This study addressed two types of delivery methods for professional development in educational technology. Face-to-face and online professional development sessions were held in a rural elementary school, located in Western Kentucky, with the purpose of teaching strategies for implementing educational technology. The researcher gave pre and…

Perceived educational strengths and weaknesses of Appalachian schools are examined as indicators of school effectiveness in this study, which is based on the formula that the expectations people have of schools minus the perceptions of how those expectations are met equals a dissonance factor. The School Effectiveness Inventory (SEI), which…

Since the 1990-91 school year, an ongoing project has studied the implementation of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) in four rural Kentucky school districts. Study methods have included over 1,200 interviews with various stakeholders, observation of over 500 classroom instruction hours, and a comprehensive review of key documents. This…

This autobiography relates the early teaching experiences of Kentucky teacher and author Jesse Stuart (1906-1984). Barely 17 years old, he first taught in a one-room, isolated rural school in eastern Kentucky for $60 a month. His 35 barefoot students in the eight grades ranged in age from 5 to 20 years. The students' passion for learning…

Jesse Stuart, poet, novelist, lecturer, teacher, principal, superintendent, educational reformer, and farmer, approached education as a calling or sacred quest. In his books he portrays the teacher as a devoted liberator and nurturer, a hero rescuing children and their families from decline, illiteracy, or economic instability. Stuart's…

This paper examines how inclusion services are delivered in Kentucky rural regular schools. Survey responses were received from special educators in 261 rural regular schools throughout Kentucky. Vocational schools, treatment centers, alternative schools, and other special schools were not included in the survey. Results indicate that…

A total of 155 educators in rural Kentucky participated in 4 inservice education sessions on learning disabilities and adaptive teaching, delivered via an interactive telecommunications network. Participants' reactions indicated that interactive television was an acceptable format for delivery of inservice education. (Author/JDD)

While the appropriate duties of elementary and secondary school counselors have been well defined by various professional organizations, these duties remain unclear in the middle school level. This study was conducted to examine the perceptions of teachers, administrators, parents, and students in grades six through eight concerning the…

The first 27 pages of this report summarize the efforts to develop a favorable climate toward career education in the schools of an eight-county area of Kentucky. The area is beset by occupatioanl, housing, educational, and geographical problems. Orientation meetings were held for superintendents and directors, career education coordinators,…

The grassroots Rural Communities Educational Cooperative (RCEC) made higher education accessible/affordable to adults in rural Appalachian communities, designed courses for competency-based rural education, and received high ratings from students and faculty. The Mountain Women's Exchange--a network of seven community organizations run by…

This document consists of the first five issues of "Notes from the Field," a serial documenting a 5-year study of the implementation of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) of 1990 in four rural Kentucky school districts. The first issue provides a brief overview of KERA policies and the status of their implementation in the study…

Interviews conducted in Kentucky's Fifth Congressional District sought answers for improving educational quality in the district, which has the highest dropout rate, the lowest holding power, and the lowest standardized test scores in Kentucky. Members of the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development interviewed 155 people from 15 of…