The close-knit, personal nature of small rural communities results in school and community operating as a single integrated social structure. Useful rural school improvement strategies must, therefore, address needs that are recognized by both the local school and the community and must operate in a style congruent with the local setting. Although…

In this descriptive and comparative study, we present results highlighting the complexity and scope of the challenges facing rural districts as they navigate the changing demographics of the students and families they serve. Rapid increases in the number and concentration of racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse students in rural areas…

This paper describes the organization, implementation, and outcomes of a joint effort between the Regional Laboratory for Educational Improvement of the Northeast and Islands and the Vermont State Department of Education's Database Project. In 1987, the Laboratory proposed a feasibility study to examine the means and costs of accessing…

This paper discusses rural education in Vermont and the forces that influence the state's rural educational research agenda. The paper presents the recent history and current conditions at the University of Vermont (UVM), current demographic observations concerning Vermont's population, and special features about the state's educational…

This paper presents a case study of a rural community exhibiting a dramatic turnaround in community support for a new school bond issue. Demographic change was partly responsible for the change in community attitudes, with two waves of immigration altering the long-term conservative orientation of this community. After a series of failed…

The Preparation of Special Educators in Essential Early Education program was a 36-credit hour preservice program of the University of Vermont to train Early Childhood Special Educators at the Master's Degree or Certificate of Advanced Study levels. The program prepared students to demonstrate the necessary competencies for providing quality…

A Vermont project, the Environmental Programs/Partnerships in Communities (EPIC) project provides a transferable model for rural development. The program is sensitive to people and environmental needs, and emphasizes long-term functioning of the entire community system, not just specific outcomes. EPIC has supported leadership training, local…

Rural learners represent a diverse and significant part of the student population. Although research shows that the overall percentage and types of students with disabilities are similar in rural and non-rural school districts, greater proportions of rural students live in poverty, which places them at higher risk for disability. This article…

The Preparation of Personnel To Provide Special Education and Related Service to Newborn and Infant Handicapped Children program of the University of Vermont offered interdisciplinary preservice programs to train Early Intervention Specialists at either the Master's level (36 credit hours) or the Certificate of Advanced Study level (30 credit…

This bulletin was prepared to indicate recent progress in rural life and education as disclosed by the educational exhibits at the Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915. The discussion includes (1) the general phases of progress in rural education, and (2) advancement in its more specific agricultural phases. Little attempt has been made to present…