Journal of Research in Rural Education

Abstract

In the past decade, we have witnessed substantial change across and within rural communities, including economic transformations (e.g., Broadway, 2007; Schaff t, McHenry-Sorber, Hall, & Burfoot-Rochford, 2017), greater demographic diversifi cation (Brown & Schaff t, 2011), and ever-changing demands placed on rural school systems (Budge, 2010; McHenry-Sorber & Provinzano, 2016).  At the same time, we continue to experience a nationwide teacher shortage, (Sutcher, Darling-Hammond, & Carver Thomas, 2016), declines in funding for the nation’s public school system (Leachman, Albares, Masterson, & Wallace, 2016), and broader policies problematic to rural schools (Seelig, 2017). These transformations require skilled building and district-level leadership of rural schools and school systems (Hall & McHenry-Sorber, 2017) if they are expected to survive and thrive in the twenty-fi rst century.

How to Cite:

Sutherland, D. H. & McHenry-Sorber, E., (2018) “Introduction: The Diversity of Rural Educational Leadership Special Issue”, Journal of Research in Rural Education 34(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.18113/P8JRRE3400