Describes a classroom-based teacher education program that helps men and women move from other occupations through a period of "risky imbalance" to meaningful new role of rural school teacher. A survivor of the 1960s, the Upper Valley Teacher Training Program is a state-approved, nonprofit, independent program using services of academics…

To fulfill its obligations to rural constituents, higher education should develop teacher training programs that (1) prepare teachers as generalists to accept broad teaching responsibilities; (2) help teachers understand the close school/community bonds in rural areas; and (3) prepare teachers to develop self-sufficiency in rural settings. (PB)