In rural regions across the country, there is a strong demand for committed, effective school leaders. The Rural School Leadership Academy is open to all educators passionate about rural education and driven toward school leadership roles.
About the Rural School Leadership Academy
Develop the knowledge and skills necessary for school leadership roles while building a powerful network of aspiring school leaders in rural communities.
The Rural School Leadership Academy is a yearlong fellowship for up to 50 participants made up of three streams of aspiring and current school leaders:
- Stream 1: Classroom teachers who are beginning to explore school leadership roles.
- Stream 2: Mid-level school-based leaders preparing for school principal roles.
- Stream 3: School principals focused on building and sustaining their leadership.
The key program components include:
- Three cycles of virtual professional development focused on building skills in school leadership competencies.
- In person gatherings and school visits in rural communities once or twice during the fellowship. (safety permitting)
- One-on-one leadership coaching twice-monthly throughout the fellowship.
- Continuous Participant-driven application of learning to impact participant’s school community.
All program expenses are fully funded for participants.
Participants will have the option to add one of two certifications from Harvard Graduate School of Education fully paid for as an additional component of their RSLA experience.
If participants choose to pursue a certificate, they will complete two of the courses during their RSLA program year, and can continue to finish coursework through January of the following year.
2022-2023 Learning Cycles and Rural Gatherings
The program commitments are participation in 3 virtual learning cycles and 1-2 live gatherings*. The virtual learning cycles span 3-4 weeks and offer a calendar of engagements that are designed to be accessible to participants across time zones.
The following are the tentative dates for the live & virtual gatherings for the 2022-2023 cohort. Final dates, locations, session overviews, materials, and event registration will be communicated in advance of each component.
*While we are optimistic that we will be able to safely resume travel to attend live gatherings as a part of the cohort experience, we will make and communicate modifications as they are needed to this tentative schedule.
- Summer 2022: Hybrid Learning Cycle, location TBD, In person Tuesday, July 19 - Friday, July 22, 2022 with virtual programming continuing through August 7, 2022.
- Fall 2022: Virtual Learning Cycle, Saturday, October 15 Kick-Off, Cycle ends November 6, 2022
- Winter 2023: In Person Rural Community Gathering and School Visit, locations and specific dates TBD. Participants will choose one to two rural community visits that work for their schedule to attend.
- Spring 2023: Virtual Learning Cycle, Saturday, April 15 Kick-Off, Cycle ends May 7, 2023
Eligibility & Requirements
We are looking for applicants who are passionate about rural education and are driven toward school leadership roles.
This program is now open to all rural educators. You do not need to be a Teach For America alum to apply.
We welcome school based teams to apply together, such as a principal, the assistant principal and a teacher leader from the same school. Each member of a team will submit an individual application. There is a space on the individual application to indicate if you are a member of a school team applying.
All Participants:
- Must be working in a rural K-12 school setting for the 2022-23 school year.
- Must be able to fully attend required components in all three learning cycles and at least one in person gathering.
Stream 1 Participants:
- Should be teaching in a rural school.
- Should be interested in pursuing an adult-facing leadership role in a rural K-12 school setting in the next 1-3 years.
Stream 2 Participants:
- Must be serving in a role where the majority of your time is focused on instructional leadership of adults (likely a mid-level leadership role in a school such as assistant principal or dean.)
- Should have clear aspirations toward principalship in a rural community in the next 1-3 years.
- Should anticipate being in this role for the 2022-23 school year.
Stream 3 Participants:
- Must be serving in a principal or head of school role.
- Should have clear aspirations to sustain their work in school leadership in a rural community for the next 2-5 years.
- Should anticipate being in this role for the 2022-23 school year.
Apply
Final Deadline - February 21, 2022
Please contact RSLA@teachforamerica.org if you have any questions.
Nominate a colleague by completing this form.
What our participants are saying about RSLA
“This has been the most useful training in my career.”
“I wish all my Professional Developments were like this. I built great relationships with my cohort through the experience.”
