The Rural Education Program helps ensure that rural students attending small schools have access to quality education to achieve community-valued outcomes.

The work of the Rural Education Program centers on the intersection between school renewal and rural community development. The region’s schools—including small, rural schools—are engaged in reform and improvement efforts to benefit the nature and effectiveness of teaching and learning, particularly with regard to challenging learning experiences and standards for all students. A variety of initiatives, including school-to-work transition programs, experiential education, service learning, and place-based education, have encouraged greater use of community resources and situations as meaningful learning opportunities for students.

The School-Community Renewal Project targets three goals: (1) establishing education and community development resources for building local capacity; (2) examining how these capacity-building resources can be delivered; and (3) examining how capable community revitalization teams can interact with one another to provide mutual support within and across communities.

The Rural Learn and Serve Network provides technical assistance for rural schools and communities in establishing service-learning partnerships with organizations serving rural communities in the Northwest.

The leadership resources developed for charter schools also provide practical information for rural schools. For example, community relations for both rural and charter schools includes dealing with controversy, juggling interest groups, communicating parent expectations, and marketing the school—valuable information for all schools.