Appendices A s the first Challenge projects reach middle age, several challenges within the Challenge come into starker focus. First, it must continue to discern the actual impact of each project on students. The Challenge wishes not simply to introduce new structures, or opportunities for professional development, or community involvement in schooling, but through such means to benefit students.
Citizens can help change entrenched public school systems in fundamental ways.
It must always close that vital loop, reaching beyond program implementation to assess what those programs mean in the lives of young people. Challenge projects must also use their status as intermediary change agents to further influence educational policies and to spread best practices. As well, the Challenge must ensure that the experience gained and analyzed along the way in the first projects informs the development of newer Challenge projects. Finally, the Challenge must prepare for its own metamorphosis, developing strategies for continuing the work once Annenberg funding ends. The Rural Challenge has already designed a successor organization, called the Rural School and Community Trust.