An 8-year study of academic achievement, student performance, and education costs in rural northeastern Brazil investigated the presumption that students automatically perform better when more school resources are provided. Two main topics were examined: the success of EDURURAL, an educational intervention project in rural Brazil sponsored by the…

The California Human Development Corporation's Rural Workplace Literacy Project (RWLP) provided migrant and seasonal farmworkers with on-site workplace literacy training designed to enhance their ability to develop job skills. During 1990-91, it provided literacy classes at 15 agricultural worksites and enrolled 282 farmworkers. Of students…

Given the help they want and need, families do spend time with their young children in developmentally appropriate learning activities. Following a successful experience with Family Connections 1, the Rural Excel Program at the Appalachia Educational Laboratory (AEL) developed a second volume of 22 colorful, four-page guides to learning, designed…

Two 1980 surveys of school staff, team member interviews, and examination of project films and documents supplied information for final evaluation of the ROCTAPUS (Really Outstanding Color Television About Practically Unlimited Subjects) program, a closed-circuit, magazine format, videotaped, television series intended to enrich the experiential…

In a sweeping effort to improve science education in Tennessee, a new curriculum framework was developed that mandated "hands-on" experiences for students, beginning in kindergarten. To smooth out problems in elementary science instruction arising from the mandate, the Center of Excellence for the Enrichment of Science and Mathematics…

A rural Vermont school district instituted needed and desired changes during a 3-year improvement effort. A 1982 needs assessment evaluated school performance in seven areas found to exist in effective schools. Change efforts followed three principles: all curriculum and policy changes were done on a district-wide and K-12 basis, teachers were not…

The paper examines the potential which various educational technologies hold for improving educational offerings of small, rural New York schools. Separate sections focus on computer use in education, a review of literature on computer-assisted instruction, interactive videodiscs (IVD), and the role of telecommunications in small/rural districts.…

Begun in 1978 to bring manual arts experience to children in Queensland's "disadvantaged country areas," the Mobile Manual Arts Unit by the end of the 1980 school year had visited 16 separate locations, involving 25 different schools. A total of 727 students had participated (out of a target population of 992 pupils) and a total of 259…

Abt Associates' concluding report on its research of the federally funded Experimental Schools (ES) program identifies educational needs in rural schools, introduces the substance of the ES program, and presents the major findings of the research in terms of the dynamics of rural school districts and the design and implementation of federal…

Estimates impact of community resource development (CRD) programs on a variety of quality of life indicators for 73 Arkansas counties that were nonmetropolitan in 1960. Results indicate that few quality of life indicators were affected in the direction intended by CRD programs. Examines substantive and methodological implications of the findings.…

In order to achieve the EFA (Education For All) goal agreed by participating nations at the Dakar World Education Forum 2000, The Lao government has undertaken various studies for its "National Plan of Action for Education for All." Lao is an inland mountainous nation with 49 ethnic groups. Such diversity makes the provision of social…

This research analyzes the impact of the Thai government's activities to promote educational opportunities for people of the northern hill tribes. In addition to interviews with government and nongovernmental organization staff, field surveys were conducted in hill tribe villages. The introductory chapter provides background information on the…

This report examines the feasibility of a Rural Learning Network (RLN) using technology to connect rural California schools to educational resources at the University of California at Davis (UCD). Teachers from five rural schools agreed to participate in the pilot project for 2 years, during which time they would participate in on-line…

The "Read, Imagine, Decide, and Do" (RIDD) reading strategy was developed based on observations of student behaviors and reading problems while completing academic tasks. The four steps of the RIDD strategy are described. To determine its effectiveness, four elementary teachers in a rural northeastern Nebraska school taught the RIDD strategy. Each…

In 1989, the Kentucky Supreme Court declared that the state's public school system was unconstitutional and ordered the Kentucky legislature to create a new system of public education. The Kentucky General Assembly then enacted the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 (KERA). This book sets forth the policy assumptions underlying KERA and…