Most children with learning disabilities receive all or part of their instructional programs in the general education classroom. To prepare teachers to meet the needs of these students, the Department of Special Education at West Virginia University designed a course of studies for rural regular education teachers leading to teacher certification…

San Diego State University (California) has developed a coach-of-coaches model of providing support, assistance, and supervision to intern-teachers in its rural special education alternative credential program. Coaches, who are fully credentialed teachers with supervisory skills, make a minimum of nine direct and indirect (video analysis)…

A study examined rural Australian student experiences of the transition to high school. Data were gathered from interviews, questionnaires, and student journals of 10 rural students during the last 5 weeks of primary school and during the first three terms of Year 7 in high school. Findings indicate that students had many anxieties related to the…

Since 1990 West Virginia University has offered a distance education program leading to teaching certification and a master's degree in either severe/multiple disabilities or early intervention/early childhood special education. The courses were offered via satellite transmission, but in response to demand for these courses in areas without…

Alaska has been forced by geography and weather to look at numerous innovative solutions to improving communication between families and schools. The Internet is showing more impact than any other technique that has been tried. This has been especially helpful to parents of children with disabilities, due to a severe shortage of special education…

This paper describes various types of distance education technologies and their use in rural Australia. Communications and information technologies may be categorized as distributive or interactive. Correspondence education is a distributive form of distance education, involving the postal service and, at times, educational television or radio.…

A case study investigated the use of telematics technology in the delivery of learning programs from a rural high school in Western Australia to four receiver schools. Telematics is an audiographic computer system that simultaneously links a teacher to classrooms in one to five other schools. The program was introduced in 1991 to widen curriculum…

This study examined the educational practices of eight secondary schools in Victoria, Australia, that contributed to improved student retention rates and achievement levels. Schools were selected based on identification of graduates of La Trobe University who had completed their studies in a minimum amount of time. Interviews were conducted with…

The Collaborative Early Childhood Special Education Program provides training to students from rural and remote areas in Utah that leads to a certificate in early childhood special education. The program represents a collaborative effort between Utah State University, the University of Utah, and the Utah Office of Education. Contact with special…

This case study examines factors that enabled a black female to achieve a significantly higher educational status than her parents. "Susie" was born in 1942 to parents who were poor sharecroppers. Her family included an older sister and three younger siblings. Out of concern for their oldest child who was handicapped, Susie's parents decided that…

This paper examines the Botswana government's objectives and implementation strategies in the development of community secondary schools. With a population of 1.5 million and an annual growth rate of 3.5 percent, Botswana is one of the fastest growing countries in the world. Recent dramatic economic growth, largely due to diamond revenues, has not…

This study compared the knowledge and skill levels of urban and rural special education teachers across 13 emotional and behavior disordered (EBD) competency areas. Fifty-eight graduate students enrolled in special education courses at California State University at Fresno completed the Emotionally and Behaviorally Disordered Teacher Competencies…

A staff development program in two western states helps professionals in rural school systems provide comprehensive transition services to students with disabilities. The program was designed to be relevant to rural constituents and to overcome the lack of understanding of local needs by university personnel. A vision statement relating to desired…

Project FIRST (Field-Based Integrated Regular and Special Teacher Training) is an Oklahoma program that funds teacher training on the use of technology and media to adapt instruction for disabled students in the regular classroom. The program provided inservice training to regular teachers in rural Oklahoma school districts and preservice training…

This paper describes computer-mediated distance learning experiments in field settings by a rural teacher education program, in which student teachers and a student teaching seminar leader at Northern Michigan University conferenced via electronic mail. Participating student teachers, who were teaching in schools 300 miles apart, were expected to…