Efforts to Build Rural Leadership Gain Steam

Albert Bryant, an education major at Drury University, sits in the mostly-empty downtown of Everton, Mo., where he grew up. Mr. Bryant, who is part of the Ozarks Teacher Corps program, plans to return to a rural school like the one he attended in Everton.

—Mark Schiefelbein for Education Week

By Mary Schulken

Faced with state and federal mandates to reverse the course of failing rural schools—in some cases, by replacing teachers and principals—school districts and researchers say just finding bodies for empty spots is no longer enough.

Increasingly, money and attention are turning toward programs that hand-pick promising rural teaching candidates and school leaders and equip them to thrive in a geographically isolated environment where resources are limited, poverty can be high, and academic achievement often lags.

“It’s difficult when you have low-performing schools for folks to want to go there unless you are confident you have the skills to turn them around,” said Bonnie C. Fusarelli, an associate professor of educational leadership and policy studies at North Carolina State...