Discusses the contradictions and value conflicts encountered by gifted girls in rural schools. Suggests teacher and counselor strategies to promote sensitivity to gender bias, build girls' confidence, and provide learning materials and experiences that reflect realistic and relevant roles for both sexes. Includes an 18-item annotated list of…

Advantages of school-community partnerships in developing rural transitional programs for disabled students include informal community politics that provide opportunities for educational support, accessibility of nonschool personnel, acquaintanceship of parents, strong rural work ethic, and easy identification of community resources. Provides…

Special education directors, special education teachers, and Indian education directors from 25 northern Minnesota rural school districts were surveyed concerning special education practices involving Native American students. Although most respondents were satisfied with the referral and placement process, Indian education directors expressed…

Proposes a rural-focused preservice training program for school psychologists that would prepare them to act as leaders, facilitators, generalists, and team members supportive of the special education-regular education partnership. Discusses program objectives and competencies, methods of student recruitment, curriculum, leadership training, and…

Discusses current problems and issues facing vocational special education in rural areas, including limited educational access resulting from isolation, teacher shortages, and financial problems; curriculum shortcomings; lack of relevance to local job market; and lack of local employment opportunities. Describes successful rural strategies,…

Provides a framework for supervisory tasks in special education, outlines funding and organizational alternatives for providing supervision in rural areas, and suggests specific strategies for dealing with barriers to supervision in rural programs. (Author/KS)

Describes Project TRAIN, which provides graduate-level preservice training at the University of Wisconsin for early intervention professionals interested in working in rural areas with special-needs infants and toddlers and their families. Discusses project rationale, objectives, professional competencies, coursework, performance-based evaluation,…

Adaptation of Bolman and Deal's conceptual framework of organizational theory and related research provides educational administrators with structural, political, human-resource, and symbolic frames for understanding current educational practices and for planning the integration of severely disabled students into the general education program of…

A survey of 381 rural special educators indicates that computers are not well integrated in reading, spelling, or writing curricula. When students do use computers, they use them by themselves in the resource room or special classroom for reinforcement activities. Assistive devices are, for the most part, unavailable. (Author/KS)

Physical fitness of children with learning disabilities may be comparatively low. In a school-university cooperative program, four rural children with learning disabilities and their families participated in a 10-week fitness program that included nutrition education and family exercise activities. Results were positive and showed the need for…

The use of distance education for rural personnel preparation in special education and disability services was examined in the literature on 32 programs. The programs tended to have a narrow focus on graduate education in low-incidence disabilities; needed external support due to high costs; and had demonstrated sustainability. Emerging trends are…

Montana developed an alternative certification program for special educators in response to severe personnel shortages in rural schools. Program strengths include 2 years of mentoring and flexibility in delivery that allows participants to earn certification while working. Evaluation results are presented along with suggested improvements, which…

A survey of 137 employers in a rural Missouri community indicated that although many businesses were willing to employ former special education students, few would offer meaningful employment in terms of salary, benefits, and full-time work. Recommendations for rural educators and parents of disabled children are given. (TD)

A Delphi Technique was used to examine the problems of early childhood special education programs in rural Florida. Two rounds of questionnaires were completed by a panel of early childhood special education administrators and teachers from 14 of Florida's 27 rural counties. In response to the questionnaires, the panel developed 51 problem-related…

This paper reports on the concerns of rural school superintendents in Texas regarding the inclusion of special needs students in regular classrooms. The Change Facilitator Stages of Concerns Questionnaire (CFSoCQ) and a demographic data sheet were completed by 484 of the 708 rural superintendents in Texas. The CFSoCQ consists of 35 items…