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…

The purpose of this article is to help education practitioners and researchers understand that research about rural education is complicated not only by issues of defining "rural," but also by the often dramatic ways that rural schools differ from each other. We briefly address issues in defining rural and describe rural classification…

This book is the first comprehensive account of developments in open and distance non-formal education in developing countries for over more than 20 years. It includes many instructive and inspiring examples of how international agencies such as UNESCO, FAO, WHO, UNICEF, USAID and the Commonwealth of Learning and national providers are using…

In comparing one public school to another, discussions frequently include talk concerning the socio economics of a school or district, which then leads to talk about the advantages that one socioeconomic setting has over another. Educators tend to agree that low academic achievement frequently associated with a low socioeconomic status is a…

In this article, I report on findings from a case study examining the relationship between formal education and out-migration in a Canadian coastal community from the early 1960s to the late 1990s. Although high rates of village-level out-migration were chronic, most migration trajectories were short-range. Contrary to large-scale quantitative…

Gives 1986 National Rural and Small Schools Consortium Conference definitions for rural school district, small school district, and remote/isolated school, providing common terms for communicating with legislators, federal/state policymakers, and researchers. Emphasizes "ruralness" as a continuum affected by the interaction of…

Describes the role of education in the development of the economy of a village in Sichuan province. Uses the planning employed by this village as a model and furnishes examples of specific steps taken to confront multiple problems in providing education for growth and economic development. (NL)

Discusses Participatory Rural Appraisal, a research method that shifts the impetus for research in rural development from outside experts to rural people. Residents do their own investigations, share their knowledge, and own the outcomes. Rather than use standard questionnaires, information gathered is represented in visual form using maps,…

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,…

Explains a strategy for the design and development of instructional programs for educational television in developing nations using a modified version of the Shannon-Weaver Communication Model. Highlights include design strategy, manner of presentation, and stages of program development. The importance of making materials realistic and culturally…

Research indicates that Nebraska's rural elementary school districts most in need of funding through the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act's Chapter 2 block grants are least likely to apply, whereas districts with more positive demographic, economic, and educational statistics participate at a higher rate. Differing regional attitudes…

This report examines the educational status of ethnic and racial minorities in Alaska and draws attention to the ways demographic changes in Alaska may affect these groups. The Alaska Native population, as opposed to other ethnic minorities, is the focal point of this study. This is the largest minority group in the state and the one experiencing…

Many have argued that, despite the meritocratic ideals of equal access and social mobility that underpin examination-governed education hierarchies, the rural majority are typically excluded or eliminated in the early stages of the competition. The scholastic nature of the uniform curricula, much of which has little relevance to rural life,…

Rural schools, which comprise 67% of the nation's school systems, experience distinct educational environments and have unique strengths and weaknesses. Quality research to assess the effectiveness of rural education has been hampered by inconsistently applied definitions of "rural" and inadequate data to compare rural and urban…

Begun in June 1984, the national study utilized questionnaires from 461 rural education researchers and practitioners to provide the first empirical data for prioritization of rural education research needs. Since conducting and supporting rural education research are clearly federal functions, the study was prepared for dissemination to federal…