Asset-Based Innovation in Rural Education

Asset-Based Innovation in Rural Education establishes a new framework for improving rural schools and communities. It supports educators in evaluating and taking inventory of existing assets within their rural schools and communities in order to leverage them for innovation within their practice. This text assumes that rural places and people are filled with assets that are often unrealized or underutilized, especially when external improvement efforts begin by outlining deficiencies or promoting solutions without properly understanding the context of place.In this curated collection of methodology building manuscripts, original research, and scholarly reflections, authors explore how the accountability movement in public education has failed to produce lasting educational improvement, especially in rural schools where fewer faculty, staff, and administrators are expected to do more with less resources than their non-rural counterparts. This volume presents a new way forward for administrators, evaluators, practitioners, and scholars who seek to support innovation efforts in rural schools based on existing assets. The topics of this volume include asset mapping, improvement science, leadership practices for asset-based innovation, policy analysis, place-based education, rural cultural wealth, rural teacher pedagogy, and school-community engagement.These chapters are essential readings for courses in Rural Education, Education Policy, Educational Leadership, School and Community Relationships, Sociology of Education, and place-based education.