Within the existing framework of public education in rural and small schools, educational leaders must always seek new ways for achieving substantive improvements in the delivery of educational services to their students. Although much of the official concern for rural/small schools has been directed toward consolidation and urbanization, small…

Profiles three program awards for exemplary rural special education practices. Describes an Arizona program that allows teachers to pursue advanced training without quitting their jobs, an Idaho program of work experience and transitional services for special education students, and a Virginia program for normalization of students labeled…

Profiles three programs recognized for exemplary rural special education programs. Describes a program for severely handicapped birth-through-three children in an isolated mountainous Tennessee community, a multidisciplinary special education team that provides an itinerant resource room for an Alaska school district of 22,000 square miles, and…

Addresses the concerns of rural school administrators who have difficulty recruiting and retaining qualified (master's level) speech-language pathologists. Outlines speech-language pathology services and differences between master's and bachelor's degree training for speech-language pathologists. Suggests service delivery models that provide…

Summarizes political, technical, attitudinal, and educational problems affecting delivery of special education services in the largely rural developing nation of Malaysia. Evaluates the possible use of a community-based model of rehabilitation that would rely heavily on parental involvement and volunteers and make the best use of the country's few…

This final report describes activities and achievements of a 4-year federally funded project to support a graduate level program at the University of Vermont to prepare educational specialists to serve students with Serious Emotional Disturbances (SED) and their families within their local public schools, homes and other community settings. The…

A study assessed perceptions of 90 preservice teachers about the quality of their participation in practica experiences in a consultation and curriculum adaptation course collaboratively developed and supervised by a small midwestern university and rural school personnel. Data were collected over three semesters in the form of written responses…

As rural schools prepare for the inclusion of students with disabilities in general classrooms, teachers must be equipped to modify curriculum and adapt classroom environments. This paper reports the results of an analysis of a series of instructional seminars for their applicability to curriculum and classroom environment adaptation. The series…

Survey of 141 rural special education teachers from Washington State indicated that teachers were unfamiliar with telecomputer networks and their potential use in the classroom, rarely used computer technology at home or at school, and perceived lack of knowledge as the biggest obstacle to using telecomputer networks and resources in the…

Evaluation of a program that traveled to various sites in rural New Mexico to evaluate special education students for augmentative and alternative communication needs revealed that parents and teachers were positive about the quality of services provided. Additionally, graduate students involved in providing services were positive about their…

Examines the use of collaborative instruction and its effectiveness for delivering two courses in special education to rural graduate students over interactive television. Emphasizes three innovative practices: collaborative planning and coteaching; combining two courses with similar content into one timeslot; and incorporating on-campus meetings…

Project RAISE (Rural America Institute for Special Educators) was a preservice teacher training program specifically designed for preparing special educators for the demands of rural settings. The project was conducted by the Department of Special Education at Bowling Green State University (Ohio) and concentrated on training special educators in…

This project addressed the need for training materials for paraeducators in their roles as members of the instructional team, and for teachers as classroom executives who lead that team. Paraprofessional personnel in this project include paid aides, volunteers, cross-age tutors, and parents instructing children in the schools. The three objectives…

This paper describes efforts to address the shortage of special educators in rural Georgia by supplying regular education teachers with information and resources to teach disabled students. Since 1969, the Georgia Center for Students with Disabilities (GCSD) has provided yearly comprehensive medical and psychoeducational evaluations to…

This paper describes a process that empowered special education teachers in Greenville Independent School District (Texas) to begin moving toward an inclusive model of special education. Specifically, the paper examines special education teachers' levels of concern regarding inclusion during this process. During the summer, 26 special education…