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…

Educational achievement in rural America is one of the country's great overlooked challenges. Rural students achieve below the U.S. average on national tests, and high school dropout rates are higher and college attendance lower than they are in cities and suburbs. When the U.S. Department of Education asks low-achieving schools to be turned…

Traces the history of the one-room school in West Virginia from the 1750s to the 1970s. Describes teachers, buildings, curriculum, pupil and teacher rules of conduct, size advantages/disadvantages, length of school year, salaries, changes in school district size, evolution of transportation networks, and current status. (NEC)

Dunne (1978) suggested three major tasks of the 1980s which confront those concerned with rural issues: (1) basic research on small school problems, practices, and unique features; (2) curriculum and program development which builds on these features; and (3) elaboration and implementation of models for funding and regulating small schools.…

Discusses consolidation as a method to reduce the costs of rural education. Describes the interrelatedness of the rural economy and rural education. Enumerates advantages and disadvantages of small schools. Suggests that educational reform should focus on the unique circumstances of rural schools. (KS)

Superintendents of 164 Arkansas small school districts predicted the importance of 20 selected academic courses/physical activities by the year 2000. Courses/activities ranked highest for 2000 were computer science, physics, soccer, economics, and composition. Study assumes collective wisdom or bias of superintendents will alter future secondary…

This proceedings contains 18 papers and presentations from the annual conference of the National Rural Education Association. The contents include: (1) "Strategies for Improving Math and Science Achievement in Rural Appalachia" (Hobart Harmon, Roy Blanton); (2) "Reform in One Community: Factors in Establishing a Firm Foundation" (Bernadette…

This proceedings contains 25 presentations and summaries of presentations from the 22nd annual Rural and Small Schools Conference held at Kansas State University. Entries of three or more pages are: "Technical Education for Rural Kansas" (Ralph Beacham); "Galactic Explosion at Cool School" (summer science program) (Sue…

Describes how the Violet Hill, Arkansas K-12 school district developed a new curriculum through outdoor education. Describes how the district's alternative energy agricultural complex (including a windmill, solar greenhouse, and farm plots, and gardens) will be incorporated into the curriculum via math, business, science, agriculture, economics,…

Case studies of five small and isolated rural schools in the south-central United States examined their participation and success in the Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration (CSRD) program. The schools included three elementary schools and two K-12 unit schools serving 71-473 students. All were at least 50 miles from a metropolitan area and…

At Annenberg Rural Challenge sites, people in small U.S. communities have gathered their resources and organized their schools so as to reclaim rural places and traditions facing economic or political eradication. Educational innovations and practices at various sites are described, and their application to urban settings is discussed. Includes 10…

Charter schools have emerged in the 1990s as a prominent and controversial school reform idea. This digest discusses characteristics of charter schools, tentative research findings, advantages and disadvantages, and implications for rural communities. Since 1991, 33 states and the District of Columbia have passed charter school legislation. An…

Discusses nine major characteristics of rural schools which affected their willingness to accept change, as revealed in a study of the five-year Rural Experimental Schools Program. Available from: Rural Sociological Society, 325 Morgan Hall, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37916. (NEC)

This newsletter provides examples from four small, rural school districts of how innovative superintendents plan and provide resources and provide staff development, which are two of the six ways that school administrators effect change. The superintendents are located in a small poor district in the Arkansas Mississippi Delta region, a primarily…

This proceedings contains abstracts of 21 presentations. Titles and presenters are: "Teaching and Learning in Multiage Classrooms" (Laura Blevins and others); "Leadership, School Reform and the Rural School Superintendent" (Mike Boone); "Teaching English as a Second Language from Theory to Practice" (Mingsheng Dai); "A Guide for Central Office…