Rural × Urban Learning Exchange
A structured experience where educators from rural and urban schools spend two days inside each other's schools, then return home to design something new for their students based on what they saw.
Who it serves: Practicing teachers from rural schools (Mendocino County, Tehama County, Napa County, & Humboldt County) and urban schools (Alameda County, Solano County, & Contra Costa County). Cross-context, cross-geography. Participants receive a stipend.
What it includes:
A two-day in-person visit to a school in the opposite context (rural teachers visit urban; urban teachers visit rural)
Student-led site experience: students set the tone, answer questions, show what they're working on
Structured reflection and sense-making during and after the visit
Return home with a co-designed project or intervention for their own students
A culminating prototype or artifact (exact form to be co-created with first cohort)
The experience moves through four designed stages: disorientation → recognition → student moment → return.
Scale: Cohort-based pilot.
Outcomes: Educators return with a new project for their students. They build a lasting cross-context professional relationship. A shared artifact makes the case for future cohorts.
