Discussion Circle # 2: Targeted Conversations Notes


How can states help rural schools effectively partner with institutions of higher learning to support high-quality learning and teaching?

Facilitator: John Hill, Executive Director, National Rural Education Association

The following comments from participants were captured during the discussion, which involved individuals from multiple states. They began by writing down their responses to the question on an index card, and then they passed the card to others for additional comments. A facilitator guided the process and the subsequent discussion on the topic. The initial responses are numbered below, with additional responses bulleted beneath each one.

  1. States can be the intermediary between the two groups by providing meetings and setting agendas to discuss issues and initiate collaborative efforts. Agendas and venues need to be planned so that rural districts and nearby Institutions of Higher Education or Learning (IHEs/IHLs) can sit together and discuss issues such as teacher readiness, continued professional development, teacher retention, etc.
    Meetings can include presenters with examples of effective partnerships across the country.
    • Use technology to reach more districts and IHEs/IHLs.
    • States must provide support (including resources) to nurture these excellent ideas. Often IHEs/IHLs are grouped in close proximity in some areas and almost none may exist in others. Physical proximity should not be an insurmountable barrier.
  2. First, enable all students an opportunity to attend IHEs by having access physically or through technology. Hold joint sessions at the local school for both secondary and IHE courses. Have professors/instructors of IHEs teach a class for PK–12 and/or mentor teachers. Have open forums for faculty of both PK­–12 and IHE to discuss education needs.
    • Junior high and high school students attend IHL for a day with a counselor.
    • Establish role-alike groups. For example, match a college professor who teaches science with elementary and secondary teachers of science.
  3. Identify cadres of highly effective teachers and connect them as practitioner faculty to IHEs. Offer IHEs the opportunity to engage in symposia that feature models/exemplars of high-quality teaching and learning. Offer funding to be awarded to rural schools for partnering with IHEs around the development of high-quality models grounded in collaboratively conducted research.
    • Work with the involved partners on breaking through academic, professional, and cultural “boxes” that may impede the (wonderful) ideas noted above.
    • Have IHE faculty come into the public schools in rural areas to co-teach or teach a class/day/presentation. Set up town meetings for PK-12, IHE, and community members.
  4. Set up a planning meeting in which pre-service teachers are offered orientation and allowed to participate in refining the action plan to include their involvement. Guide pre-service teachers in implementing their part of the plan.
    • Develop action plans to implement agreed-upon strategies and set time goals for doing so.
    • Facilitate conversation and open dialogue between PK–12 and IHE members in which they: (a) agree to authentically listen to one another; (b) implement practices together, mutually supported, to realize identified goals; and (c) support goals with dedicated resources.
  5. Rural district and IHE/IHL should meet to discuss student-teacher programs, including programmatic strengths and challenges, and students who have graduated from the program. The key question is, what will best prepare students to be effective teachers in rural districts?
    • Encourage rural LEAs and all institutions to reach beyond their comfort zones to identify and solve problems, place prospective educators in meaningful clinical experiences, provide quality professional development, and deliver advanced program courses in rural settings in-person and/or online.
    • Meaningful clinical experiences should be collaboratively designed by excellent teachers and IHE staff.
  6. Model collaboration in teacher preparation programs; partner to address real questions that confront rural schools; and use schools as laboratories to tackle issues that significantly affect rural schools.
    • Facilitate the process of collaboration between LEAs and universities.
  7. IHEs should offer professional development or graduate-level courses online or virtually and at sites to meet the specific needs of their students based on data from their schools and on teacher needs as measured through evaluations. States should leverage federal funds to work collaboratively with IHE teacher preparation programs and engage in joint projects.
    • Develop real-time, place-based professional development and action research to address challenges specific to local sites.
  8. Provide models of what is expected and incentives for success. They should also publicize these successes and provide incentives toward tenure track success in IHEs.
    • Develop networks of rural schools, since there is power in numbers. Develop relationships with IHL stakeholders. Provide incentives for partnerships. Communicate expectations to IHL.
    • Address barriers that restrict collaboration to increase joint efforts.
  9. Increase access to IHEs, and facilitate partnerships and collaboration on a common definition of high-quality teaching and learning.
    • Develop and support a statewide system of university–school teacher education partnerships.
    • Provide solutions and examples for geographically rural students to access dual credit via distance education.
  10. Develop policies to ensure that barriers don’t exist and provide (financial) incentives to encourage partnerships and collaboration, share examples of effective partnerships, and develop a framework and tools to support partnerships.
    • Incentives could include graduate work toward a degree or even a full degree.
  11. Establish relationships and act as a liaison between schools, districts, and IHEs; combat barriers to healthy partnerships by providing flexibility for districts and creating programs and initiatives; provide financial assistance (i.e., scholarships and  grants); and intentionally embed collaboration and the “mixing of worlds.”
    • Provide pre-service classes devoted to assistance in that regard.
  12. Bring in relevant literature and experience, develop consortia of rural districts to work together and share research, and provide incentives for partnerships.
    • Bring all parties together and build consensus on high-quality teaching and learning and ways to implement them in the classroom.
  13. States and IHEs can collaborate on and develop institutes, methods, and academies that promote partnerships for teachers and instructional leaders.
    • Use funding to encourage participation.
    • Intentionally embed initiatives that allow collaboration on both levels.
  14. Build rural teacher and leadership development tracks into teacher/leader preparation programs.
    • Incentivize opportunities for collaborations.
    • Provide models of collaboration that would enhance relationships between rural schools and IHEs.