Chapter 5: It Takes a Community: Preparing Teachers for Rural African American Early Childhood Students

The intended outcomes of national legislation often can impose significant obstacles or unintended impacts on rural school districts. For example, district leaders have be able to think and plan in more creative ways to attract, recruit, and retain highly qualified teachers who also will be able to meet the challenges of rural teaching environments. The purpose of this case study was to illustrate how rural school district leaders used internally developed strategies and built upon the cultural capital of the rural community to meet the challenges of NCLB and improve the long-term achievement outcomes for African American preschoolers.