As editors Sara L. Hartman and Bob Klein acknowledge, rural places have long experienced systemic inequities that decrease rural students' access to education, yet many rural schools and communities have found creative means to make up for the dearth of outside resources. "The Middle of Somewhere" brings to light a wide variety of…

Family literacy is a form of intergenerational learning that is based on the fundamental connection and interaction between the education of children, young people and adults. The family--in its broader sense--builds the foundation for lifelong learning. This book was published to help promote literacy by raising the understanding and awareness of…

Interest in the rural context of education is growing, and connections between education and the wider rural community are increasingly acknowledged to be important. Hundreds of organizations were contacted to update this directory, which provides recent information on programs, organizations, and resources useful to practitioners, policymakers,…

This handbook presents a snapshot view of the use of telecommunications technologies to deliver instruction to distant audiences of K-12 students in the United States. The information is intended specifically for people who work in and with small, rural, or remote schools. Available technologies and programming vary widely in offerings and…

Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP) grants give rural districts a new source of federal funds. REAP has two separate programs that address the specific needs of rural districts. The first is the Small and Rural Schools Achievement Program; the second is the Rural and Low Income Schools Program. Explains the differences in the programs and…

Rural schools in Utah responded to state and local calls for school reform by implementing Outcome Based Education (OBE) programs beginning in March 1984. Significant improvements in learning have occurred as measured by test scores. Workshops introduced rural educators to OBE which provided a philosophical and operational framework for school…

To determine the extent to which states are able to assess their provision of services to typically underserved populations, this study interviewed 16 Part H (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) state coordinators. Major findings indicated: (1) six states identified their rural population as most underserved and six identified one or more…

Project CIRCUIT (Curriculum Improvement Resulting from Creative Utilization of Instructional Two-Way Television), a two-way interactive video and audio system serving the schools of Trempealeau County, Wisconsin, was evaluated in its second year through interviews with teachers, students, administrators, and the project director, and examination…

Research studies have shown that students in rural high schools have fewer science role models, participate less frequently in extracurricular science activities, and have less science career information than do their peers in more cosmopolitan settings. Furthermore, girls in rural schools may be particularly disadvantaged. For example, analyses…

In response to the increasing need of rural public schools for teachers who can function in more than one teaching area, Arkansas College initiated a program for students to become certified in both special education and elementary education. Through this dual, 4-year program, the employment prospects of students are increased, the needs of area…

Many rural school districts struggling with declining elementary school enrollments will soon face the more complex problems of declining high school enrollment. School districts with only one high school do not have the option of consolidation and must find innovative solutions to the problem of maintaining educational quality with dwindling…

The University of Washington has designed a rural track in its master's level training program in early childhood special education. This paper reports on the components of the training program and the results of the first two years of teacher preparation, including placement of trainees in rural practicum sites. (Author/JDD)

In the face of declining enrollments, many Iowa rural school districts have begun sharing superintendents. In 1988-89, 88 districts shared 44 superintendents; 42 of these participated in structured interviews for this study. All participants were male. Interviewees indicated that most school boards had undertaken the new arrangement because the…

This guide aims to facilitate research and policy analysis in rural education by linking substantive issues to the data sources of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The guide may be used in two ways: as a handy tool for scanning NCES data that are presented with immediately applicable issues; and to stimulate, with sample…

The 3-year qualitative study evaluated high-school special education programs and their contributions to the transition of youth with disabilities. This report focuses on: the current status of programs for transition from school to adult life; program gaps as seen by administrators and practitioners; and reported priorities for program…