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Rural K–12 Districts Build Local Talent Pipelines

Regional partnerships and strong community ties help schools prepare students for a growing number of careers.

Amy Burroughs is an award-winning writer specializing in journalism, content marketing and business communications.

Schools in small communities do more than educate students, says John Glasgow, program director of the Rural IL CTE Project, a collaboration between the Association of Illinois Rural and Small Schools (AIRSS) and the Illinois State Board of Education.

“The school is local society. It’s local economy. It’s that lifeblood, so to speak, that really sustains the vitality of the area,” says Glasgow.

Career and technical education programs play a unique role in rural schools, preparing students for local jobs and ensuring communities have essential services, especially when the nearest town is an hour or more away.

Last year, in the first in-depth study of Illinois’s rural programs, the CTE Project identified three common challenges: teacher shortages, inadequate facilities and insufficient funding.

According to Glasgow, districts that overcome these challenges tend to follow four best practices: collaborate regionally, stay flexible, combine remote learning with hands-on experience and leverage community ties. CTE offerings can help schools lean into each of those areas.

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Around the country, K–12 leaders in small districts are rethinking how to expand CTE offerings, taking advantage of the agility of these programs and ties with local industries to come up with creative solutions.

While CTE is essential everywhere, “this is all the more important in a rural area where the school is the direct avenue into local prosperity,” Glasgow says.

Regional Collaboration Is a ‘Winning Strategy’ for CTE Expansion

In central Texas, Goldthwaite Consolidated Independent School District — with three schools and about 520 students — expanded from six to nine CTE programs this year by reconfiguring existing courses and pathways.

“I spent a lot of time figuring out how we can offer the most programs of study without hiring new staff, because we can’t do that,” explains Goldthwaite High School Principal Jennifer Jones.

Instead, the school is capitalizing on its existing staff’s skills in creative ways. A softball coach with a military background now teaches drones and robotics.

The school is also working with the community. For a new health sciences pathway, Hendrick Health is providing a teacher and sharing salary costs with the district. “We have so many students who want to go into nursing and the medical industry, and we didn’t have anything to offer them,” says Jones.

Next, Goldthwaite CISD plans to join the Texas Education Agency’s Rural Pathway Excellence Partnerships (R-PEP) program, which lets rural districts share college and career pathways.

For instance, many Goldthwaite students are interested in auto tech, but the district doesn’t offer it. “Thirty minutes down the road, Comanche High School has a phenomenal auto tech program, so that could be a potential opportunity for our students,” Jones says.

In Illinois, 69% of rural schools cited teacher shortages as an obstacle to CTE expansion, yet few offer teacher training pathways.

“Coming together to expand offerings is a winning strategy in a rural area,” says Glasgow.

Tailored CTE Pathways Help Communities Sustain Essential Services

In northwest Texas, Dalhart Independent School District recently launched an R-PEP partnership with three neighboring districts and a community college. Superintendent Jeff Byrd, a former president of the Texas Rural Education Association, leads a district of four schools 85 miles from Amarillo.

Dalhart ISD will open its welding, diesel mechanics and nursing programs to partner districts, with plans for reciprocal offerings in the future.

“I can’t justify having a program with 15 kids, but if we have 15 and the others have four or five students each, now we have a justification for an employee and a program,” Byrd says.

In areas like Dalhart, CTE equips students with skills that enable them to fulfill essential roles in the community, from nurses to plumbers. “Lots of people love Dalhart and want to stay in Dalhart but can’t make a living here, so our goal is to create certifications and provide job opportunities for them to stay,” Byrd says. “It helps the school district, and it helps our community.”

The school is local society. It’s local economy. It’s that lifeblood, so to speak, that really sustains the vitality of the area.”

John Glasgow Director, Rural IL CTE Project

Bridging gaps between CTE offerings and local needs is a priority for rural districts. Only about one-quarter of rural Illinois schools offer IT and computer science programs, although Glasgow says that new updates to the national CTE framework could help close that gap.

In 2024, Advance CTE, the national association of state CTE directors and peers, categorized digital technology as a “cross-cutting cluster” of skills that students will need in any field they go into.

Now, AIRSS is exploring how rural schools can integrate digital skills into existing CTE programs, such as agriculture.

“What would it mean to have an ag data science class?” Glasgow asks. “Teaching students to collect and analyze data, use artificial intelligence, program computers — all through an agriculture lens in the class — but the skill sets they’re using will be broadly appliable to any career.”

DIVE DEEPER: Students collect and analyze data from onsite apiaries.

Virtual Classes Expand Options for Rural Students

Other districts are finding their own solutions to teacher shortages, inadequate facilities and insufficient funding challenges.

In Kansas, one rural district has developed a robust virtual education program that serves high school students across the state. Humboldt Virtual Education is part of Humboldt Unified School District 258, which has three schools.

Students choose virtual school for various reasons, including the ability to proceed at their own pace and graduate sooner, director Jody Siebenmorgen says. For students in rural area and those with busy schedules, virtual classes can be an easier option.

“Our rural kids like it because they’re not on the bus for an hour and a half,” she says. “Our rodeo kids like to get up and do their schoolwork and then go outside to rope and practice. Our agriculture kids are in the fields with Mom and Dad or in the feed lot or doing their chores.”

Other students opt for virtual classes for personal reasons, Siebenmorgen adds. For example, a student with medical issues may spend significant time driving back and forth to Wichita, which can affect schoolwork.

It’s also a way to circumvent bullying. “Bullying is huge,” she notes. “If you’re getting bullied in a rural school, things are pretty tough. If you’re a teen mom in a rural school, it’s tough.”

She says many students and parents also appreciate the personalization that virtual learning offers. “Kids who had been struggling say, ‘I’m smarter than I thought I was.’ Gifted students love it because nothing is slowing them down.”

Last year, 230 students graduated from Humboldt Virtual Education, and the number continues to grow.

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