This report is a series of interviews with fifteen citizens experienced in school community relations at five different sites across the nation. A background section presents the rationale for and the design of these interviews and introduces the participants. The greater portion of the report presents a summary of and commentary on the interviews…

In many states renewed attempts at school reorganization may be the sole policy response to solving the rural school improvement issue. Reorganization should be resisted because benefits of reorganization are mixed, good rural schools have many strengths, and the demise of rural schools will damage the infrastructure of rural America. (JHZ)

Rural school districts are experiencing an influx of language minority students. Rural communities generally have little experience with people from other cultures and have fewer resources and bilingual people. At the district level, leaders who view the influx of immigrants in a positive light are more likely to prepare a well thought out plan…

This book presents information from a study of Teach for America, an alternative teacher education program that recruits and trains people with degrees in fields other than education to work in urban and rural schools with chronic teacher shortages, poverty, and minority students. The book is an effort to understand how different discourses of…

Asserts that school democratization efforts in Russia have resulted in students and their interests becoming more important than government-appointed school inspectors. Contends that teacher-student relations have become democratized as teachers have abandoned the authoritarian methods of the past. (CFR)

Provides an overview of cultural issues in rural schools serving American-Indian students. Discusses an Eastern-Cherokee school as a typical example, culture and democratic values in education, Indian cultural influences on education, learning styles, dropout concerns, history of Indian education policy, and cultural sensitivity of teachers.…

A counselor at a rural high school in New York reflects on her career and addresses issues facing rural school counselors. She chose a career in school counseling based on her interests in education, community involvement, and adolescents. As the only high school counselor for 280 students, she soon realized that rural youth faced many of the same…

This collection of conference presentations focuses on the twin themes of restructuring and technology in rural schools. Rural America's increasingly polarized demographics, political leadership voids, teacher training, renewal strategies, and ever-shrinking budgets are discussed, along with ongoing media criticism, which is a reality for all…

Programs must be designed to remove barriers to equitable vocational education. Barriers to such programs are erosion of public and special interest group confidence in the educational system; lack of systematic student services; and lack of mutual awareness, communication, and cooperation between vocational and general educators. To remove…

Presented by the Region VII Child Welfare Training Center, this collection of four papers examines aspects of interaction between schools and social agencies which could be exploited more fully to the benefit of both organizations. The first paper, a presentation from the Sixth Rural Institute of Social Work in Rural Areas entitled…

This paper proposes a model in which the rural school becomes an active agent in community economic development through leadership development and civic education. Families, school, and community are the three pillars of public education, and the concept of community engagement is crucial to rebuilding this educational partnership and creating an…

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…

The National Rural Independent Living Network, funded to Murray State University (Kentucky) by the National Institute of Handicapped Research, is developing Community Independent Living Service Delivery Systems (CILSDS) for rural people with disabilities which will be housed in over 500 communities by early 1986. The CILSDS, staffed by citizen…

A paper on the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (P.L. 94-142) provides information to state legislators on requirements and application procedures and speculates on significance of compliance for rural New Mexico school districts (New Mexico has never implemented P.L. 94-142). The five purposes of the paper are to describe major…

The first official trustee of the Northland School Division details the history of the corporation from its founding in 1960. The anecdotal narrative describes achievements and failures, operating procedures, and difficulties of providing education in isolated areas. An editors' response following the paper points out the author's unique…