Involving families in the education of a child with a disability is beneficial to all concerned. Unfortunately, initiating and sustaining that involvement is often difficult, particularly in rural communities. A rationale for and challenges to family involvement are briefly reviewed. Twenty-one effective practical strategies for involving rural…

Describes the Collaborative Career Adjustment Project, a program that allows licensed teachers in rural New Mexico to continue teaching while taking weekend, summer, or distance education courses to obtain a master's degree in speech-language pathology. Includes recommendations for the recruitment and retention of rural students in communication…

Surveys of staff in 10 rural regional cooperatives and 27 special education directors in New Mexico regarding their perception of program effectiveness found that the regional cooperative approach provides special education-related services (training, technical assistance, grant writing) and personnel that schools would have difficulty maintaining…

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.…

Evolution of Northern Arizona University's new Center for Excellence in Education (the former College of Education) is traced and its interaction with the university, schools, and public agencies is illustrated through discussion of two special education training programs. An overview is provided of the numerous changes resulting from the…

A rural New Mexico project identifies gifted Hispanic and Native American children in the visual arts. Committees of parents, teachers, artists, and administrators use identification procedures sensitive to cultural, linguistic, and ethnic differences and community ethnic identity. Program elements include culturally relevant differentiated…

The New Mexico State Department of Education received a federal grant to provide educational and assistive technology for American Indian children living in the Pueblos of Laguna and Acoma, New Mexico. During the 2-year project, more than 229 assistive technology items were purchased, and some form of assistive technology was provided to 121…

A survey of 39 special and general education teachers and administrators from 7 New Mexico towns assessed their knowledge and acceptance level of fully inclusive education within the rural, culturally and linguistically diverse state. The results were analyzed by two subpopulations, general and special education teachers, and the total population…

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…