in this paper, we discuss the implications for gifted students of challenges facing rural schools. We explore 4 challenges with particular relevance to rural schools: (a) declining population, (b) persistent poverty, (c) changing demographics, and (d) ongoing accountability requirements. recommendations positioned to address these challenges include providing special instruction using distance education, making use of broad definitions of giftedness, making use of various acceleration strategies, and encouraging talented students to plan for meaningful careers in their home communities. introduction The purpose of this paper is to review relevant literature-particularly literature published in the past 5 years-that helps explain how challenges facing rural schools impact gifted students. These challenges are not new, and they certainly have an impact on many students in these schools, not just those who are gifted. Nevertheless, we believe that the challenges and schools' responses to them have different ramifications for gifted children than for other, nongifted peers. Arguably these challenges give educators opportunities to explore creative alternatives, but challenges often elicit restricted and conventional responses (e.g., see DiMaggio & Powell, 1983). For example, in many rural schools, educators persist in using age-based grouping even when students of various ages are placed in the same multiage classroom. And often, rural districts ask teachers of the gifted to travel to several small schools-an approach that not only Journal for the Education of the Gifted 516 contributes to teacher burnout but also consigns students to special instruction that tends to be both time-limited and superficial. Furthermore, even creative responses are likely to have different impacts on different groups of students. Approaches selected by rural schools-even those with a great deal of promise for most studentsmay or may not provide particular benefits to gifted students. In addition, only some school districts address challenges strategically. Many take a reactive stance, grudgingly changing to meet external demands in predictable ways (e.g., Sarason, 2002). In order to illustrate these dynamics and their likely implications for the education of gifted students, we explore four challenges with particular relevance to rural schools: (a) declining population, (b) persistent poverty, (c) changing demographics, and (d) ongoing accountability requirements. Declining population Despite considerable variability, many rural regions of the United States, especially those that are more remote, have been losing population (McGranahan & Beale, 2002). Some commentators also talk about a related issue-the loss of the most highly educated people from rural areas, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as "brain drain" (Artz, 2003). Not only researchers, but rural residents as well are aware of the tendency for children to leave rural communities once they receive a college degree. In fact, some families discourage their children from attendin...