In recent years, the issue of rural development has been the focus of state policy. In 2019, the state program "integrated rural development" was adopted in accordance with the decree of the government of the Russian Federation No. 696 of may 31, 2019 "On approval of the state program of the Russian Federation "Integrated rural development". Rural development is a complex task that involves a number of areas. One of the most important, according to popular opinion, is the development of rural schools. It should be noted that the current problems of rural school development have been highlighted in a number of works by Russian researchers. At the same time, the complexity of the problem and its multidimensional nature, according to the authors of the article, require the study of successful foreign experience, which, after understanding, could be implemented on Russian soil. In the developed countries of the world, considerable experience has been accumulated in the development of rural territories in terms of social orientation and complexity of their development, in which the rural school plays a key role. In General, the European and American models of state support for rural development and rural schools differ in their approaches to state support for rural development. Perspective, according to the authors, is the following directions in development of Russian rural schools: the formation of school-based community center; the extension of the educational environment due to the public spaces of the village; the organisation of production on the basis of a rural school.