A 3-year study of educational reform in rural Alaska centered around case studies in seven rural communities and school districts serving primarily Eskimo and American Indian students. Each community had embarked on a reform process called Alaska Onward to Excellence (AOTE) that strove to create educational partnerships between schools and their communities. The study examined how educational partnerships were formed and sustained and how they ultimately benefited Alaska Native students. A focal point was the nature of systemic change, which in rural Alaska means to fully integrate the indigenous knowledge system and the formal education system. Major findings that emerged from a cross-case analysis of the case studies were categorized into six themes: (1) sustained long-term reform; (2) strong and consistent leadership; (3) personal relationships between school personnel and community; (4) educational partnerships; (5) rural schools and communities; and (6) educational goals. The report includes executive summaries of the seven case studies and reform-related recommendations for rural schools. (Contains 25 references.) (SV)