This paper describes the Rural Teaching Effectiveness Network, created to overcome difficulties associated with offering staff development experiences in rural Maryland. The long distances often required to attend staff development activities can discourage rural teachers' commitment. Similar problems exist in creating standards of professional practice in teacher education programs. The goals of the Teaching Effectiveness Network (TEN) include encouraging continuity between higher education courses and school experiences, promoting teacher education research, and improving supervision. The TEN consists of collaborative teams of staff specialists from the Maryland State Department of Education, institutions of higher education, and local school system personnel. Week-long summer institutes and workshops were conducted to generate network cooperation in rural areas. By the TEN's third year, participants were responsible for coordinating the summer institute, providing presentations, and serving as mentors in local programs for lower-level participants. TEN uses as its core content the Mastery Teaching principles developed and packaged by Madeline Hunter (1982). Since initiation of the TEN in 1984, two universities have incorporated the effective teaching principles into their preservice and graduate programs. Participation of teachers has consistently increased and evaluative data suggest a positive response from participants. For rural school systems with comparable resources, the structure and strategy of the network is replicative. A large capital investment is not required, but a willingness to allow educators time to communicate and collaborate is imperative. (TES)