A distance education program at West Virginia University (WVU) offers graduate level training to prospective and practicing special education teachers in rural areas. This report compares the cost effectiveness of distance education to previous models at WVU during the past 15 years, including campus-based and field-based delivery systems. The…

Effective provision of services to disabled rural children and their families requires collaborative effort between special educators and social workers. However, such a collaborative effort is impeded by social workers' lack of knowledge about special education laws and services and about disabled children and their families. A major…

Minority group students are disproportionately represented in special education programs and have alarmingly high dropout rates. In rural Louisiana, special educators must cope with teaching a population that is poor, ethnically diverse, and somewhat isolated from mainstream America. An assessment instrument designed to identify training needs of…

In small rural school districts there are significant socioeconomic, cultural, and distance barriers to parent involvement in the education of exceptional children. In Florida, the history of parent involvement in exceptional student education parallels that of organized parent activism generally; rural, isolated, and minority group parents have…

Four related research studies examined the transition of Maine special education students from high school to community and work. (1) A statewide survey of Maine special education teachers and administrators and vocational counselors found that significant gaps existed in transitional services provided to handicapped secondary school students, in…

The transcript of the 1985 hearings contains testimony and prepared statements on reauthorization of the discretionary programs under P.L. 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (Part B of the Education of the Handicapped Act). The discretionary programs section of the law authorizes federal assistance to support such programs as…

Knowledge-based expert computer systems are addressing issues relevant to all special educators, but are particularly relevant in rural settings where human experts are less available because of distance and cost. An expert system is an application of artificial intelligence (AI) that typically engages the user in a dialogue resembling the…

This conference focused on the theme of linking programs and resources for rural special education. This conference proceeding contains an overview and conference agenda booklet, abstracts and some full texts of conference presentations, including the following sampling of papers: "A Data Based Model for the Rural Model Aide in Special Education,"…

Rural teachers are confronted with the task of providing appropriate education to exceptional students, as well as addressing the added elements of language and culture issues as these pertain to handicapping conditions. Key points in the identification and instruction of these students are initial referral, early intervention, and appropriate…

Rural special educators play a very complex role in the provision of services to exceptional learners. Population sparsity and distance factors more or less mandate that most rural special education programs must be cross-categorical, multi-age programs. These same factors, and the fact that support specialists in related areas are nonexistent or…

Fourteen planning papers commissioned by the National Institute of Education in preparation for a study of vocational education are presented. The papers are organized into four sections. Section one deals with selected features of federal grant-in-aid programs and contains these papers: "On Implementing the Vocational Amendments of…

Describes a vocational program for special education students at Kennebunk High School in Kennebunk, Maine, that guides students from the classroom, to an in-house business, to a community-based job-learning position, and then to placement in an appropriate job. Stresses opportunities in small business and entrepreneurship as well as…

Identifies possible causes of head injury among reservation American Indians. Discusses the range of problems to look for following head trauma and offers some common sense safety precautions for head injury prevention. Describes a plan of action for teachers of American Indian children who have sustained head injuries. (JHZ)

Describes the Sharing Center component of the Macomb, Illinois, 0-3 Rural Project enabling parents in rural communities and small towns to join their disabled children in activities and to share experiences with other parents of disabled young children. Discusses Center establishment, participant characteristics, staff preparation, activities,…

This document is one of a series of reports based on the Special Education Expenditure Project, a study of the nation's spending on special education and related services based on analysis of data for the 1999-2000 school year. This report focuses on general patterns of variation in total spending on special education students across districts…