The National Rural Principal Fellowship Network will bring together rural principals with strong potential to create, build upon, and accelerate growth in leadership.
The year-long fellowship will include opportunities for ongoing, job-embedded professional learning. Fellows will apply what they have learned to their settings and have opportunities to reflect and grow in connection with one another, sharing their learning so that other schools and districts can learn from their experience.
The Fellowship has three main pillars of focus:
- Leading Rural Schools – Fellows will explore and practice protocols that support planning and continuous improvement, explicitly focusing on organizational leadership, systems thinking, change management, and sustainability.
- Advocacy and Policy – This strand will support rural leaders in navigating new policy, including planning and implementation across their district or school. This strand will also build the capacity of the fellows to advocate for policy changes, providing a voice for rural schools.
- Navigating Emerging Technologies – Today’s leaders must navigate multifaceted changes to safeguard data privacy, promote responsible digital behavior, and equip students to be future-ready. Fellows will explore strategies for managing these transformations and collaborate to disseminate effective practices throughout the network.
Participants will be identified through an application process that includes understanding their why and interest. Fellows will be accepted on a rolling basis starting June 30, 2026 and concluding in late August.
The cost to participate is $1500, which covers the program as well as registration to the National Forum to Advance Rural Education (NFARE) for 2026 and 2027. Fellows must cover their own travel expenses to attend NFARE.
Fellows will meet five times over the course of the Fellowship: two face to face sessions (during NFARE 2026 and 2027), and three virtual sessions throughout 2026-2027.
Questions about the fellowship network can be directed to Nancy Mangum mangumn@appstate.edu or Theresa Gibson gibsont3@appstate.edu.
