University of Maine Partners with Rural Schools Collaborative in New England

Rural Schools Collaborative is excited to continue the legacy of good work and collaboration in New England through a new partnership with the University of Maine. The New England Region has long been an exemplar of school-community engagement, excellent rural educators, and place-based education. RSC is thrilled to welcome UMaine to our growing network of Regional Hubs. We're eager to continue building upon the University's strong foundation of rural expertise and to strengthening the network or rural educators and partners in the region.

Established in 1865, the University of Maine is the flagship university of the University of Maine system and serves a predominantly rural region. UMaine’s College of Education and Human Development has a strong rural focus with a goal of cultivating educational partnerships and practices that sustain healthy and equitable developmental ecologies for rural youth. They have a number of projects and programs that support this focus, including STEM-focused rural education projects, an initiative to train early childhood special educators and other professionals in Maine to serve pre-school aged children with intensive communication needs, a Rural Leadership Program in partnership with the University of Maine at Presque Isle, a growing program in Outdoor Leadership, literacy and social-emotional support programs, accessible hybrid and online graduate programs for educators, and a teacher education program dedicated to geographically diverse placements.

RSC's New England Hub, which includes Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, offers an opportunity to deepen collaboration across the region and beyond. Cat Biddle is working to form an advisory board with representatives from each state in order to guide the work of the Hub. This year, she hopes to map the regional landscape for rural education workforce development by connecting with leaders working on these issues across the region: "I'm looking forward to the opportunity to collaborate with other RSC Hubs and sharing the incredible work that teachers and leaders across the region are doing to support rural schools in New England."

Rural Schools Collaborative is delighted to welcome the University of Maine! UMaine's dedication to direct community engagement and rural programmatic collaborations exemplify the mission-driven regional collaboration that RSC strives to uphold. We look forward to sharing the stories of rural teachers throughout Maine and to future collaborative projects that support the good work of rural educations across the New England region.