This book begins by tracing the history of curriculum development and the subjugation of rural school districts to curriculum decisions made from afar and tailored to urban needs. Local and teacher interpretation of the formal curriculum gave rise to the enacted curriculum, or that which was actually taught in classrooms. But for rural schools,…

Mexico and Guatemala are undergoing changes in their educational systems due to a paradigm shift that replaces ethnic assimilation with pluralism. Both countries' governments have legally recognized the linguistic and cultural diversity of their countries via amendments to their constitutions. Both countries face tremendous obstacles in…

This book aims to understand Virginia's rural past through a study of its schools. Rural Virginia schools of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were affected by at least three distinctly southern influences: the legacy of the Civil War and Reconstruction, regional underdevelopment and poverty, and the dilemma of racial coexistence in the…

This collection of essays on rural education in the United States aims to fill a gap in the educational literature by highlighting the available research on rural schools and their contexts. The three sections of the book focus on the historical, social, political, and economic contexts of rural education; topics of practical interest for rural…

In 1989, the Kentucky Supreme Court declared that the state's public school system was unconstitutional and ordered the Kentucky legislature to create a new system of public education. The Kentucky General Assembly then enacted the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 (KERA). This book sets forth the policy assumptions underlying KERA and…

Examines the challenges of providing educational leadership in rapidly changing rural school settings. Describes a leadership development model that stresses learning in action, examines the role and responsibilities of school boards related to educational leadership, and suggests that the Individual Education Plan process can be a model for…

Examines Zimbabwe's 1980-87 teacher education reform designed to change its educational system. The paper appraises dilemmas encountered by the Ministries of Education and teachers' colleges responsible for implementation, noting that struggles in Zimbabwe's political economy are dialectically related to contestations in the teacher education…

This bibliography contains 214 entries related to rural education. The entries were derived from the AGRICOLA database produced by the National Agricultural Library and include journal articles, extension bulletins, books, conference papers, and government reports. Entries cover topics such as agricultural education, adult education, colleges,…

This report summarizes a study examining the current conditions and unique nature of rural schools in Kansas. The purpose of the study was to identify problems that could be addressed through educational policy and state legislation. A literature review reports on the distinctive nature of rural life, factors leading up to school consolidation,…

This report overviews policy issues and research needs related to rural education in the South, focusing on educational systems in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. It is generally accepted that the South compare unfavorably with the rest…

This publication contains two essays and an annotated bibliography of publications about risk. The entries in the bibliography were produced by the various clearinghouses in the ERIC system. The first essay, "Who Is at Risk? Definitions, Demographics, and Decisions," by Aaron M. Pallas, categorizes personal, family, and environmental factors that…

In 1989, in response to declining enrollments and the smallest average school size in the nation, North Dakota legislation provided incentive payments to consortia of four or more school districts that voluntarily collaborated in program planning and implementation. Participating districts were required to vote on a reorganization proposal after 3…

Rural Amrica has been experiencing dramatic changes in the transition toward a socially and culturally diverse society. This study is a first effort to explore multicultural reform in rural schools. Multicultural education is the process by which the school environment is modified to accommodate cultural differences as well as to teach the role…

This comparative study explored community influences on leadership and educational reform in representative school districts located in low socioeconomic class, culturally diverse communities. The study compared outcomes of one state's efforts to educate disabled preschool children (ages 3-5) in school districts in low socioeconomic settings with…

Organizational theory offers rural school administrators several ways of thinking about retrenchment made necessary by declining enrollment. Obstacles to innovative responses to retrenchment include a shift in how organizations are perceived: from closed systems in which rational decisions are made about changes, to open systems in which…