In a survey of 304 teachers selected randomly from Alaska's rural schools, significantly fewer teachers in Native communities thought students would attend or graduate from college or could achieve at or above national norms. Many Native leaders view these attitudes as evidence that prejudiced attitudes create school failure among Native children.…

Perspectives on online learning on location in regional Australia were examined through structured interviews with 46 learners, 23 teachers, 6 managers of flexible delivery activities, 4 organization chief executive officers, and focus groups with 20 online learners. The manager interviews established that although mangers viewed online delivery…

This report describes the strategies, accomplishments, and outcomes of a project designed to identify economically disadvantaged rural gifted children (grades 3-8) from African American, Hispanic, Native American, and Appalachian descended, rural Caucasian populations. Project objectives are outlined, along with evidence of their accomplishment.…

Levels of achievement and participation in both school mathematics and school science remain unacceptable throughout most of the nation. Addressing these concerns has unique and specific ramifications for small rural schools, particularly with respect to the economic aspects of providing the materials and manipulatives necessary for hands-on…

A survey conducted as part of the continuous review of Eastern Montana College's teacher preparation program produced written responses from 62 classroom teachers, 8 principals, and 9 superintendents from rural schools in 4 Montana counties, who strongly supported the need for specialized preparation for rural teachers. Respondents recommended…

Background: Public schools in the United States are still segregated along cultural and racial lines 50 years after the 1954 Supreme Court's ruling. For example, Orfield and Lee, 2004; and Orfield, 2001) indicated that White student in the United States attended schools that were 80 percent White. Ethnic minority children (children of color),…

Inverness Research studied the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) Seminars on Science program for eight years, from its inception in 1998 to 2006. This paper presents teacher survey ratings for "The Diversity of Fishes", along with profiles of two teachers who took the course. Course takers report on the annual follow-up surveys…

Education reform mandates that teachers be able to function competently in multicultural classrooms. This paper describes a culturally aware teaching model designed to address the problems and needs of rural at-risk students. The major goal of the model is to empower students through acceptance, understanding, respect, and appreciation of both the…

The Crosby Independent School District near Houston, Texas, planned to introduce microcomputer instruction to its nearly 3,000 students in slow stages that had teachers and students learning at the same time. The initial impetus for computers came from an administrator who found useful information at a Regional Service Center of the State…

This document includes abstracts of research and development projects dealing with agricultural education that were completed in the United States between September 1, 1987, and August 31, 1988. A total of 185 research abstracts are included (71 master's papers or theses, 44 doctoral dissertations, and 70 staff studies. Thirty institutions from 27…

This paper compares responses of 660 teachers and 3,420 students from 36 schools (23 elementary, 4 middle, 9 secondary), located in 14 rural Tennessee counties, by school level on the Good Schools Survey instruments. Data represent teacher and student perceptions of classroom practices, support services/facilities, commitment, and goal attainment.…

A 3-year cooperative program between the College of Saint Rose (Albany, New York) and surrounding rural school districts has two main goals: to help rural Chief School Officers (CSOs) design staff development activities to meet educational needs of mainstreamed handicapped students and to improve the college's preservice teacher education program…

In North Dakota, the schools played the major role in imparting American culture to the immigrants who by 1920 numbered 67% of North Dakota's population, but rural schools were not ideally suited to the task. The immigrants tended to cluster in nationality groups in geographic areas of the state, giving communities distinct ethnic identities. The…

The dynamics of change processes in a rural school jurisdiction over a 5-year period were examined in relation to four specific goals: (1) to document changes since a planning study was done in 1982; (2) to determine if school program changes that had been adopted had reached the classroom according to teacher perceptions; (3) to report how the…

Interviews conducted in Kentucky's Fifth Congressional District sought answers for improving educational quality in the district, which has the highest dropout rate, the lowest holding power, and the lowest standardized test scores in Kentucky. Members of the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development interviewed 155 people from 15 of…