In small rural schools, despite the nourishing sense of community, there is the constant danger of professional isolation. Without enough colleagues for a typically structured PLC, teachers have plenty of community but not enough structured professional learning. With the NW RISE network, however, rural educators are connecting with "job-alike" peers in other states so they can plan lessons across schools; develop shared curricula; and place students in direct contact with one another as writers, readers, and mathematicians.