Third, despite the many constraints and challenges of high poverty and rural contexts, effective rural educational leaders utilize a variety of leadership practices to develop formal and informal linkages with multiple community sources to help accomplish their mission. Valuable school-community linkages are based on collaboration and active engagement of parents and constituencies from throughout the school and the community. School-community linkages extend beyond the local community to agencies and organizations with mutual interests, including colleges and universities that may be a significant distance from the high school.