Prepared for rural school teachers and administrators, the guide asserts that problems associated with smallness (costs, range and quality of existing programs, and special services to special populations) can be overcome by utilizing various electronic technologies in rural schools. Following an introductory section, Section 2 discusses the…

Designed and written especially for the small, rural school district, this document compiles a variety of materials related to planning and implementing gifted education programs. The guidance model (using the school counselor to direct individualized programs for gifted students within the mainstream) is emphasized as a feasible program for…

Explains seven steps in implementing a computer system for the students, administration, and community of Illinois's Tiskilwa School District: assessing the computer needs, identifying barriers and incentives, identifying and selecting software, selecting appropriate hardware, specifying bid requirements, selecting a vendor and evaluating…

Problems associated with budget, distance, and time often make rural inservice teacher education difficult and impractical. This paper outlines problems encountered by novice online-learners and describes several techniques that helped rural teachers participate and succeed in a Web-based inservice teacher education program. The Peer Coaching…

This handbook synthesizes research on the education of various subpopulations of students who tend to be highly mobile and explores common characteristics and significant differences. It provides a comprehensive array of resources for teachers and schools. Part 1, "Defining Highly Mobile Children and Youth," includes: (1) "Students…

Beginning in middle school, there is an increasing gap between school and the home. In linguistically and ethnically diverse communities, there is often an even greater separation between children's school lives and the home. This toolkit provides teachers, particularly new teachers and those in high-poverty urban and rural communities, with…

This collection of 16 tested ideas for improving teaching and learning evolved from the work of the 1995 Proven Laboratory Practices Task Force charged with identifying and collecting the best and most useful work from the Regional Educational Laboratories. The Regional Educational Laboratory program is the largest research and development…

These guidelines address issues of concern in the preparation of Alaska teachers who will be expected to teach students from diverse backgrounds in a culturally responsive and educationally healthy way. Special attention is given to the preparation of Native and non-Native teachers for small rural schools in Alaska. To assist personnel associated…

Inservice programs are needed to make rural teachers of Native American students more responsive to their unique needs and to increase educational relevance by integrating material from Native culture. Suggestions for teacher inservice programs include Native educational history, dropout research, sociocultural factors, language development, and…

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) 1997 amendments that are important to rural schools are funding compliance requirements, changes in identification and evaluation of students with disabilities, and qualitative standards for providing special education and related services. Guidelines resulting from court decisions are presented…

A long-standing challenge for special education personnel is how to appropriately involve Spanish-dominant migrant parents in the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) process, especially in rural agriculturally based school districts. Twelve recommendations for the IEP process are presented related to parent rights, parent orientation to school…

In Australia, many teachers begin their careers in rural schools, a posting for which they are often ill-prepared. This book addresses the concerns of beginning teachers or other teachers about to take up rural appointments. The first chapter examines the context of rural schools, differentiates between "rural education" (education…

This guide is part of an initiative to support the efforts of the Organizations Concerned about Rural Education (OCRE) in helping rural school districts plan for school improvement. The guide outlines a one-day workshop to help focus attention on ways to gain community support and plan initiatives. After explaining how to plan the workshop, the…

One of a series to aid facilitators who train rural career guidance program staff, this module emphasizes the importance of planning in the development of a comprehensive career guidance program. A conceptual model for a planning and implementation cycle is presented, examined, and applied to the initial steps of program planning. Topics addressed…

The transparency masters appearing in 14 modules in the "Facilitator's Guide to Staff Training for the Rural America Series" have been compiled in this document to facilitate their duplication and to insure the integrity of the entire system by placing an extra copy of each transparency in a binder for easy access. The masters are in the…