The question of the extent to which effective leadership in vocational education and training (VET) depends on the specific context in which it occurs was examined. Data were collected from the following sources: an intensive literature analysis; studies of purposive sample of 12 diverse VET sites across Australia; and individual interviews with…

This study evaluated implementation of a federally funded outreach project, Bridges (Best Practice-Based Services for Including Students with Serious Emotional Disturbance in General Education), at one elementary school in Vermont. The project is designed to build the capacity of rural public schools to fully include students with severe…

This paper reports on the perceptions of rural teachers who completed the Exceptional Family course as part of a specialized rural training program at Southeastern Louisiana University. A requirement for certification or a master's degree in special education, the course aims to provide an understanding of exceptional families using a family…

This report describes an alternative teacher certification program developed to address special education teacher shortages in rural West Virginia. For the past 9 years, one of every three educators in West Virginia assigned to special education has worked on some type of sub-standard license. The alternative certification program allows West…

In response to a problem in recruiting and retaining special education teachers on the Navajo Reservation, the Rural Special Education Project (RSEP) was designed to prepare special education teachers to deliver quality services to Navajo children with handicapping conditions. The RSEP is a partnership between Northern Arizona University and the…

To study aspects of P.L. 94-142 (Education for All Handicapped Children Act) that prove both most and least problematic for rural special education cooperatives, which is the most prevalent type of cooperative arrangement, a sample was selected that included the 2 Federal Education Regions (from a total of 10) determined to contain the nation's…

Based on research studies of effective staff development and rural education, the Inservice Leadership Team (ILT) was designed to identify key teachers in school buildings, team them with principals and central office staff, and train the team to design, deliver, and evaluate staff development at the school level. Rural Pennsylvania school staff,…

After an introductory section which points out that the responsibility of small and rural schools is to provide all children with a quality education, and that Boards of Education must decide what is best for all children in the community, the paper briefly describes 16 exemplary programs involving cooperation between school districts. The…

Theories by Sergiovanni and Vaill suggest that what a leader stands for and communicates to others is qualitatively more important than how that leader behaves, given any particular set of circumstances. Quality is the primary criteria for determining successful educational practices today as measured by the Secondary School Recognition Program's…

Cultural biases about rural schools and people have influenced rural education, public policies, and distribution of funds away from areas where they are most needed. Policymakers have regarded the rural school's condition (sparsity, isolation, smallness, limited economic base) in negative terms, resulting in public policies that ignored,…

This paper has attempted to highlight some economic aspects of government cash benefits (particularly those in Queensland) to isolated rural families which enable children to live away from home (LAFH) to receive their schooling. It has considered allowances as welfare payments and has examined some of their equity and efficiency implications.…

Designed essentially for native paraprofessionals in order to meet a shortage of native teachers, a three-week on and five-week off-campus cycle program for Canadian Indian teacher education at the University of New Brunswick allows students to obtain degrees for teaching certification in four academic years and three summers. The participants…

Rural schools have had a traditional role as major vehicles of rural economic development. During the rapid economic changes of the 20th century rural schools supplied the literate migrants who flocked to the cities to become the human capital for urban based expansion. Rural schools also provided the literate farmers who stayed at home and…

In recent years various structural approaches have been used in the United States to improve the delivery of elementary and secondary educational services to rural students. Post World War II interest in reorganization of local districts into larger administrative units has shifted to three other approaches popularized in the 1970's (each with…

In 1970-1972 a Texas high school in a bicultural community piloted a motivational program of English, Language Arts, and Social Studies skills designed to involve disadvantaged students (mostly Mexican American) in positive, creative outlets to alleviate a negative self-concept. Four teachers plus Title I Migrant aides used a team teaching…