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…

To support rural postsecondary students' college access and completion, researchers, policy makers, and educators need a more comprehensive understanding of their demographic characteristics and financial needs, especially compared to nonrural students. Previous rural-nonrural analyses have not disaggregated students by degree type (bachelor's,…

Much of the Northwest Region (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington) is rural in nature. A characteristic of the extractive economies such as timber, agriculture, mining, and fisheries is that they are generally located in small communities isolated by distances. While schools in these communities face the same challenges as those in…

Purpose: The overall purpose of this exploratory research was to better understand rural educators' feelings about school-based sex education in order to foster better communication and collaboration between prevention researchers and rural teachers and administrators. In order to accomplish this purpose, the research question asked "How does…

Examines racial composition of population growth in 75 Midwestern counties experiencing substantial immigration; concludes that the inmigrant stream is predominantly White. Examines reasons given by 500 urban-to-rural migrants to those counties. Suggests exploration of the hypothesis that racial aversion is implicated in migration to rural areas.…

The four conceptual/academic themes for the Second Annual University of Kentucky Conference on Appalachia were: School-Community Relationships; Economic Development through Education; Politics of Democratic Empowerment; and Politics of Literacy. Other session topics included: Successful Dropout Programs in Appalachia; Innovative Programs and…

Oil, gas, and agriculture are the bases of rural Oklahoma's economy, and income from these sectors varied widely during the 1980s. This study investigated revenue sources and the effects of changing revenues for county and town governments and school systems in 36 rural Oklahoma counties. Major sources of local revenue were sales taxes, property…

Begun in 1978 to provide Queensland's South-West and Central Priority Country schools with a comprehensive maintenance and repair service for most audio-visual equipment, the Technical Maintenance Officer Service (TMO) serves 76 schools with total enrollment exceeding 13,000 pupils dispersed over a 469,000 square kilometer area. Two trained…

This study examined student attitudes and behaviors regarding campus safety at a large rural university. A 31-item instrument was developed, and a panel of eight expert judges reviewed the survey items. A total of 16 residence halls participated in the study, and 970 surveys were distributed with 529 returns. A principal components analysis…

Information available on rural education remains startlingly inadequate--partly because of the great diversity of rural areas, because agencies responsible for data collection disagree on the definition of small/rural schools, and because large metropolitan schools have received far more than their share of attention, research, and financial…

Maintains that rural school reform in California between 1900 and 1940 was motivated by many of the same concerns that underlay the national movement to reform rural education. Describes the growth of state control over classroom teachers. (CFR)

Asserts that there is an educational crisis in the Arkhangel'sk area of Russia. Summarizes research studies of students and teachers to illustrate low teacher morale, student dissatisfaction, and low pay for all educators. Argues for financial autonomy for educational institutions. (CFR)

Presents study results of teaching social studies in a rural environment. Addresses size of school, teacher preparation in social studies, teacher orientation toward teaching content, and achievement scores. Concludes that teachers in rural schools have more positive opinions of their students but need additional teaching materials and inservice…

In many states renewed attempts at school reorganization may be the sole policy response to solving the rural school improvement issue. Reorganization should be resisted because benefits of reorganization are mixed, good rural schools have many strengths, and the demise of rural schools will damage the infrastructure of rural America. (JHZ)