In 1994 Ethiopia committed to expanding its education system, particularly at the primary level, to reach previously marginalized communities. The unprecedented expansion of the education system resulted in large classes with few resources. The reforms aimed to implement student-centered, active learning, but the new approach was not reflected in…

Founded in 1902 by Katherine Pettit and May Stone, the Hindman Settlement School in Knott County, Kentucky, grew out of the Progressive movement. During the golden age of the school, 1915-32, the reputation of its academic program, health work, and other settlement activities brought substantial renown and influence to the school and its founders.…

This project was designed to bring the resources of the Internet to a rural high school through the school's media center and to provide training to enough of the faculty and students to facilitate its use. A flexible program for five academic departments requiring only one meeting of each department and utilizing written worksheets geared to four…

This annual report of the Southern Rural Development Center (SRDC) describes the agency's extension and research activities from October 1, 1995, to October 1, 1996. SRDC is one of four regional centers coordinating rural development research and extension education programs cooperatively with the land-grant institutions. SRDC cooperates with 29…

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…

This final report discusses the outcomes of a 2-year project designed to provide an innovative tool process and a state-of-the-art instructional environment for children from 3 through 8 years of age with a wide range of disabilities across ages, classrooms, and locations as they constructed their own communities and participated in building a…

This document contains 20 case study briefs about efforts to improve rural schools and teachers in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Some reforms focus on a part of the education system or a particular population; others attempt to change the national education system. At least seven programs were begun as an alternative to government schools. Most…

This guide to different/alternative assessment was prepared for participants in the Rural School and Community Trust, formerly the Annenberg Rural Challenge. Given that Rural Trust participants focus on local place-based education and the relationship between rural schools and their communities, they are not, by and large, enamored of the…

In Guatemala, many girls attend no school. A project by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Basic Education Strengthening (BEST), demonstrated that improving educational quality is the best approach to enhancing girls' participation. BEST included a Girls Education Program (GEP) activity. Under the BEST/GEP umbrella,…

This paper provides an overview of practices in small rural elementary schools in Ireland and recent trends related to school size. There are 3,200 "ordinary" elementary schools in the Republic of Ireland serving children aged 4-12 in eight levels: two preschool levels and grades 1-6. System-wide policies with implications for small…

Under the leadership of a new superintendent, Nebraska City (Nebraska) school district coordinated curriculum across the K-12 grades and schools by involving the teachers and community. At multiple department meetings, staff held conversations about student performance objectives. Community conversations were held with a cross-section of parents,…

Twenty-five States reported to the Bureau of Education that some sort of concerted effort was made during the biennium toward improving and adapting State courses of study to the needs of rural schools. It is reported that progress has been made in the following categories: (1) The tendency on the part of State departments to assume increased…

The improvement of the rural schools of the United States is the most important school problem. The most important factor in their improvement must be better educated and better trained teachers. The education and training of teachers should always have some special reference to the work of the schools in which they are to teach. Therefore any…

The statistics in this bulletin on State school systems relate solely to the public elementary and secondary schools. The information has been supplied by the various State offices of education. This bulletin contains the statistics of city, village, and rural schools combined. Statistics for the following topics are presented: (1) Schools…

This report includes library statistics for both public elementary and high schools for the school year 1934-35. The data are based upon replies to a questionnaire, which was sent to 6,327 superintendents of city and county public schools in the continental United States. The items listed on the form called for replies representing totals for all…