Rural Innovation
Partnering with state leaders and rural champions to create and scale enabling policies and localized partnerships that expand postsecondary opportunities for rural students and accelerate economic development in the region.
Reimagining Rural Education
Despite their significance, rural communities face unique challenges that can limit student economic mobility.
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- 1 in 5 students in the US attend rural schools. That’s over 9.5 million students.
- Urban students nationally are 74% more likely to enroll in college than rural students.
- By 2027, 70% of jobs will require education or training beyond high school.
For over 10 years, we’ve partnered with rural leaders to identify and remove local barriers to student success. Today, we know that communities thrive by developing formal partnerships, cultivating leaders, and scaling what works through policy.
Our Impact
Funding for Rural Communities
Rural Leaders Empowered
Rural Collaboratives Launched
Change at the School and State Level
How We Help
1. Formalizing Rural Collaboratives
We help communities design and launch formal partnerships between school districts, higher education, and industry that provide new ways for all rural students to access high-quality programming and earn college credit and industry credentials before graduating from high school.
2. Nurturing Learning Communities
We identify, support, and inspire leaders to build innovative solutions with their communities. Learning convenings and fellowships allow leaders to exchange ideas with peers from around the country.
3. Advancing Policy Innovation
We ensure policymakers are aware of rural innovation and can effectively scale proven and promising ideas so that more rural communities can thrive.
Spotlight: The Rural Schools Innovation Zone
Since 2017, we’ve supported the launch and growth of the Rural Schools Innovation Zone (RSIZ), a first-of-its kind collaboration between South Texas school districts, institutions of higher education, and community workforce organizations. By banding together, school districts can offer multiple high quality pathways that no single rural district could offer alone. Rural Collaborative pathways are aligned to regional labor market needs and lead to high-wage and high-demand careers, boosting economic development. Rather than operating in silos, school districts, higher education partners and industry leaders set ambitious goals and codify them through formal agreements, creating shared accountability for student and community success. Resources and costs are split equitably and the agreements insulate partnerships from the shifts in priorities that often come with leadership turnover, enabling these efforts to sustain over time.
The RSIZ hosts academies that serve as career pathways to help students work towards competitive college and career-connected learning opportunities, helping them get started in pathways including:
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Construction
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Education
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Electrical engineering
- Healthcare
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HVAC
- STEM
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Welding
- Other growing regional industries
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Early College and Career Pathways: Focus on Rural Regions
Since launching, the RSIZ has shown dramatic results. Students who attended Rural Innovation academies surpassed their state peers in career-connected outcomes, earning college credit and industry certifications for careers that provide a family-sustaining wage at 3x the rate of state peers.
Empowering Regional Ecosystems
Rural Collaborative pathways are aligned to regional labor market needs and lead to high-wage and high-demand careers, boosting economic development.
% RSIZ Students
Earning Dual Credit
— RSIZ
— Other state schools
% RSIZ Students
Earning Industry Certification
— RSIZ
— Other state schools
Policy Innovation
Inspired by the success of the RSIZ, lawmakers passed the Rural Pathway Excellence Partnerships (R-PEP) program to support and fund future rural collaboratives during the Regular Session of the 88th Texas Legislature.
Elevating Rural Voices
The LeadRural Fellowship is an opportunity to catalyze rural leaders who are seeking to bring innovation to their communities, learn new ideas, and connect and network with other rural leaders across the state.
We launched the inaugural cohort in 2023, bring 12 rural leaders together through a series of six formal, in-person learning opportunities during the school year. Our first cohort reached:
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- 98 School Districts
- 150,000 students
- $1.5 million in grants awarded to fellows
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How we help Communities grow with Rural Innovation
EMPOWERED PARTNERSHIPS
DESIGN
We build coalitions between district schools, institutions of higher education, and local industries to build Rural Collaboratives designed to help rural students find academic and career success.
ESTABLISH
We support local stakeholders in establishing Rural Collaboratives through clear agreements, ambitious performance goals, strong and pathways aligned to local labor market opportunities.
ACCELERATE
We provide technical expertise and facilitate learning communities to accelerate academic and economic success for rural students and families.
LEVERAGE
We analyze state policies to identify existing pathways for Rural Collaboratives, partnering with state local and state leaders to incentivize and support Rural Innovation.
AMPLIFY
We foster cross-sector collaborations and amplify proof points so decision-makers receive the policy learning they need to drive Rural Innovation.
CHANGE
We listen to stakeholders, collaborating with people with local knowledge in student, school, and community needs to develop, modify, and advocate for state-level policies that scale proven and promising Rural Innovation.
POLICY AND THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
