Students in about 100 schools in 10 states attend classes 4 days a week, for all or part of the school year. A growing number of rural schools, faced with declining enrollments and diminishing state aid, are experimenting with this schedule. Benefits of the schedule include lower energy and transportation costs and lower absenteeism among students…

Compares and contrasts first year teaching experiences of a grandmother (1919) and granddaughter (1980) in small, isolated, rural New Mexico schools. Offers suggestions for improving recruitment and retention of rural teachers in areas of salary, housing conditions, school philosophy and morale, student population, and community life. (NEC)

Effective leadership appears to be an element of a successful school, but few studies have covered either leadership in small and rural schools or effective schools with the ethnic mix of Anglo, Hispanic, and Native American students. This study's population consisted of the 24 New Mexico rural public elementary schools having an enrollment of 500…

Describes a summer mathematics inservice workshop for 39 elementary teachers from rural, small schools throughout New Mexico. Focused on minority participation, hands-on activities, and improvement of attitude towards the teaching of mathematics. Posttests revealed improvement in knowledge of manipulative use, confidence in use of manipulatives,…

Two surveys were conducted to determine perceptions of administrators and teachers regarding the impact of Public Law 94-142 on programs for severely handicapped children in New Mexico's small, rural school districts. One year after the infusion of federal funding, 55 percent of the respondents perceived no improvement in the level of services.…

In three southwestern states, grassroots movements of citizens, educators, and local businesses developed and implemented two-way interactive television projects in their schools and communities. A descriptive multiple case study design was used to examine six project sites in New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. Research questions were categorized in…

Using 1975-76 school-year data, the study describes New Mexico size adjustment factors for public school funding, compares them with the manner in which other states recognize smallness or sparsity, and delineates the impact of size adjustment factors on New Mexico school districts in terms of resources, net operational and proportionate…

Representing a broad cross section of data bearing on the operation and performance of public schools in New Mexico during the school year 1979-80, the document presents data on school district characteristics, teacher characteristics, pupil characteristics, school finance, high school graduates, American College Testing (ACT) results, and results…

New Mexico's 19 "very small" school districts (fewer than 300 average daily membership K-12 in 1981-82) were studied to identify major problems (including program deficiencies and actions being taken to alleviate those problems), to determine appropriate additional measures which might be helpful in resolving the problems, and to…

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 study describes how some school districts have implemented full motion, two-way interactive video in rural small schools and communities. A prototype and guidelines for future implementation are presented. Researchers studied 14 school districts in the Oklahoma Panhandle and eastern New Mexico and three sites in Texas where the technology has…

A New Mexico study interviewed 1 special education teacher and 1 administrator from each of 17 small rural school districts, via a 65-item interview guide related to staff development needs. Lack of staff development activities was identified as a critical problem for special educators. Training in instructional technology was the most frequently…

A study of K-12 rural school districts enrolling 900 students or fewer in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona used data gathered during the 1981-82 academic year. These data were compared with those from a nationwide survey using the same questionnaire. Qualifying districts were identified: 626 in Texas (56.9% of all Texas public school districts,…

A special education teacher and an administrator in each of 17 small rural public school districts in New Mexico were interviewed to identify problems with and strategies for providing special education services in the districts. According to teachers, the most severe problems involved acquiring appropriate equipment and materials, recruiting…

The study investigates the relationship of small district teacher aspirations, career patterns, residential preferences, biographic characteristics, motivations, and perceptions of organizational and community factors to teacher turnover intentions in selected small districts in New Mexico in the spring 1983. The population studied included 262…