Rural places and their schools have a long history of community-based traditions, political and cultural conservatism, and intergenerational construction of local and community identity. However, the face of rural communities, both in the U.S. and abroad, is being radically transformed by the economic effects of multinational free trade agreements, the proliferation of mass media and information technology, and educational reforms such as No Child Left Behind. These changes have presented new opportunities for rural people, as well as new challenges. Rural Education for the Twenty-First Century explores the practices that offer both problems and possibilities for the futures of rural schools and communities.

In addition to the editors, the contributors are Genevieve Brown, Rebecca Bustamante, Gretchen Butera, Thomas Butler, Michael Corbett, Lisa Humphreys Costello, Stephen Crump, Jacqueline Edmondson, Parfait Eloundou-Enyegue, Susan Faircloth, R. Evely Gildersleeve, Sarah Giroux, Susan Groenke, Aimee Howley, Craig Howley, Beverly Irby, Fatou Jah, Kieran Killeen, Patricia McDonough, John Morrissey, Jan Nespor, Paul Theobald, John Tippeconnic III, Kylie Twyford, and Kathy Wood.