In 1918, Minnesota county superintendent Julius Arp argued that the greatest educational problem facing the American people was the Rural School Problem, saying: "There is no defect more glaring today than the inequality that exists between the educational facilities of the urban and rural communities. Rural education in the United States has…

The benefits of regional cooperation among small rural school districts are stressed in this brief description of the Educational Cooperative Service Unit (ECSU) currently serving 63,800 students in 104 member districts. A section on historical background traces the ECSU's forerunners, e.g., an educational media center established in 1965, the…

A University of Minnesota model for low incidence preservice special education teacher training is focused on visual impairment education and requires completion of four graduate level components for licensure. This model attempts to be flexible and address the needs of the field in providing qualified personnel that will remain in local school…

The 61 cooperative vocational centers in Minnesota are joint efforts of 2 or more neighboring school districts to provide secondary vocational education and to strengthen, extend and expand existing vocational programs. Begun as pilot projects in 1968, the centers focus on introducing students to a variety of occupations, providing career…

One of the four case studies addressing access of rural students to vocational education through inter-school district cooperation, the Heartland case study represents the decentralized variation of the center cooperative school pattern, identifies essential features of this form of cooperation, details factors facilitating/impeding the…

The centralized secondary center pattern of inter-school district cooperation is examined in this third of four case studies addressing access of rural students to vocational education. The report identifies essential features of this form of cooperation, details factors facilitating/impeding the operation/maintenance of the cooperative…

This paper summarizes the 16 projects that have been funded by the Minnesota Extension Service to demonstrate innovative and effective uses of technology in adult education. Several of the projects are described in detail. Actual and anticipated impacts are examined, and suggested strategies that others can apply to reach and empower rural adult…

This collection contains descriptions of model entrepreneurship education programs submitted by 10 states. The first section deals with the Colorado Network of Small Business Programs and the Colorado Entrepreneurship Education Infusion Project. Described next is a model teacher education program in entrepreneurship education that was implemented…