Research-Practice Webinar, March 19 | Equitable School Leadership in California’s Diverse Rural Contexts

Equitable School Leadership in California’s Diverse Rural Contexts (21CSLA Webinar)

Wednesday, March 19, 2025, 4:00–5:00 pm PT
Free and open to the public

In this webinar, school leaders and researchers discuss the complexities and opportunities of leading for equity in California’s rural schools.

Webinar Highlights

Research Perspective

Dr. Kristina Hesbol introduced the Center for Innovative Rural Collaborative Leadership Education (CIRCLE)(link is external), which supports rural schools and communities by disrupting deficit narratives and celebrating rural cultural wealth. CIRCLE operates as a practice–research partnership that centers practitioners as experts in the field who can guide and inform rural leadership research. Through its Rural Innovative School Leadership Network Improvement Community (RISL_NIC)(link is external), CIRCLE brings together a community of leaders to discuss context-specific challenges and “bright spots” in rural education with an equity lens. “Bright spots” encompass exemplary educational leaders and practices where traditionally marginalized students demonstrate improved learning outcomes.

One pressing equity issue rural leaders face is the increasing arrival of migrant and refugee students in communities where educators feel ill-equipped to meet their needs due to differences in racial, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds. Dr. Hesbol highlighted two compelling examples of “bright spots” that addressed this issue by shifting the paradigm and engaging community members: 1) A Colorado district that transformed its approach to supporting Eritrean families and Spanish-speaking students from accountability to responsibility, and 2) A district in Othello, Washington where a superintendent involved abuelas (grandmothers) from the community to provide targeted literacy support, improving high school graduation rates from 34% to 86%.

Bright spot leaders share common characteristics:

Disrupt inequity through cultural humility
Believe “every student, not all students, will be successful”
Network naturally and limit hierarchies, often having teachers lead collaboratively
Integrate the community into schools
Engage in rural communities and systems change deeply

Intersection of Research and Practice

Rindy DeVoll explained that while “rural schools and communities are as unique as a fingerprint,” school leaders in the California Rural Network(link is external) shared common pressing equity challenges. A primary concern is the shortage of specialized staff such as psychologists, counselors, and mental health providers, and insufficient resources for high-needs students. Additional challenges include supporting emergent bilingual and students identified as long-term English Learners, while California's geography creates physical barriers that can impede school progress. Despite these challenges, rural schools often generate innovative solutions, leveraging important strengths found in their smaller class sizes, resilience, and close-knit community relationships.

Small rural leadership teams face the unique challenge of building effective systems while wearing multiple hats. Rindy advocated for the multi-tiered system of support (MTSS)(link is external) approach to differentiate supports based on diverse rural contexts. This framework helps schools dig deeper into data and practices to identify systemic factors affecting educational equity. Both panelists also stressed the importance of building human connections across districts, amplifying partners’ voices, and keeping the conversation going.

Additional recommendations for rural school leaders to disrupt inequity include leveraging their unique cultural and ecological contexts through:

Learning local history
Engaging community elders
Incorporating tribal support to bridge cultural gaps
Facilitating storytelling and relationship-building
Implementing place-based education approaches

Rindy emphasized that state policies are not universally designed for rural leaders who frequently wear multiple hats. More flexible policies and greater inclusion of rural voices are necessary to ensure equitable support for small rural districts in California. To prepare future rural leaders, Dr. Hesbol suggested more opportunities for internships or residencies in diverse locations and adapting leadership training based on field insights.

Discussion/Reflection Questions

How might you leverage your community’s unique cultural wealth to address equity challenges? Consider “bright spot” leadership practices that you could implement.
How can you leverage relationships with elders, tribal communities, or other community members to create place-based educational opportunities that address equity challenges?
How might you integrate place-based education approaches that connect curriculum to your specific local environment, history, and culture to make learning more relevant and engaging for all students?
How might your school implement or enhance its multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) to better identify systemic factors affecting educational equity in your specific rural context?

Speakers

Jabari Mahiri(link is external)

Professor and Faculty Director, BSE Leadership Programs; Chair, 21CSLA Leadership Board

Kristina A. Hesbol(link is external)

Associate Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Department, University of Denver; Founding Director, UCEA Center for Innovative Rural Collaboration for Leadership in Education

Rindy DeVoll

Executive Team member, California Multi-Tiered System of Support for Rural California

Speaker bios

Jabari Mahiri (Professor and Faculty Director, BSE Leadership Programs; Chair, 21CSLA Leadership Board) is the author of Deconstructing Race: Multicultural Education Beyond the Color-Bind, as well as host of podcast Equity Leadership Now!(link is external)

Dr. Kristina A. Hesbol (she/her/hers) is an associate professor in the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Department at the University of Denver’s Morgridge College of Education. Her research agenda focuses on educational leadership and policy issues across two lines of inquiry. The first focuses on leading improvement to disrupt rural educational inequity, including the leader’s pivotal, systemic role in improving complex, intractable problems. The second examines networked improvement communities, particularly their capacity to accelerate improvement in rural and remote learning communities. As the Co-PI of a five-year Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Department of Education Grant, she examines the underrepresentation of minoritized gifted students in rural contexts across the state of Colorado. Her current research examines the behaviors and attitudes of "bright spot" rural educational leaders globally—those who lead schools in which traditionally marginalized students demonstrate improving learning outcomes. She is the Founding Director of the Center for Innovative Rural Collaboration for Leadership in Education (CIRCLE), a UCEA program center which serves as a national clearinghouse for rural practice-research partnerships, focused specifically on improving the preparation and practice of innovative educational leaders in rural contexts, thereby improving equitable learning opportunities for rural students across the country. Through CIRCLE, thought leader practitioners partner with rural researchers to resolve rural problems of practice through innovative leadership, from the classroom to the Board room, with implications for practice, research, and policy. She earned a B.A. in Education (DePauw University), an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction (National-Louis University), and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis (Loyola University, Chicago). Throughout her nearly five-decade career as an educator, she has taught students in grades PK–10, served as a principal in three racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse schools, as a district’s Director of School Improvement, and as the Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources for a rurban district. She also worked as a North American Literacy Consultant for the Ministry of Education in New Zealand.

Rindy DeVoll (she/her) (Executive Team member, California Multi-Tiered System of Support) directs the CA Rural Ed Network through the Butte County Office of Education’s CA MTSS Department, leading efforts in amplifying the voices of rural educators, families and students. Rindy began her educational career as a bilingual teacher and continues to advocate for students and families that are underserved. She believes that CA MTSS implementation is the best path to effective and inclusive practices to ensure equity and access for all.

Related resources

Webinar transcript(link is external)

Webinar slides(link is external)

Webinar flyer(link is external)

21CSLA Research-Practice Brief: Equity-Driven Leadership in Rural Education (2024)

Center for Innovative Rural Collaborative Leadership Education (CIRCLE)(link is external)

The Rural Reality: A Call for a Focused Effort on Challenges and Needs(link is external)

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