Traces decline of one-room schools from 24,000 in 1959 to about 840 today. Reports findings from 1984 survey of 643 surviving one-room schools in Nebraska, Montana, South Dakota, California, and Wyoming. Includes data on enrollments, teacher qualifications and responsibilities, student achievement, and school facilities/equipment. (NEC)

Academic and social performance of 204 high school students who had attended one-teacher rural elementary schools in Nebraska, South Dakota, and Montana was investigated to determine if small school students were disadvantaged in a larger high school setting. Data gathered by questionnaires from students, school administrators, and counselors…

With the goal of improving citizenship and character education in the elementary school child through learning by doing in the form of a school-based club, the Young Citizens League (YCL) appeared in rural South Dakota early in the twentieth century, introduced by Michael M. Guhin and developed by E.C. Giffen. By 1930, at its peak, it had an…

Materials from the I.D. Weeks Library of the University of South Dakota, relating to country schools and the history of rural education in South Dakota and written between 1874 and 1976, are listed in this annotated bibliography. Publications of the South Dakota Department of Public Instruction include: school laws, some dating back to 1877;…

The document presents organizational details of the 18-month Country School Legacy Project (June 1980-December 1981) to begin an on-going inquiry into the history of rural education and current public policies which affect country schools and which will result in greater public use of library facilities and historical collections in public,…

As revealed in personal interviews, periodicals, published and unpublished manuscripts, and school records, the teachers were the key factor in bringing education and culture to the frontier that was western South Dakota. Many teachers were girls of 16 or 17, inexperienced, hired from states to the east (Minnesota and Iowa), sight unseen.…

Describes one-room country schools in South Dakota--importance of patrons; self-sufficiency and varied skills of teachers; administrators who deal with each school individually; advantages of the students (having several grades taught in one room, small teacher-student ratios, student interdependency, opportunity for creativity, close parental…

As part of an eight-state research effort to locate and preserve information related to country schools, this report examines western South Dakota's country schools as historic sites, country schools as community centers, teachers (their roles, rules, and restrictions), school curriculum, education for Sioux Indians, and country schools today.…

Northeastern South Dakota's country schools are examined in this volume of the Mountain Plains Library Association's eight-state research effort to locate and preserve information related to country schools. Rural school buildings are discussed in the broad social and historical context that shaped their form and style. Both national trends in…

As late as 1938 there were 200,000 one-room schools scattered throughout the United States. By 1978 there were little more than 1,000 in operation. Primary-source research on rural education has now been conducted by 23 researchers in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming, sponsored by the Mountain…

The role of the rural school in southeastern South Dakota from the early days of the frontier to 1981 is examined in this portion of an eight-state research effort to locate and preserve information related to country schools. Three hundred and eleven country schools in 21 southeastern counties are still standing, have been photographed, and are…