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…

Based on the rural life experiences of Iowa children who grew up during the great farm crisis of the 1980s, this book focuses on successful adolescent development and its links to the social resources of families with ties to the land. In 1989, the Iowa Youth and Families Project began a panel study of 451 two-parent families in north central…

This volume attempts to document ways in which several communities have dealt with the problems of declining school enrollments. Each case study outlines some type of public participation in the task of adjusting to population changes and fiscal pressures. The first chapter supplies an introductory overview of issues related to declining…

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…