Addresses differences between rural and urban communities in terms of family characteristics, home life, cultural values, social norms, and economic structures. Implications for rural special education include understanding the diversity of rural communities, developing relationship-based services, and considering ecocultural factors when…

A review of rural and urban demographics reveals that rural areas are experiencing increasing diversity in their student population, decreasing sense of community, and increasing similarity to the challenges faced by urban and suburban schools. As the distinctions between urban and rural areas become less pronounced, will the benefits of rural…

This report summarizes demographic information about rural populations in the United States and discusses a variety of issues that are relevant to rural youth poverty. Although recent poverty rates for rural areas were higher than urban poverty rates, the media and political forces have almost completely neglected the rural poor. Extensive census…

Most of the nonmetropolitan poor live in a household with at least one worker. In 1987, 70% of nonmetro poor family heads who were not ill, disabled, or retired worked for at least part of the year, and 24% worked full time, year-round. The employed proportion of the poor was significantly larger in nonmetro than metro areas. Despite a lengthy…

Analysis of current literature indicates that the process and the outcome of social studies education in rural communities is little different from that in the rest of the country. Despite the excitement surrounding the "Foxfire" program in rural Georgia and the efforts of curriculum innovators, students in rural America are likely to encounter a…

This paper examines and questions popular ideas about education and its relationship to the economic well-being of individuals, communities, regions, and the nation. It suggests that the criteria used to develop economic and educational strategies have produced mixed results at best, especially in rural areas. Since family income is related to…

Although roots of adult education can be traced back more than a century, rural adult education is an emerging discipline in American education which has yet to develop an established research base. Recent research has established that rural adult learners look like, act like, and learn like urban adult learners, but their opportunities for…

This paper reviews 20 cross-cultural studies conducted with the Defining Issues Test (DIT). All or part of the samples in the studies were non-Americans who had not been a part of the populations presented in the DIT manual. The studies were aimed at the comparison of moral reasoning structure and development across cultures. Several aspects of…

School psychologists who work in rural areas face difficult problems because of the setting in which they practice. Traditional models for delivering psychological services in urban and suburban schools are not typically generalizable to rural service delivery. Rural school districts tend to be closed and rigid, reflecting the nature of the…

A review of research yields nine conclusions concerning mathematics achievement among rural and urban students. Among them are that currently a national rural vs. non-rural mathematics achievement gap does not exist; at the state level, a rural vs. non-rural achievement gap exists in 40 percent of the states, and that gap is evenly split between…

Reviews and assesses rural child welfare and rural child welfare services as they exist today. Reviews the literature showing the rural social worker is probably most successful as a generalist who deals with a child as part of an interlocking system involving the school, family, and community. (Author)

Discusses contextual factors (geography, community idiosyncrasies, personal relationships, formal resource scarcity, community resource accessibility, external force influence, visibility, "Jack-of-All-Trades") affecting practices of rural child welfare workers. Points out similarities/differences in child welfare work in urban and rural…

Recommends implementing specialized preparation for rural preschool teachers to function effectively as distance educators. Addresses differences between urban and rural environments affecting education; the important role of parents as educators in distance education; and the need for distance education preschool teachers to reconceptualize their…

Examines school-funding equity litigation concerning rural schools, effects of political power on rural funding, rural and urban competition for funding, unique funding problems of rural schools, the growing threat to equity posed by sales-tax funding schemes, and future funding-litigation strategies for rural schools. Tables list relevant federal…

This article uses survey data to describe some common elements among rural vocational rehabilitation programs and differentiate them from their urban counterparts. The survey of 173 Goodwill Industries centers brought 78 responses. Thirteen centers (17%) characterized themselves as entirely rural; 22 (28%) as nonrural, and 43 organizations said…