The Annenberg Rural Challenge represents a large national effort to transform rural schools and communities. Among its dominant themes are that students should come to know their local communities well, that communities should see schools and students as critical assets, and that communities and schools need to become more integrated. As part of a 4-year longitudinal evaluation, this report focuses on student work in schools receiving Rural Challenge grants and the connection of student work to local communities. The first section conceptualizes a pedagogy of place and examines the range and diversity of student work seen in Rural Challenge sites. This range and diversity is defined around the following characteristics: connection to place; complexity; students' development of expertise as technologists, as environmental scientists, and as genuine citizens; and importance to the community in terms of response to community needs, development of student leadership, work with enduring qualities, and changes in community expectations of schools. A section on mutuality describes how diverse groups in Rural Challenge communities are coming together around common goals and working to enhance quality of life and a local future for young people. A section on expanding the "work of place," discusses barriers to expanding the role of local context in the curriculum and the ways in which some sites have changed these constraints into opportunities. Appendices include the evaluation plan, methodology, and a list of Rural Challenge sites. (SV)