This article provides an overview of current special education policy in Mexico and highlights two successful schools in rural Jalisco that have garnered recognition as particularly creative and responsive institutions. A void exists in the literature about the types of specialized services that children with disabilities are likely to encounter…

Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. students attend rural schools. Researchers report that at least half of public schools are rural in 12 states (i.e., Montana, South Dakota, Vermont, North Dakota, Maine, Alaska, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Wyoming, New Hampshire, Iowa, and Mississippi) (Showalter et al., 2019). Providing quality education to all rural students is a…

Purpose: This paper aims to provide an overview of an expanded, workable conception of rural youth and adult education that will move Brazil closer to a fair, egalitarian society focused on human development. Design/methodology/approach: This research uses a qualitative bibliographic perspective, analyzing historical data extracted from…

According to Bronfenbrenner's bioecological theory (Bronfenbrenner & Evans, 2000), children's early development and learning are influenced by multiple systems, including the microsystem (e.g., family poverty level), mesosystem (e.g., home-school partnership), exosystem (e.g., community type, early education policies), and macrosystem (e.g.,…

Since the 2016 presidential campaign, for better or worse, the general public and media have placed rural America in the national spotlight. While the election placed an important spotlight on the lives, challenges, and strengths of people living in rural communities, the spotlight came with the perpetuation of myths of rural America (e.g., people…

Despite the significant proportions of rural Americans, schools, and public school students situated in the geographic peripheries of an increasingly urbanizing country, rural education in the United States has consistently occupied both scholarly and policy peripheries. This is to the detriment of rural America, especially to the extent that…

Since September 2007, the Ministry of Education of China has been implementing a policy called "Free Normal Education" (FNE) for college students majoring in education in normal universities. The central goal for FNE is to promote quality of education by providing rural areas with high quality teachers who are bonded through their…

This report, the first in the series, points out that, while urban families increasingly have access to a variety of school options--including charter schools--many rural families have just a single school option. There are numerous examples of rural charter schools that have done great things for students while also benefiting the larger…

Many reports on rural education give little attention to digital learning. At most, they tend to note either infrastructure needs or the potential of remote course access, with little focus on instruction, outcomes, or exemplars. This report intends to begin correcting that imbalance by connecting the dots between rural regions, rural education,…

Despite significant progress over the past fifteen years associated with School Mapping Restructure (SMR) in Chinese rural schools, many small schools have been closed or have merged with larger primary schools. This has resulted, among other things, in difficulties for many students in rural areas who now have to travel longer distances to a…

Rural education and its policy agenda has for many decades primarily focussed upon responding to decline to "keep things going; keep things open". While this has been understandable and much has been achieved, it is now opportune--essential?--that rural education and its leaders embrace a new challenge, sustainability, and use it to…

A three-round modified Delphi survey of about 200 college administrators, educators, state education personnel, and policymakers in 13 midwestern and northwestern states identified 47 barriers to rural adult education; 22 were institutional. Respondents also identified institutional actions and public policies that would improve educational…

In 2005, there was a transition in China, in which public policy toward education underwent a systemwide change. In this article, the author explores the educational development in China and examines reforms concerning educational issues that were of intense concern to society. In recent years, Chinese education at all levels has undergone massive…

A rapidly growing number of rural students are increasingly involved in some form of distance learning for all or part of the school day (or night). The precise long-term impact of distance learning technologies on schooling will not be known for several years. But this paper embraces the likelihood that distance learning will revolutionize the…

This publication contains ten articles concerning the development of human resources in rural areas. It focuses on a broad perspective of rural adult education and the issues facing those who wish to serve rural areas. The articles and their authors are: "Rural Adults and Postsecondary Education" (Jacqueline D. Spears and others);…