The paper reviews work being done by two established Department of Education (ED) committees which are addressing concerns and issues related to rural education--the Intra-Departmental Committee on Rural Education (with representation from all 14 offices or units in the Department) and the Federal Intra-Agency Committee on Education's Rural…

The principal of a small rural high school in Vermont documented the amount of time spent at work over 60 days in 5 categories, including conflict and special education. A literature review revealed that researchers have paid little attention to the principal's role in special education and conflict problems. The study sought to determine how much…

The mission of this study is to identify reasonable standards for the space requirements of a small high school of under 100 students--perhaps even as small as ten--remote both in distance and social structure from the mainstream of the normal American educational system and to identify, at least conceptually, how such space can be used.…

In 1987-88, advanced placement courses were offered by only 39 of South Carolina's 58 small rural high schools, compared to 100 percent of all other high schools. Distance learning systems, such as the Star Schools Project, provide a feasible option to expand the curriculum in small rural high schools. (SV)

This practicum paper describes a method for developing and implementing a student-discipline plan in a small, rural high school in north central Florida. The combined middle- and high-school is the poorest in the county. When corporal punishment was banned in the county and no alternatives were implemented, the number of suspensions increased. An…

Many rural school districts struggling with declining elementary school enrollments will soon face the more complex problems of declining high school enrollment. School districts with only one high school do not have the option of consolidation and must find innovative solutions to the problem of maintaining educational quality with dwindling…

Uses responses of 77 teachers from eight Illinois rural high schools to 36-item survey to assess amount of time students devote to homework; existence of school homework policy; purpose and type of homework assignments; teacher review, feedback, and grading of homework; and value and significance of assigning homework. (NEC)

A program was developed to reduce the rising dropout rate of 9th- and 10th-grade students at Lewisville High School, a small rural school in Chester County, South Carolina. In the face of limited financial resources, the program manager coordinated existing services and networked with community agencies. School records, surveys, and questionnaires…

In 1985-86 several small school districts in rural New York State began cooperating to offer advanced high school courses via audio-graphic telecommunications. Evaluation of the Tele-Learning project's second year used a case study approach to examine four diverse programs: advanced placement English, advanced placement calculus, Spanish III, and…

Systematic activities of the guidance program at the Halstead, Kansas high school--enrollment 215--are used to illustrate what a small rural school can do to help students register and prepare for the ACT (American College Testing Program) and use test results to plan their educational futures. Halstead students' ACT scores consistently exceed…

It is now widely recognized that small schools are more productive and effective than larger schools. Yet, public officials and professional educators in many rural areas continue to believe that small schools are inefficient and ineffective, a way of thinking reflected in closed schools, angry residents, and long bus rides for students. About a…

As part of an effort to identify a group of successful professionals, determine what percentage attended small secondary schools, and assess from those attending small schools their attitudes regarding the quality of education received and aspects of the experience which they felt contributed to their professional success, all 100 members of the…

This study assessed the second year of a 5-year project--the Carroll Instructional Television Consortium--which uses two-way interactive cable television (both audio and video) as an alternative method of delivering courses in four small rural high schools in Illinois. Specific evaluation questions investigated the instructional effectiveness of…

To determine the core curriculum and the specific curriculum needs of small high schools today, questionnaires were mailed to a sample of 475 public high schools with enrollments of less than 500 students. Principals were asked to indicate which of 105 courses listed on the questionnaire were in their school's curriculum and to rate the need for…

Describes survey of student use of microcomputers in 319 small and 350 large public high schools throughout the United States. Finds 99% of schools owned microcomputers chiefly for instructional purposes. Discusses problems of large student/computer ratios, high costs of microcomputers and software, and teacher reluctance to use new technology.…