Maryland is not very rural, and the state contends with fewer rural socioeconomic obstacles than most other states, ranking it 42nd in the nation in need of rural education attention and improvement. However, rural student diversity is relatively high, with large absolute and percentage minority student populations. Additionally, undesirable policy contexts in Maryland’s rural schools demand the attention of policymakers: Schools and districts are the largest in the country (median organizational scale is nearly 13 times higher than the national median and the largest in the U.S.) and spending on transportation is high relative to spending on instruction.