Teachers and administrators preparing for small or rural schools need better preparation in the sociological and economic factors prevalent in nonmetropolitan education. Although each geographic area has different needs, educators must be made aware of the cultural, social, and economic factors of the areas they serve. Preparation programs for teachers going into rural schools should be focused on producing a generalist in education, thus preparing teachers to cope with multi-grade-multi-subject teaching loads and with extracurricular activities. Leadership from state departments of education and from colleges of education is needed to upgrade rural and small school teacher preparation and certification programs. Preservice teacher programs alone do not suffice; inservice programs are essential to the continued growth of rural educators and to the promotion of better relations between communities, schools, and colleges of education. This state-of-the-art review describes the need for better teacher preparation and certification for teachers going into rural or small schools, looks at current preservice and inservice programs and models, and suggests ways to upgrade the status of rural teacher preparation and certification. (Author/AH)