Electronically mediated professional exchange is viewed as a valid form of professional dialogue and support. This study examines an effort to link teachers in 10 isolated schools to collaborate in curriculum planning and delivery, focused on a site for resource sharing and communication. Viewed in terms of data concerning extent, nature, and…

Adequate yearly progress (AYP) on No Child Left Behind criteria was examined for a randomly selected sample of districts that qualify for the Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP). The sample involved 10% of districts that were eligible for the Small Rural Schools Achievement (SRSA) program and 10% that were eligible for the Rural and…

Based on an ethnographic case study done in an all-white, rural middle school, this article examines the students' experience with and interpretation of an international education program implemented with a hope of providing more global/international contents to the curriculum. The study shows that these students interpreted other cultures…

Developed as a text for studying rural education in Canada, this book focuses on the importance of listening to the voices of all stakeholders in education, formulating a shared vision for schooling, and providing leadership that will revitalize schools in sparsely populated areas. Section 1 presents strategic planning as the most promising…

This paper discusses recent demographic and economic trends in Illinois and nationwide and resulting implications for rural schools and communities. Economic and social trends and their impacts on rural schools over the next decade include: (1) a more diverse school population due to growing numbers of Asian and Hispanic immigrants; (2) a greater…

This paper addresses the role of distance education as a means for increasing curricular offerings of small and rural secondary schools. Treating distance education as a "technology" risks repeating the same cycle of false hopes and expectations that has historically accompanied the introduction of technology into education. Instead,…

This book discusses the inclusion of children with disabilities in general education settings and provides accounts of successful inclusive school communities. A prologue by Michael S. Berres is titled "All Children, All Schools." Chapter 1, "Is It Inclusion Yet? Bursting the Bubbles" (Dianne L. Ferguson), reviews the status of…

This book describes the experiences of 26 retired rural school teachers from western Wisconsin. The book was inspired by the community solidarity of the Cloverdale Community Club (Wisconsin) in maintaining the old Cloverdale School building. Cloverdale School was a typical one-room rural school, built in 1857 and closed by the consolidation…

To better prepare preservice teachers for meeting the challenges of student diversity, many universities have strengthened their partnerships with schools to provide sustained, mentored experiences in classroom settings along with concurrent coursework. For the past 5 years, elementary and secondary special education teacher candidates at the…

Intended as a guidebook for middle level educators as they seek to institute educational experiences appropriate to the adolescents in their programs, this book discusses the issues and assets of middle school education in rural settings. Chapter 1 of the book is an introduction, discussing the concept of middle school as applied to small rural…

This paper describes how Clive School, a small rural K-9 school in Alberta (Canada), used a team teaching approach and the best practices of staff development to facilitate the inclusion of special needs students into general education classrooms. Since September 1989, the staff at Clive School have been involved in developing their school into a…

In a rural Washington school district 60 percent of teachers and administrators have completed a course on collaboration as part of a key effort to bring a collaborative culture to their schools. This course was one part of a change effort that included development of School Advisory Committees where teachers and administrators made significant…

The school of education at Indiana University Southeast (IUS) adopted a program to incorporate technology into preservice teacher education and practicum training. Students in the program were nontraditional undergraduate junior and senior level elementary education majors. Students enrolled in a team-taught, 6-semester-hour block of Language…

This report addresses issues related to the responsibility of public schools to prepare rural youth for life choices about careers, postsecondary education, and place of residence. A synthesis of current research literature, as well as the perceptions of rural educators and policymakers in the Northwest, explore some potential resolutions to the…

This report summarizes a study conducted during 1993-94 evaluating rural secondary education in Alaska. The six components of the study included: (1) a survey of boarding school graduates concerning how well their educational experience prepared them for college, trade school, and employment; (2) a telephone survey of 800 rural households…