Offering Schools and Districts More Flexibility
Due to geographic isolation in many of our rural communities, families have few educational alternatives if their children
are zoned for a failing school. Some rural communities are beginning to experiment with new ways to rethink the way that
schools and districts are structured to ensure that students have access to a high quality education.
State Policymakers
• Build in flexibility for school funding so schools and districts can easily provide instruction across districts through distance
learning and online technologies, ensuring students have access to high-quality educational resources in other areas
State Departments of Education
• Significantly increase the capacity of field service centers — satellite offices located throughout the state — so they can
meaningfully help schools and districts implement reforms rather than merely focus on compliance
• Encourage regional collaboration among school districts to build additional capacity and share resources and best practices
Forming a Pipeline of Effective Teachers
Although recruiting and retaining highly effective teachers is a challenge for all schools, it is particularly difficult in rural
areas. Geographic isolation, lower wages, and professional isolation make recruiting and retaining effective teachers in rural
areas more difficult.
State Policymakers
• Offer incentives for teac hers to teach in hard to staff schools and subjects, especially addressing these needs in rural areas
• Require the postsecondary community to enhance their teacher preparation programs to expose candidates to actual
teaching settings in rural communities as a dual strategy to improve teacher effectiveness and recruitment to rural schools
State Departments of Education
• Identify supply and demand patterns for teachers throughout the state
• Assist local school districts in their efforts to provide high quality professional development to teachers
• Bring together educators from different regions so they can share best practices and innovative strategies
• Require schools and districts to form postsecondary partnerships in the school improvement process to create a pipeline
of effective educators that are interested in teaching in rural areas
Schools and Districts
• Partner with nearby districts to recruit and retain highly effective teaching candidates who can serve as content
specialists in critical subjects like reading and math across district lines
• Work with high quality non-profits to fill teaching positions
• Call on effective teachers to lead professional learning communities at the school level to support new teachers in
implementing lessons learned from high quality professional development opportunities
Utilizing Technology to Meet Instructional Needs
Students in rural schools often lack access to rigorous, college preparatory coursework due to low enrollments and a lack
of qualified teachers. Similarly, students in earlier grades often lack access to teachers who are specialists in areas such as
early reading comprehension that are critical to students’ future academic success. Rural educators often work in isolation
and, in turn, have weak professional learning communities that reinforce ineffective practices. Technology has emerged in
recent years as a critical part of the solution of helping schools meet instructional needs.
State Departments of Education
• Conduct research to identify what virtual school efforts, both in and out of state, have been successful at improving
student achievement and share these lessons with districts that are in the process of starting their own virtual schools
• Assist local schools and districts in their efforts to provide high quality professional development for teachers so they
can effectively integrate online learning techniques into their lessons plans
• Align online resources with state standards so students in geographically isolated locations have access to materials that
enrich instruction and illustrate concepts quickly