This booklet profiles key economic and social features of rural Arkansas. Data are drawn from reports by the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and Arkansas state agencies. About half of Arkansas' people live in rural areas, and most of these live in open country (not incorporated areas) and are completely dependent on county…

This report explores the situation of at-risk students in small and rural schools in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, and compares this information to the at-risk student situation nationwide. In order to explore both the complexity and the degree of risk of dropping out in rural school settings, research questions were posed…

The five states of the Southwest--Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas--represent great diversity in economies, politics, educational settings, and resources. Despite this diversity, research indicates that rural small schools are concerned about the same issues as education as a whole. The purpose of this report is to present the…

This document reports on a conference, concerning rural blacks in four Southern states, that has as its theme the definition of the problem and research priorities relating to the development of a sense of community. A section on formal presentations includes topics such as democracy, economic progress, and research in the southern region, the…