In 1923 John D. Rockefeller's General Education Board (GED) undertook a project to reform the public schools in two rural Indiana counties. The GED demonstration project developed from more than two decades of concern about America's rural problems. The attempt by cosmopolitan outside experts to change the rural schools is described. (RM)

A successful Indiana distance education program that provides special education courses to rural teachers uses technologies available in target communities, collaborates with host schools on practicum experiences, focuses on inclusive settings, uses team teaching to increase student engagement, and uses teacher-participants as on-site coordinators…