Principals need support throughout their careers in order to lead effectively and promote continuous improvement. However, some elementary school principals of small, rural schools lack access to structured systems of support that could increase their knowledge and skills as instructional leaders. The purpose of this study was to examine a central…

Much of the Northwest Region (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington) is rural in nature. A characteristic of the extractive economies such as timber, agriculture, mining, and fisheries is that they are generally located in small communities isolated by distances. While schools in these communities face the same challenges as those in…

Purpose. The purpose of the study was to identify and describe learning preferences of current high school students enrolled in online courses. The study further identified the students' perceived benefits and academic attractions to online education. The study also addressed the degree of satisfaction with their online courses. The study's final…

This study investigated the nature and extent of physical education programs for individuals with disabilities in Washington State's small rural public school districts. Questionnaires were sent to 185 superintendents of small rural school districts in the state. Of the 128 responses, 70.3% enrolled individuals with disabilities. Fifty-eight…

The special report reviews Washington's 1965 Apportionment Formula, which authorized the superintendent of public instruction to develop a weighting factor that would provide additional state funds for costs resulting from the operation of small districts judged by the state board of education as "remote and necessary." Actions on the…

A regional approach to improving small rural schools through staff development was taken in Washington State. Consultants from the Child Service Demonstration Center at Washington State University trained teachers to use Madeline Hunter's instructional methodology, called Instructional Theory into Practice. (PP)

As a partial solution to the energy crisis and to solve the problem of drastically rising operating costs coupled with less state support, in 1980-81 the Liberty School District (Spangle, Washington) implemented a 4-day school week comparable to the program used by Cimarron School District #3 in New Mexico. A survey conducted in 1975 by the…

This paper describes Colton School District's (Washington) project of the Rural School of the 21st Century. The goals of the 6-year project, initiated in 1988, were to incorporate technology into all aspects of education and to use technology in restructuring the school system. The Colton School District consists of 184 students in a single K-12…

This case study examines the founding of a high school in a developing rural area in Washington and the school's efforts to serve a changing and diversifying population. Having been expropriated for the war effort in the 1940s, the town of Mattawa (Washington) was rebuilt after the war, but high school students were bused to other school districts…

Since 1965, Washington has recognized that small schools need special financial consideration if their students are to receive educational opportunities comparable to those in larger districts. In 1977, after school districts brought suit against the state for failing fully to fund basic education, the state legislature passed the Basic Education…

Complying with the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has presented special problems for small, rural, and isolated schools. This document presents results of surveys and interviews of county and district superintendents, principals, teachers, trustees, and curriculum directors of small, rural, and isolated schools in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon,…

Seven small rural school districts (averaging less than 100 high school students each) in Lincoln County, Washington, joined to perform a vocational assessment of their districts. All grade 9-12 students were mailed questionnaires; 520 surveys were mailed and 212 were returned. Only 26% of the students indicated that they were thoroughly familiar…

Liberty High School's experimental project using correspondence courses to expand curriculum offerings, begun in 1977, increased vocational offerings from 12 to nearly 2,000 by 1979 and provided career exploration opportunities for its 187 students. All students and incoming freshmen for 1977-78 had an opportunity to select at least one…

Designed to provide information for local school district personnel in the state of Washington, this Community Resource Trainer (CRT) manual is the product of those school district administrators and coordinators who piloted the CRT Program in three small, rurally isolated high schools between the 1972-73 and 1973-74 school years. Illustrating the…

The study compared nationwide research findings about the districts, superintendents, teachers, programs, and student performance in 642 public school districts with an enrollment of 900 or less to data from a random sample of school districts of similar size in Washington. Data were gathered from superintendents by questionnaire during the…