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…

Although rural children with mild or moderate handicaps have been integrated into the regular classroom, children with severe or low-incidence handicaps continue to be underserved by rural schools. Traditional service delivery models are inadequate in rural areas where many levels of the traditional service continuum and adequate staff and funding…

The 3-year qualitative study evaluated high-school special education programs and their contributions to the transition of youth with disabilities. This report focuses on: the current status of programs for transition from school to adult life; program gaps as seen by administrators and practitioners; and reported priorities for program…

The packet consists of information derived from several sources on models for delivering services to rural handicapped students. The first part of the packet defines "rural," followed by a discussion of factors hindering rural service delivery and a model describing the continuum of services in rural areas. Seven model programs and projects from…

Specialized services needed in the Leflore County School System in rural Mississippi are discussed in this 1969 document prepared under Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The services considered do not include administrative or supervisory services or formally organized classroom instruction for regular and non-clinical…

Children's developmental progress was studied to determine if location and types of services for handicapped preschoolers (classroom or home and classroom combined) were significantly related to child progress. Data indicated an overall trend for progress for all participating children, but neither service delivery model emerged as the superior…

A survey conducted to identify changes over a five-year period of operation for a regional provider of special education services included questions about number of handicapped students served, number and type of educational personnel, rooms used for special education, and services needed to comply with Public Law 94-142. (JHZ)

Notes shortages of speech-language pathologists and points out strategies that rural school administrators can use to increase the chances or recruiting and retaining them. Topics include knowledge of the professional requirements and competencies, knowledge of caseload size and selection criteria, availability of clinical fellowship supervisor,…

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)

Describes and explains various factors in rural education and shows how "A Nation at Risk," the report of the Commission on Excellence in Education, ignores certain rural factors in its recommendations for education. Offers eight recommendations for policymakers who are designing strategies for implementing the commission…

This proceedings contains 59 conference papers and presentation summaries concerned with rural special education. The papers are arranged in 11 sections covering at-risk students, collaborative education models, early childhood education, impacting governmental policy, inservice teacher and administrator education, multicultural education, parents…

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…

A study explored rural African American parents' perceptions of their own and teachers' levels of communication and involvement during the prereferral phase of the special education process. Nine African American parents from rural Mississippi, whose children received special education services, completed questionnaires and participated in a group…

This theme issue of "State Education Leader" contains eight articles on rural education. "The Rural Bellwether" (Kathy Christie) discusses declining enrollment in rural schools, rural problems with teacher shortages and special education funding, issues related to school size and school district size, and distance learning…