Equity-Focused Leadership in Rural California: Understanding Rurality, Indigenous Education, and Disaster Preparedness

California is the most populous state in the U.S. and contains a significant number of rural districts serving a sizable, diverse population of rural students including recent immigrants, migrant students, emergent bilinguals, and Indigenous children. It is important to address the state’s rural contexts from an asset-based perspective that both leverages their unique strengths and attends to their specific needs through localized and differentiated equity-centered leadership. Research and practice often frame rural contexts in direct comparison to urban contexts, creating a lens through which the inherent strengths and unique positionality of rural contexts become de-emphasized. This is particularly true in educational settings within which strengths are often cited as secondary to or resulting from challenges and barriers. Three key issues illustrate important assets embedded in rural contexts: terminology and definitions relevant to rural contexts, Indigenous education, and natural disasters. These issues have implications for equitable school leadership, professional learning, and rural education systems.