Haas criticizes Kannapel et al for conducting their "rural" research with school professionals and asks what it would take for rural schools to engage their communities and what, besides geography, makes a school rural. Kannapel et al claim that community concerns are not limited to rural schools and that advocates of systemic reform and…

This paper addresses the nature of educational reform and recommends strategies to better reflect the needs of rural schools and their communities. The furor over education reform is largely produced by those who stand to gain from it, including politicians who promote their own agendas and consultants, professors, and experts who make a good…

In 1995, the Annenberg Rural Challenge was established to promote school reform in the rural United States. Convinced that rural schools had not been well served by the urban/industrial model of education and were not benefiting from traditional approaches to reform, the Rural Challenge pursues a mission of supporting good rural schools to become…

Small schools offer many advantages and their numbers are increasing, but current funding practices often do not meet their needs. This digest suggests strategies that can help small public schools, particularly small rural schools, redress funding inequalities and get the resources they need. Three basic strategies for improving resources at…