In this descriptive and comparative study, we present results highlighting the complexity and scope of the challenges facing rural districts as they navigate the changing demographics of the students and families they serve. Rapid increases in the number and concentration of racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse students in rural areas…

Uses data from 1985 and 1988 surveys of 48 rural West Virginia school districts to assess changes in patterns of personnel deployment and program implementation related to students with severe disabilities. Examines staff ratios, certification issues, teacher recruitment and retention problems, service delivery, and service configurations.…

According to the definition that a rural school district is one in which 75% or more of the population lives outside Standard Metropolitan Areas or in which student density is equal to or less than 10 pupils per square miles, 36 or 65% of West Virginia's 55 counties are classified as rural. State school policies do not specifically recognize the…

A survey examined perceptions among superintendents, principals, and special education administrators concerning the role of the special education administrator in West Virginia school systems. All 55 county school superintendents, all 55 district-level special education administrators, and 150 public school principals were sent a survey…

The problems of rural students at risk of school failure and incompletion are in many ways similar to problems of urban low-income children and young people. These problems include poverty, unemployed parents, substance abuse, low self-esteem, child abuse, and sexual activity. However, children in many chronically depressed and isolated rural…

West Virginia is recognized as the second most sparsely populated state in the nation. Legislation that intended to upgrade the quality of education in the state was passed in 1988. Some educational leaders argued that statewide reform must consider the uniqueness of sparse, rural school districts in the state, taking into account issues such as…

Argues that the "social capital" provided to schools by parent and community involvement has been eroded in rural areas by school consolidation, centralization, and urban models, placing all rural students at risk. Traces this erosion in one rural West Virginia school district. Contains 19 references. (SV)

Braxton County, West Virginia, is a subculture in which the norms and values of local residents are oppositional to state and national objectives for public education. Describes the role of the locally born county superintendent as a cultural change agent, and his strategies for overcoming poor community support and limited financial resources to…

A distance education program trained teachers in West Virginia and Missouri rural school districts to implement the Life Centered Career Education Curriculum, a comprehensive K-12 transitional program. The program allowed educators in rural school districts to access a campus-based training course and begin incorporating transitional…

This report examines factors that contribute to the differences in local education funding, per pupil revenue, and local resident ability to support present and future educational services in West Virginia. Based on a variety of data generated during 1989-92, the study indicates: (1) the differences in support for local education are attributed to…

Reviews a book that documents the circumstances surrounding the closure of a small, rural West Virginia high school. The book's strength derives largely from its crossing of disciplinary borders to address social, political, and economic factors that have influenced changing educational values and the trend toward consolidation in rural West…