BATON ROUGE - Louisiana's education department says teachers in rural communities have too little access to training programs that help prepare them for their work in the classroom.

  

The department released a new report outlining the disparities.

  

The report says 13 percent of classes are taught by uncertified or out-of-field teachers in urban and suburban school districts, while that number grows to 21 percent in rural districts.

  

Also, only 9 percent of rural school districts hosted aspiring teachers through yearlong residencies under the oversight of long-time educators in the last school year. That's compared to 39 percent in urban and suburban districts.

  

The education department says it will look at possible pilot programs to bolster training programs for teachers in rural communities.

  

About 132,000 Louisiana students attend public schools in rural districts.