The close-knit, personal nature of small rural communities results in school and community operating as a single integrated social structure. Useful rural school improvement strategies must, therefore, address needs that are recognized by both the local school and the community and must operate in a style congruent with the local setting. Although…

From 1912 to 1921, Iowa was the center of national attention as state and local education leaders attempted to implement a new model of rural education. This model was part of the Country Life Movement, whose proponents sought to create a more modern future for farm families, an alternative form of rural community that combined the advantages of…

This book depicts the lives of women who taught school in the late 19th and early 20th centuries on the prairies and plains of Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska. The book is based on the narratives, letters, and diaries of 96 schoolwomen and on interviews with living pioneers, memoirs, school reports, photographs, and other documents. Part 1 includes…