“Excellent energy and atmosphere. Did not seem virtual at all!”
“Everyone is so interesting, with such diverse perspectives and experiences. I feel like I learn so much just by listening to others and learning what they know. I truly appreciate the opportunity to be in virtual community with everyone in this group.”
“I love the momentum and the build up of the sessions. I love how they are evolving as we move through the program.”
“I've learned strategies that I will be implementing on the daily basis.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Please contact RSLA@teachforamerica.org if you have any questions that are not answered below.
Rural locations are generally characterized by geographic isolation and small populations.
RSLA participants have come from all over the country, including from towns that are 2+ hours away from an airport and/or large grocery store.
If you have specific questions or concerns about your situation, please email RSLA@teachforamerica.org.
Each learning cycle is made up of a series of 4-6 sessions that build leadership across our prioritized competencies:
- Leading for Equity
- Facilitating Learning (coaching and developing teachers)
- Building Culture
- Decision Making and Communication
- Developing a Vision for your School and Leadership
- Contextualizing and Honoring Place
Approximately two weeks before each cycle, we will share the guide for the cycle, including learning focus areas, session timing options, and an overview of each session. Participants will register for the schedule that works best for them. The learning cycle will kick off with an all cohort session experience on the kick-off date, and from there, participants attend their selected sessions. A typical learning cycle will have 1-2 sessions per week for three weeks. Sessions are 2-4 hours in length, depending on the content and learning environment needed to build community.
In between the fall and spring learning cycles, participants will travel to a rural community to engage with each other as a cohort in person, learn about the rural community, and visit innovative schools. Each gathering will take place over 2.5-3 days including travel to and from our destination. Travel to these communities is tentatively planned and we will modify our approach to visiting schools and learning more about our rural communities should travel become unsafe.
In addition to the learning cycles, participants will work with a leadership coach twice monthly. Your coach will meet with you virtually and engage in coaching aligned to your individual interests and learning priorities. Our coaches use a cyclical approach, supporting you to identify a practice to implement and work to reflect on the impact of those practices.
Throughout the year, we bring together the entire RSLA community (including our 250 alumni in communities across the country) for “Keeping it Rural” sessions where we engage with school and community leaders in topics particularly pertinent to the rural experience.
In response to the COVID19 pandemic, we moved RSLA to an entirely virtual model in 2020-2021. Our participants’ feedback has been incredibly strong regarding how valuable this experience is to grow and exercise their leadership in a virtual setting. We are continually monitoring public health conditions and anticipate that for the 2022-2023 program year we will be able to host part of our summer learning cycle in person as well as two to three in person gatherings and school visits. Participants will be asked to attend the in person summer learning cycle and at least one of the community gatherings and school visit as a part of completing the RSLA fellowship. We will continue to monitor the health climate and should it become unsafe for participants to travel and gather in person during the fellowship year, we will adjust the approach to school and community visits to a virtual one.
Yes. Nominations and referrals are welcome and an important way we identify candidates for the RSLA. To nominate someone or yourself, please complete this form or email RSLA@teachforamerica.org. You are encouraged to nominate multiple rural leaders. Your nomination(s) will remain anonymous unless you indicate otherwise.
Yes. We have seen that when teams or duos participate together in RSLA, they are able to bring even more of the learning back to their school community. Without the burden of travel and missing school to participate, we strongly encourage participants to consider who in their school community they could team up with to participate. Some examples of strong teams: the principal, an assistant principal and a lead teacher, multiple assistant principals from the same district/network, multiple teachers from the same school, etc. There is a place on the application to indicate if you have a team member applying with you and/or to nominate someone to join your team.
Yes. We offer a full program of professional development that builds on sessions and learning outcomes throughout the fellowship. Each learning cycle will offer sessions multiple times so that all participants are able to access each unique session. Because one of our priorities for development is building a strong and connected community amongst RSLA participants, it is important that participants commit to fully engaging in each learning cycle. If or when emergencies that impact attendance do happen, we work together to make accommodations for our participants.