This paper describes the use of webcasting technology in a personnel preparation program for rural special education practitioners. Emerging technologies offer promising solutions to the challenges of providing accessible and appropriate training to rural special educators. Web-based instruction is especially appropriate for on-the-job training of…

In most debates about teaching, learning, and research, the spatial context of education is either taken for granted or ignored. But places can be viewed as more than empty frames for social action; they can be seen as both historically constituted by social processes and, in turn, constituting those social processes. This paper aims to restore a…

The essence of the politics of language is the choice of audience. This paper analyzes politics of language and choice of audience in the work of two liberatory educators, Myles Horton and Paulo Freire. Horton and Freire had much in common, each working to create educational processes to benefit the poor and each focusing on liberation for the…

Gifted and talented children have cognitive and affective characteristics that set them apart from their more typical classmates. These characteristics may be particularly problematic in rural areas where stability, traditional values, small schools, and self-sufficiency can be at once a barrier and a support. This paper discusses the…

A community education project in Brooks County, Georgia, began in 1977 with five people, developed county-wide support, and now includes a community education county council, federal funding, volunteer programs, after-school programs, agricultural education (especially swine production), and a day-care center. (AN)

Discusses the changing nature of rurality in Canada, due to increasing urbanization, and the need to redefine rural education. School district consolidation has resulted in larger schools and loss of community. Medium-sized schools have great affiliative advantages for students. Citizens should fight for the right to construct the kind of schools…

This paper examines how educational radio has been used to disseminate agricultural information to farmers in rural communities of Manitoba (Canada), and discusses implications for educational uses of radio in developing countries. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 communication experts involved in rural extension services in Manitoba.…

Distance education technologies can help rural schools overcome the disadvantages of geographic isolation by expanding course offerings and learning opportunities and by connecting teachers with resource materials and training programs. Classroom-focused distance learning is distance insensitive and implies simultaneous instruction of several…

In many states, rural school districts or interested individuals have formed statewide interest groups to influence policy decisions related to rural education. Potential state rural education interest groups were identified through contacts with national and regional education associations and regional educational laboratories. Of 19 identified…

Poor black young people in rural Mississippi contemplate their schooling with the same feelings as their friends who dare to jump the local ditches filled with alligators: the odds are against escaping the alligators, and the advantages of getting to the far side are not very apparent. Living in conditions of extreme poverty, these young people…

Two studies in southeastern Sweden examined rural children's conflicting attitudes toward environmental change in the local community. Following a yearlong curriculum in environmental studies, 14 fifth and sixth graders in Ramkvilla were presented with an imaginary scenario involving the construction of a new factory. Their small, somewhat idyllic…

The Program for Exceptional Children of the University of South Carolina developed a project to address the need for an improved service delivery model for handicapped students in rural South Carolina. The project trained regular elementary teachers at the master's degree level to function as consultants to other regular classroom teachers with…

There is a great need to build effective partnerships to serve rural communites. Rural schools are excellent places for new private sector partnerships, especially those concerned with utilizing the new educational technology uniquely suited to compensate for rural isolation and lack of financial and cultural resources. In many rural areas, the…

In this keynote address, the Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult Education described federal efforts to foster partnerships in support of rural education. According to the 1980 Census, the country's rural non-farm population grew 11.1% between 1970 and 1980 but rural communities lagged behind the rest of the country in educational…

The rural superintendency offers unique challenges and insights into the educational process. Rural superintendents require a broader range of administrative training and skills than their urban counterparts, with a strong emphasis on interpersonal skills. The range of problems and daily activities encountered by the rural superintendent is…