Effective classroom teaching in Appalachia, as well as in other rural areas, may (1) center on a theme familiar to the students in teaching literature; (2) involve students in socio-drama to help them recognize their identities, empathize with others, and clarify their values; (3) take advantage of the students' culturally acquired predispositions…

To help achieve a more dispersed population distribution, it is the strategy of the New Rural Society (NRS) project to address the interdependent rural, urban, and energy problems by solving the rural development problem issue first. People live in large urban areas chiefly because the jobs and essential services are there. Advances in…

This paper discusses accomplishments and problems in recent Cuban attempts to move secondary education into rural areas. Some of the theoretical implications of the Cuban educational reform model for other Latin American societies are examined. Prerevolutionary Cuban education was crucially deficient in its orientation to professional training and…

Summarized are 19 presentations given at the first annual National Conference on the Disadvantaged Gifted held March 24-25, 1973. Emphasized is the effect of identification procedures, program provisions, and research and evaluation on (1) economically deprived gifted students, (2) culturally different gifted students, (3) female gifted students,…

This paper focuses on in-service teacher professional development. The purpose of this paper is to: reexamine the definitions and characteristics that are often associated with the community of practice metaphor; clarify that this metaphor is a theoretical tool for educational researchers to make sense of interactions that take place in…

In 1995 many rural areas of New Zealand, especially on the North Island, faced significant teacher shortages. In response, the University of Waikato developed a program of primary teacher education designed to serve students in remote areas. Program features include recruitment and selection of rural students who will work in their home districts…

It is crucial that educator training provide future educators with the skills and strategies to ensure gender-fair education for girls and boys from all cultures. To investigate the effect of gender bias on students, the differences between teachers in urban and rural settings must be examined. This descriptive study sought to determine the…

This paper provides a case study of a school-wide action research project to increase student learning in a rural intermediate school. First, it provides background information on the action research model and notes such challenges as the difficulty in providing teachers with a "coaching" style of professional development and the…

Rural teachers are often undertrained in the identification and education of gifted students. This paper describes the principles and development of an online introductory course in gifted education that could meet the need for rural teacher training. Using the philosophy that learners construct their own knowing, the system for developing an…

This paper describes the Entry Year Assistance Program (EYAP), a mentoring program for novice teachers, offered by the School of Education at Chadron State College (Nebraska). The program supports beginning teachers who are geographically isolated in Nebraska's panhandle. A discussion of the theoretical basis for teacher mentoring includes…

Restructuring of U.S. agriculture ("neoindustrialization") is having important effects on rural residents, requiring adaptations of supporting institutions such as education. Neoindustrialization involves concentration, specialization, and vertical and horizontal integration of agricultural production and marketing, as well as further…

A survey examined attitudes toward internally generated school priorities among 29 elementary school teachers, 1 principal, and 278 parents in a small rural Wisconsin school district. Respondents comprised all educators in the district's only elementary school and the parents of 85 percent of the school's students. The 26-item survey examined…

Four teachers, two from a rural high school and two from an urban one, spent a year trying to get students to examine similarities and differences between the two schools. The exchange program involved students from Malcolm X Shabazz High School of Newark, New Jersey and a group from rural New Jersey's Hunterdon Central High. Small groups of…

The term "higher education" should be redefined to give all grade levels and subjects equal educational value. This effort should involve the Appalachian Teachers' Network, which consists of a group of teachers from all grade levels working to make Appalachian Studies an integral part of education. At Radford University (Virginia) the…

This article reviews the development of Medicaid (MA) reimbursement for medically related special education (SE) services and describes a MA assistance project for schools in Arkansas. The 1988 Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act (Public Law 100-360) allowed medically related special education services to be covered by MA. However, schools have…