Educational achievement in rural America is one of the country's great overlooked challenges. Rural students achieve below the U.S. average on national tests, and high school dropout rates are higher and college attendance lower than they are in cities and suburbs. When the U.S. Department of Education asks low-achieving schools to be turned…

This document contains the full text of the conference keynote address and abstracts of conference papers. The keynote address--"Excellence in Rural Education: Our Heritage and Our Future," by Duane M. Nielsen--outlines: (1) demographic changes in rural America in the 1970s and 1980s; (2) the challenges facing rural education due to increasing…

Devising appropriate service delivery for gifted individuals is never an easy task and is especially challenging in rural areas. Characteristics of rural schools may be both barriers and benefits to gifted education. Limited numbers may mean that programming options for gifted students are unfeasible, but small schools and classes make…

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…

Included in this publication are the 4 issues of the ERIC/CRESS (Educational Research Information Center/Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools) newsletter published during 1969. Articles in issue Number 1 include: "Office of Education Summer Training Institutes"; "Migrant Education Conference"; "The Principalship-Fellowship…

Discusses barriers to integration of handicapped youngsters into school systems: historical legacy of special education; community attitudes; lack of trained educators; disincentives in state funding formulas. Describes regional resource centers providing technical assistance to state agencies, grants for projects on transition from school to…

Because it incorporates many of the best practices of inservice education, the use of computer/video linkage for inservice education programs in small rural schools holds great promise for improving both the method of delivery and the content of professional development activities. Studies of staff in small rural schools consistently find…

Superintendents, principals, and teachers from a statistical sample of small schools throughout the United States completed a needs assessment questionnaire. Concerns seemed less related to curriculum and academics and more related to teacher and student attitude, motivation, and general well-being. Significant differences were found between the…

Reviews factors that may impede the delivery of useful and appropriate diagnostic-intervention services to rural disabled children. Discusses rural parent, educator, school, and community factors as well as state and national policies that must be considered to ensure the provision of quality services to rural students. (JHZ)

Inclusionary schools occur through purposeful leadership, and the principal is the key to lead others through the process of change. This pilot study surveyed 155 principals of small rural schools in Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming to gather information about the ways in which principals administer special education programs in their…

This proceedings record contains 87 presentations, including 65 complete or edited transcripts and 22 abstracts. Eighteen papers address the conference theme of creative collaboration, describing cooperative agreements between universities and school districts to provide enhanced high school curricula, college preparation courses, and…

Describes school-based Intervention Assistant Teams' (IATs) work with rural nonspecial education students experiencing regular-classroom difficulties. Teams evaluate students, recommend, and carry out intervention. Discusses team leadership, membership, and principals' and parents' roles. Describes potential IAT benefits for students, parents, and…

To identify promising practices, issues, and problems concerning education for the gifted in Maine, 239 classroom teachers and 14 administrators from 11 school districts geographically distributed throughout the state responded to questionnaires which profiled teacher personal characteristics and styles, described the educational setting and…

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.…

The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 calls for each state to develop and implement a comprehensive system of personnel development (CSPD) to train special education personnel. Support for training activities has depended heavily on federal funds. However, in 1988, the basis for allocation of federal funds to such training…