School districts in rural communities face persistent challenges: limited funding, staffing shortages and fewer college and career-connected learning opportunities for students. That last challenge likely explains why only 29% of rural residents aged 18 to 24 are enrolled in higher education compared to 48% and 42% of those from urban and suburban areas. Rural students often have limited access to diverse career pathways and coursework due to geographic isolation and budgetary constraints.
Fortunately, that’s beginning to change. Rural leaders are reimagining student and community success by forming “Multi-Sector Collaboratives,” or “Rural Collaboratives” as other regions refer to these programs, which bring together local school districts, higher education institutions, employers, and regional development partners to expand rural students’ access to high-quality college and career pathways that also benefit the community.
One example is our Rural Alliance Zone 32 (RAZ-32) initiative in Indiana. Our Collaborative — facilitated and supported by the nonprofit Empower Schools — includes six school districts, a community college and over 30 partnering employers.
With the help of our partners and other stakeholders, we’ve developed seven career pathways for our students, most of whom come from underserved and low-income communities. Our pathways provide a rigorous and industry-specific curriculum, offer college credit and enable students to engage in hands-on learning at school and employer sites.
Of course, building and sustaining a program like RAZ-32 has presented challenges. However, through this experience, we’ve gained three key insights that can serve as valuable guidance for others seeking to build similar partnerships.
Adopt a student-centric mindset
The original goal of RAZ-32 was to have students from three Indiana school districts participate in each district’s career and technical education programming. However, in our experience, career centers often carry a negative connotation. They’re sometimes viewed as last resorts — places schools send students when they have no idea how to support them.
We didn’t want to treat our students or their programming like an afterthought. So, we shifted our focus from standard CTE offerings to creating and amplifying programs students want to participate in. As a result, we now offer college and career-connected pathways as diverse as media production and precision agriculture — options that reflect our students’ interests. Research shows that such tailored learning opportunities improve student engagement and are more likely to influence students’ post-graduation plans.
This aligns with what our students are saying. Zane Culbertson, a senior at Winchester Community High School, said that joining the welding program made him look forward to class. “I found something in the school that I liked, and now I want to be at school all day,” Culbertson shared. He added, “I spend most of my day in the welding and precision machining labs working for Falcon Industries and plan to enjoy a career in welding when I graduate in June.”
Consider regional needs
Effective Multi-Sector Collaboratives don’t just benefit students. They also seek to enhance the overall community by considering the needs of local employers. Before designing our college and career pathways, we conducted a regional needs assessment to learn about leading industries in East Central Indiana and the workforce shortages employers were looking to fill.
Our assessment revealed that businesses sought talent in three major areas: early childhood, health care, and welding and machining. With this in mind, we created targeted pathways for each field. Through our programs, students can earn industry and college certifications in these fields, helping employers build a robust and highly qualified talent pipeline.
We’ve already seen a positive impact by tailoring our pathways to workforce needs. For example, my school district has hired students enrolled in Monroe Central School Corporation’s health care pathway to work in our preschools. These students have earned the equivalent of their associate’s degree through the path, helping us address a shortage of competent early childhood candidates and empowering students to meet regional demand with real-world skills.
Embrace humble leadership
Building RAZ-32 required humility that district leaders can easily overlook when consumed by daily responsibilities and competing priorities. But from the start, other superintendents and I had to acknowledge where our districts fell short in meeting students’ needs for quality programs and be willing to partner to bridge those gaps.
This shift in mindset and leadership style has been critical to our Collaborative’s success. It takes courage, honesty and unwavering commitment to student success to say, “We can’t offer this pathway here, but we still want our students to get this experience, even if it means they travel to another district.” However, when leaders can set aside institutional pride and adopt a team player attitude, students, educators, employers, and other community members thrive.
Another benefit of humble leadership is that it inspires others to lead and build upon existing work. This is critical as our long-term goal is to expand RAZ-32 to include other districts and pathways and create more Multi-Sector Collaboratives across Indiana. For this to happen, we must demonstrate teamwork, an eagerness to learn, and a commitment to continuous improvement — qualities that will help us secure buy-in from new partners and galvanize other leaders nationwide to replicate our work in their districts and states.
Rural partnerships like RAZ-32 show what’s possible when schools, employers and communities work together. By aligning education with local needs and putting students at the center, we’re expanding opportunity and revitalizing regions. The future of rural America depends on this kind of collaboration, so I implore all leaders to forge multi-sector alliances. The result will be better schools, healthier economies and stronger communities.
Opinions expressed by SmartBrief contributors are their own.
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