Summarizes and critiques West Virginia educational reforms during the past decade, highlighting the state's rural character, a brief history of the reform catalyst (Pauley v. Bailey), recent reform activity, and some cautiously optimistic predictions. The state's 1982 Master Plan for education has been replaced by Policy 2000, whose six goals…

Discusses certain educational, demographic, and economic trends challenging rural education and summarizes Rural Attitude Survey results. Despite consolidation efforts, rural schools are poorer and smaller than nonrural schools. Despite their marginalization by the dominant culture, rural communities have precisely the qualities valued by critics…

Explores Wendell Berry's social philosophy in the context of the larger framework of liberalism and democratic theory, addressing implications for reconceptualizing rural schooling. The article exposes the benefits rural schools could tap by fostering a critical literacy based on local knowledge. (SM)

Howard High School (South Dakota) is part of the Annenberg Rural Challenge, a privately funded national effort to strengthen rural schools and their communities. Rural Challenge schools create curricula specific to community history and resources, aiming to help students become active knowledgeable citizens. Student projects and the positive and…

A survey of 292 rural Oklahoma teachers and administrators examined the implementation and impact of reforms mandated by the Oklahoma Education Reform Act (1990): actual changes in their school district and in rural districts statewide; personal and professional impact of the reforms; which reforms were having the most impact; impact on daily…

A professional development experience introduced 102 traditional teachers from rural Michigan to constructivist pedagogy over a 3-year period. Participant comments reveal three themes: frustration with the uncertainties of changing mindsets and incorporating constructivism into practice; the usefulness of representing thoughts about constructivism…

At Howard High School (Miner County, South Dakota), educational reform focuses on student understanding of community history, economics, and government; entrepreneurship; sustainability of agriculture, environment, and community; and democratic values. The school aims to nurture community and give students the option of staying in the community.…

China's education system has grown increasingly complex, creating the need for an annual critical review of the education system by China's top scholars. The "Blue Book of Education," as it is known in Chinese, has gained a reputation for offering the most penetrating perspective in China on educational reform and development. In this…

This report describes the initial efforts and current status of implementing supplemental educational services (SES) in the Northwest Region states, identifies information gaps and areas of further inquiry, and delineates concerns and challenges for the state education agencies. It is an exploratory effort to identify issues for deeper examination…

In fall 1997, Congress approved funding to implement Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration (CSRD) programs, primarily in Title I schools in high-poverty areas. This digest explains CSRD and what it might mean to rural schools. Since 1965, Title I has provided resources to at-risk children in lower-income schools. Changes in 1988 and 1994…

Description of Poland's proposed secondary education system to begin in 1978. It will be a ten-year general secondary program of standard instruction and education that will be free and compulsory for all children. (ND)

Several problems exist with the rural knowledge base as it is traditionally conceived: (1) there is no useful rural definition with the diverse rural reality; (2) rural is undervalued as reflected in teacher education and training and in the stereotyping of regions in the country; (3) issues of sparsity, scarcity and size are disregarded, and (4)…

Presented at the Annual Convention of the National Association of Secondary School Principals (53d, San Francisco, February 28 - March 5, 1969).

This report is a final one in a series of 17 reports concerned with costs analysis/projections of the instructional television program and the Out of School Television (OSTV) project in the Ivory Coast. It includes an introduction to the OSTV project after its first five years of existence, a description of the main elements of the in-school…

Six needs assessment studies are summarized from the point of view of rural needs, the media and information system, the educational situation, and expressed wishes on the part of spectators for TV program topics in the Ivory Coast. The six studies included were: (1) Ethno-Sociology Institute Study, 1974; (2) Evaluation Service Study A, 1975; (3)…