The U.S. Department of Education’s blog Stakeholder Engagement – A Checklist for Rural Education Systems emphasizes how rural districts can refine and customize their engagement strategies to build authentic and lasting connections within their communities. The resource highlights the importance of tailoring messages and activities to local cultural norms, accounting for the limited staff capacity in rural schools, and planning engagement so that initiatives endure beyond leadership turnover. Tools like the Effective Communications for Stakeholder Engagement Checklist help rural leaders identify key messengers, map relationships, and prioritize feasible actions over time. This focus on flexible, locally grounded strategies directly connects to Aspen CSG’s broader mission of equipping rural leaders with practical, community-centered tools to strengthen long-term capacity and resilience.
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT—A CHECKLIST FOR RURAL EDUCATION SYSTEMS
