There are 339 schools in Texas that are struggling, defined as "improvement required" by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) (txschools.gov, 2018) and received a "F" rating due to low academic performance. This designation is earned through a formula that measures general student achievement, school progress based on a comparison of previous year's standardized test scores, and the ability to close the academic achievement gaps among student groups (TEA, 2018a). Of these "improvement required" schools, 201 are elementary, 71 are middle, and 56 are high school (TEA, 2018b). This data suggests there is significant need for strategies that turn around the academic performance of schools, and rural schools have fewer resources to utilize. Leveraging university partnerships is one way for a campus to get support for turnaround initiatives. This case study will look at a rural elementary campus that took the steps to become a school turnaround campus through a partnership with a local university.