The Rural Trust is committed to increasing the numbers and improving the quality of teachers and school leaders in rural places, and to creating a policy environment favorable to meeting these goals.

The Rural Trust recognizes the crucial role of teachers in any school improvement effort, and we work to develop model approaches to teacher training tailored for rural areas with an emphasis on place-based learning. In the policy realm we are investigating key questions around issues of teacher recruitment and retention.
 
Rural school leadership plays an important role in improving education in rural and small schools. Listening to the voices of rural leaders is vital to fostering change through place-based education and related initiatives in order to connect communities and classrooms and improve learning.