This monograph presents a history of educational services in New York State. Chapter 1 summarizes the history of the University of the State of New York, its Board of Regents, early development, and unification of the university and the Department of Public Instruction. Chapter 2 reviews the State Education Department's history and legal…

This teaching module instructs preservice teachers about accelerating the progress of rural gifted students. Acceleration consists of various provisions that allow early completion of school, including grade-skipping, cross-grade placement, early entry, dual attendance, special class placement, and radical acceleration. In rural areas, the…

Consistent with educational reform efforts, regular educators are being asked to meet the challenge of addressing the needs of special education and at-risk students along with "normal" students in the regular classroom. This paper examines how teacher education programs can assist in better preparing educators to meet this challenge and…

This proceedings contains 58 papers on rural special education. Papers present the newest and most innovative promising practices for rural special education, current research, contemporary discussions of theory or theory development, and topics of timely concern. The papers are organized in order of presentation, and are categorized in a topical…

This proceedings contains 60 conference papers that address critical issues related to rural education, special education, teacher training, school reform, and services for students who are at risk. The conference theme of rural partnerships recognizes the diversity of the ACRES membership and the need for developing and maintaining successful…

For the past 6 years Liberty High School (187 students, located in rural Washington state) has been expanding both its vocational and general education programs through correspondence study. Although federal grant monies allowed initiation of the program in 1977, the school district subsequently assumed financial responsibility. Student response…

Texts of speeches delivered before general sessions and abstracts of papers presented in concurrent sessions are collected in this document which also contains the conference program, a directory of presenters, and the 13 conference cosponsors' recommendations for enhancing the quality of rural and small school education. The six addresses to the…

Compiled for rural educators, this catalog describes 58 exemplary educational programs available for adoption by any school through the National Diffusion Network (NDN), but selected with the needs and resources of rural schools in mind. Introductory sections explain the function of NDN and the role of NDN facilitators in assisting those seeking…

Project PRIDE, a regional model for providing educational services to severely/profoundly handicapped school-aged individuals in rural southeastern Kansas, was designed to develop exemplary services in multiple special education cooperatives using a regional resource team approach. Resource team members served as consultants to classroom personnel…

This study of educational provisions in Western Australia, an area of 2.5 million square kilometers with a mere 1.2 million inhabitants, provides a broad picture of the complex, difficult, and expensive undertaking of providing education to a small, widely-spread population which differs in demographic, economic, and cultural characteristics. The…

A complex and multi-faceted problem faces those seeking to provide special education to the thousands of handicapped children residing in the nation's rural areas. The major challenge facing rural administrators is how to deliver special education effectively to small numbers of handicapped children who are probably scattered geographically. A…

As telecommunications advance at a rapid pace, rural public school systems must take advantage of new teaching methodologies and tools such as distance learning, experiential education, and computer networking. This publication provides access to the current literature on innovative educational strategies to increase learning success with…

A review of five studies by the National Rural Project determined the impact of educational collaboratives on rural special education, including types of educational collaboratives, variations within collaborative structures, benefits of collaboratives for rural special education, problems related to regional service delivery structures, and…

Thirty-eight projects designed to improve educational opportunities of rural Queensland children were initiated in 1977 and funded through the Disadvantaged Schools Program; the program was renamed the Country Area Program and made a permanent School Commission program in 1982. The program resulted from a 1977-79 Schools Commission report…

The geographic, enviornmental, and demographic conditions in Alaska create extreme difficulties for rural small school teachers who must cope with students with abilities ranging from gifted to retarded. Mainstreaming is taken for granted in Alaska where program development to aid rural teachers in providing special education services to their…