Adopting the Rural Collaborative model requires districts to actively build regional community identity.

As part of the long-term health and sustainability of a Rural Collaborative, districts must take steps to create collective support for their initiative across the region. This can be done by working to establish the mindset that every student in the Collaborative is one of “our students.” Districts can build toward this by, for example, creating a welcome ceremony for students from neighboring districts or having Rural Collaborative students wear caps and gowns with a special designation at graduation. Any time school districts join together in collaboration, they should acknowledge and celebrate the fact that they are doing something for their students and community that they could not do on their own.

Rural Collaboratives must hire a leader to run the work on the ground and manage agreements between school districts and other community partners.

Sharing resources across school districts creates unique needs, beginning with a leader who is trusted to make key decisions. Districts adopting the Rural Collaborative model will need to hire a leader to manage the work  between the Rural Collaborative partners so that roles and responsibilities are clear and the partnership is sustainable, even if administrative leadership shifts in a district. More specifically, the leader will manage support for budgeting and operations, track key performance measures, and ensure access through setting of enrollment policies.

Ideally, two other roles would be included in a Rural Collaborative staff: a college and career counselor and a director for academics and partnerships. Depending on the makeup of existing school district staff, a Rural Collaborative could fill these roles in a variety of ways. In South Texas, the partnering school districts established the RSIZ as a nonprofit entity with its own independent executive director and staff to maintain the interest of the Collaborative rather than an individual school district. Other Rural Collaboratives have been nested within an existing community-focused nonprofit organization, an institute of higher education, or an education service center.

School districts must work together to align master schedules so that students can access Rural Collaborative programs.

In order for students to be able to attend programs of study in neighboring school districts, partners in a Collaborative must do their best to align their master schedules. This can be a challenge and a source of tension between districts because of contending interests ranging from travel time between districts to ability for students to participate in extracurricular activities. Partner districts need to plan for scheduling in advance and be willing to compromise. In some cases, institutions of higher education may also need to be included in planning to ensure that students have the opportunity to take advantage of dual credit courses.

District and community partnerships are the foundation of the Rural Collaborative model and they must be developed within this focus.

By definition, the Rural Collaborative model is based on partnerships between school districts and community stakeholders. In rural communities, these collaborative partnerships can help young people attain family-sustaining careers—careers that will allow young people to meet the economic needs of their families in the future—and further regional economic development. 

Rural Collaboratives are particularly strong when they are based on multi-sector partnerships with local industry and institutions of higher education. Setting up formal partnership agreements and appropriate management systems helps each partner know its responsibilities in the learning opportunities offered by the Collaborative. 

Empower Schools can support the design and implementation of a Rural Collaborative by facilitating key processes in all phases of development. Whether it is organizing stakeholder meetings to explore the model, assisting in the identification and/or formation of a coordinating entity, developing sustainable funding structures, or facilitating the building of  relationships with industry and higher education partners, Empower Schools can help districts build a successful Rural Collaborative.

The new learning opportunities created in a Rural Collaborative require school districts to share access to facilities and equipment that students cannot access in their own districts.

Rural Collaboratives are an opportunity to expand the programs that students can access because districts share unique facilities and equipment with partners. Many rural school districts have existing facilities to support some CTE coursework, but Rural Collaboratives create a broader range of programs of study for students to access.

These new learning opportunities can lead to increased student demand, which may lead to new facility or program needs. The RSIZ welding program was so popular that a new facility was built on campus grounds and its Next Generation Medical Academy converted an old home-economics kitchen into a realistic “hospital floor” with a reception desk, hospital bays with EKG machines, and other medical equipment.

To establish clear policies and procedures, a formal agreement must exist among all entities partnering in a Rural Collaborative.

The Rural Collaborative model allows for variation in governance, but all structures require a formal agreement among school districts, industry, higher education partners, and a coordinating entity. These agreements set the goals and vision for the Collaborative, making it possible to track progress over time and adjust courses along the way. It also makes student success a shared responsibility across sectors that typically operate in silos. Collaboratives typically work through the details of their agreement during a planning year when they also clarify how they will share services like budget, transportation, and anything specific that may be required by a state or teachers union.

The coordinating entity is a central component to the Rural Collaborative model. A coordinating entity can take several forms depending on what makes the most sense for the partners. The coordinating entity could be a nonprofit established for this purpose or an existing nonprofit within the region that assumes the role. It could also be an institution of higher education or an education service center in the region that can support the cross-sector work of the Collaborative.

The financial arrangements within a Rural Collaborative are critical to ensuring success and sustainability and must be transparent, accurate, and fair. The two key components of the funding structure are start-up costs to build the Collaborative and its programming and ongoing operating expenses. In some states, there are grant opportunities to fund this type of innovative work in the start-up phase; a funding model can be developed that has districts pay a flat fee to cover the shared costs of Collaboratives. Technical assistance regarding financial policies and procedures and strategic guidance in setting up a collaborative can be critical to a successful program. 

While students are attending programming in neighboring districts, it is typical for them to follow the specific school or district policies and the rules of the host campus. Students are also accounted for in their home school and district for per-pupil revenue purposes, but districts pay tuition based on mutual agreements and state CTE funding structures. Sample Rural Collaborative Nonprofit Annual Budget Rural Collaborative Career and Technical Education Funding Analysis

Transportation is also a critical element of Rural Collaboratives that districts must agree upon. Ideally, free transportation is provided to all students who participate in a Rural Collaborative. Paying for transportation is typically less expensive than hiring additional teachers and purchasing additional equipment for programs, and using Wi-Fi-equipped buses can make commuting a productive time.

To gain the support of multiple stakeholder audiences, it is essential for Rural Collaboratives to have a comprehensive communication plan.

To engage a variety of stakeholders across a region, Rural Collaboratives should develop clear, branded communications for different audiences. Conveying the mission and message widely through a range of channels will help to generate the student participation and community buy-in needed for long-term impact in a region. These channels may include attendance at different school board meetings, newsletters, a website, annual reports, and engagement with families as well as local media. Some collaboratives dedicate funds to work with a communications and marketing partner to manage the demands of messaging across districts.