Describes faculty designed program to provide individualized basic education for each of 116 grade 4, 5, and 6 students in Bigelow, Arkansas, as well as daily opportunities for enrichment through community resource persons. Summarizes community involvement, educational considerations, evaluation efforts, recommendations, and limitations. (NEC)

Superintendents of 164 Arkansas small school districts predicted the importance of 20 selected academic courses/physical activities by the year 2000. Courses/activities ranked highest for 2000 were computer science, physics, soccer, economics, and composition. Study assumes collective wisdom or bias of superintendents will alter future secondary…

Describes how the Violet Hill, Arkansas K-12 school district developed a new curriculum through outdoor education. Describes how the district's alternative energy agricultural complex (including a windmill, solar greenhouse, and farm plots, and gardens) will be incorporated into the curriculum via math, business, science, agriculture, economics,…

This collection of conference papers covers various aspects of rural education in changing times. The conference focused on changes and innovations in rural education and on reasons why rural educators can be optimistic. The proceedings report includes brief papers and workshop summaries on topics ranging from rural public relations to…

The 1948, Arkansas School District Reorganization Act was passed in an effort to reduce the 1589 small school districts to a smaller number. Those districts not consolidated would form county districts. As of the 1967-68 school year, 26 of these county districts remained. The purpose of this study was to provide information drawing attention to…

This paper describes school consolidation in six small towns in South Nevada County, Arkansas. None of the six schools had the resources to meet the requirements of advanced programs set by the Arkansas Educational Standards Act. School boards met with each community to gather support for consolidation, discussing increased taxes to pay for a new…

A small rural elementary school in Bigelow, Arkansas has developed the Levelized Educational Advancement Program (LEAP) to offset diminished financial resources, limited classroom space, and reduction in professional staff. The program provides individualized basic education for 116 students in grades 4, 5, and 6, and provides daily enrichment…

To address rural schools' growing need for teachers who can teach in both elementary and special education, Arkansas College has begun a 4-year program of dual certification that will prepare teachers for elementary and special education assignments. Serving a largely rural area, Arkansas College has first hand experience with the problems facing…

Reports on an Arkansas survey that illustrates a technique for analyzing the school-related concerns and perceptions of teachers and community members. Shows how the survey can identify problem areas in the schools and explains how administrators can use the survey to improve school-community relations. (SB)

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…