexibility within the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The Rural States Network is a subgroup of the Council of Chief State School Officers.