The program Effective Schooling in Rural Africa was developed by the Basic Education Cluster of the World Bank in response to concerns about poor quality schooling in rural Africa. This report draws on a multi-agency working group meeting held in June 2000 and on subsequent work to outline some key elements of the information base for quality education in rural Africa. The following themes are examined: (1) the context of schooling in rural Africa (schooling as an interrupted process, rural schooling and living conditions, poor teaching quality, formal schooling not connected to rural community needs, and rural education not a high government priority); (2) features of good schooling, particularly good teacher-pupil relationships, support for learning difficulties, and good communication with parents; (3) priority issues in school improvement related to teacher performance and development, accuracy of data, school improvement processes, relevance of learning, effective system support, parent and community support, and health links; (4) the use of knowledge in the school improvement process and the knowledge gaps for each priority issue; and (5) the role of aid agencies in the change process. An appendix lists working group participants. (SV)