In this descriptive and comparative study, we present results highlighting the complexity and scope of the challenges facing rural districts as they navigate the changing demographics of the students and families they serve. Rapid increases in the number and concentration of racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse students in rural areas…

In every state in the South, the percentage of residents with bachelor's degrees or higher who were born outside the state exceed the percentage born in-state, reflecting their dependence on imported talent over building their own talent-development systems. In Virginia, the Southern state with the highest percentage of residents with a B.A. or…

Research showing adolescents' ever-increasing use of digital devices, combined with calls from governmental officials to incorporate more technology into classroom activities, prompted this survey of Arkansas scholastic journalism advisers. The goal was to determine how they used digital communication devices in their teaching. Results showed lack…

Superintendents of 164 Arkansas small school districts predicted the importance of 20 selected academic courses/physical activities by the year 2000. Courses/activities ranked highest for 2000 were computer science, physics, soccer, economics, and composition. Study assumes collective wisdom or bias of superintendents will alter future secondary…

A study investigated the effect of phonemic awareness instruction on the reading ability of first and second grade students. Participants were 100 second graders who had been in 5 first grades at Westside Elementary in Searcy, Arkansas. Using a posttest only control group design and a t test for independent samples, it was found that second grade…

This study examines variables that affect staff development in rural schools. It examines systematically delivered rural staff development intervention in 28 rural schools in five states representative of the Southwest--Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas. The study, involving 700 teachers, tests 18 hypotheses based largely on…

The final report of a demonstration project in individualized adult education in rural areas of Arkansas, which took place during the period of July 1974 through December 1975, is presented. Program goals included: (1) to recruit and retain rural male adults who are operating at less than a fourth grade educational level, with emphasis on the…

Reports on an Arkansas survey that illustrates a technique for analyzing the school-related concerns and perceptions of teachers and community members. Shows how the survey can identify problem areas in the schools and explains how administrators can use the survey to improve school-community relations. (SB)

The five states of the Southwest--Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas--represent great diversity in economies, politics, educational settings, and resources. Despite this diversity, research indicates that rural small schools are concerned about the same issues as education as a whole. The purpose of this report is to present the…

Five types of counties (College-Professional, Urban, Recreational-Retirement, Extractive, and Most Rural) were identified among 83 counties in the Ozark-Ouchita Uplands in order to determine educational and health impacts resulting from the "population turnaround" of the late 1960's and early 1970's. Variables were computed from…

The present study reveals both positive and negative relationships between a multiplicity of factors and availability of education. The probable effects of many of these factors in various relationships is also discussed. The study was suggested by two other studies on availability of education published in 1930. One was reported in the Thirtieth…