Professional Resources

Teaching in Rural Places: Thriving in Classrooms, Schools, and Communities (Azano, Brenner, Downey, Eppley, & Schulte, 2021)

This teacher education textbook invites preservice and beginning teachers to think critically about the impact of rurality on their work and provides an overview of what it means to live, teach, learn, and thrive in rural communities. This book underscores the importance of teaching in rural schools as an act of social justice―work that dismantles spatial barriers to economic, social, and political justice.

Serving Gifted Students in Rural Settings (Stambaugh & Wood, 2015)

A cooperative publication of the National Association for Gifted Children and Prufrock Press, Serving Gifted Students in Rural Settings provides a framework for educating the gifted in rural settings. The book outlines practical, theoretical, and evidence-supported approaches for understanding, teaching, and leading programs for this unique population. Case study vignettes and practical ideas for administrators and teachers are combined with theoretical applications.

The Bloomsbury Handbook of Rural Education in the USA (Azano, Eppley, & Biddle [Eds.], 2021)

This handbook begins with a foundational overview of rural education, examining the ways in which definitions, histories, policies, and demographic changes influence rural schools, and includes how corporatization, population changes, poverty, and the role of data affect everyday learning in rural schools. Each section concludes with a response by an international scholar, situating the topics covered within the broader global context.

Collaborating Across Regions to Unify Mentoring Efforts and Expand Access to Clinical Faculty & Mentor Teacher Training

Mentoring Virginia is a statewide mentoring initiative intended to prepare exceptional school-based teacher educators for work in a variety of mentoring roles, including but not limited to work with 1) teacher candidates in preparation for the profession, 2) new teachers who are completing on the job internships, 3) teachers in their first three years of teaching, and 4) veteran teachers engaged in coaching cycles.