High-poverty schools in rural areas and small towns are under attack from state policy makers who want to consolidate these schools in order to save money. In addition to calls for consolidation, rural schools also are threatened by unfair and inadequate funding formulas.

The goal of small towns should be to foster continual connections between people who help rural communities prosper and students who play an integral role in that community. Schools can educate their children about the positive aspects of growing up in the country and teachers can encourage students to help diminish the sense of inferiority and…

An effective teaching technique for a university extension course for rural special education teachers is the respond/read/replicate/report system. The four-step system was developed to stimulate tired, beleaguered teachers with differing experiences, knowledgeability, and teaching/learning styles who drove up to 60 miles on country roads to…

This report describes the Colorado Rural Revitalization Project (CRRP) and the participant rural communities between 1988-1991. The CRRP, established in 1988, consists of a partnership among rural Colorado communities, Colorado State University, the University of Colorado, the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.…

This paper summarizes the history of rural communities (moshavim and kibbutzim) in Israel and attempts to rehabilitate those that have experienced difficulties. The first section of the paper outlines the context of these communities, most of which are cooperatives. Before the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, most of the communities…

Discusses semantic complexities rampant in attempts to define rurality. Examines environmental and economic aspects of rurality and impacts on education. Proposes a definition of rurality based on five human considerations: approximate geographic divisions, level of access to community services, industry type, population makeup, and the…

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…

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…

Participants in a symposium on education in rural New York analyzed strengths and weaknesses and made policy suggestions relating to three broad goals: (1) create parity of access to lifelong educational and cultural opportunities for residents and institutions in rural areas; (2) enhance the quality of lifelong educational and cultural…

Rural Amrica has been experiencing dramatic changes in the transition toward a socially and culturally diverse society. This study is a first effort to explore multicultural reform in rural schools. Multicultural education is the process by which the school environment is modified to accommodate cultural differences as well as to teach the role…

The study documents what happened in 10 rural communities when a federal educational funding program (Experimental Schools) in 1972 provided 5-year grants for demonstration projects designed both to improve the school system and, through the schools, to address a variety of community needs. The study employs two strategies to document the ways in…

Rural work-education councils are free-standing voluntary associations of community leaders averaging around 21 to 25 voting members who are organized by task-specific action committees working to improve and expand educational and economic development options and thus ease the education-to-work transition in rural America. There are currently…