Teachers in rural settings find it difficult to access quality professional development that can improve student science achievement. These teachers are serving the 10 million students, or about 19% percent of the nation's total public school enrollment, who attend school in a rural district. Studies show that long-term, in-depth methods of teacher learning are the most successful, but few professional development opportunities exist for teachers in rural districts, and access to university-sponsored resources is also limited. Rural teachers and schools are often invisible as they are dwarfed by the needs of larger urban districts in dense population areas. To assist with science professional development for rural teachers, the San Joaquin County Office of Education's Office of Science and Special Projects in Stockton, California, formed a multicounty consortium of 26 rural districts and 44 schools and launched a major project to offer professional development to teachers in grades 4-8. This article describes the Science STARTS project (Science & Technology Achievement for Rural Teachers and Small Districts) which was funded by the California Department of Education as part of the California Math/Science Partnership initiative. A key component of this professional development focused on improving teachers' ability to implement the California Science Standards effectively, as well as to learn strategies for teaching the many English language learners they were encountering.