Although rural America and rural education have a traditional heritage of diversity, collectively rural schools share several unique features. Most rural school districts are small, they are sparsely populated, they are likely to be isolated from any major urban center, and they are both an extension and a reflection of the community they serve.…

The efforts of eight private four-year colleges to deal with revenue declines in the 1970s are described. The major social, political, and economic developments that contributed to the decline and recovery efforts are briefly reviewed. Attention is directed to strategic management responses to the financial stress. The colleges, whose identities…

In response to declining enrollment in teacher education programs and a mandate from the Regents of the Montana University System to accept special responsibility as a Rural Education Center for the State of Montana, the Education Division of Western Montana College (Dillon, Montana) in 1980 hired an applied anthropologist to evaluate the existing…

The report describes the educational programs that Alaska's 162 small rural high schools offer, identifies educational problems, and examines strategies that districts and schools have devised to strengthen these schools. The schools mostly serve Eskimos and American Indians, have fewer than 100 students, and are located in communities of fewer…

Interviews with principals and school board presidents, site surveys of 32 randomly selected schools, achievement test scores, and in-depth studies by educators provided data describing educational programs, identifying educational problems, and revealing strategies to strengthen the 162 small rural high schools located in Alaskan communities of…

Rural America and its schools (which encompass nearly two-thirds of the 15,600 school districts in the United States) face an incredible array of challenges. Changes in demographic, economic, and social conditions are creating a new rural America which is beset by many problems. Rural poverty does not appear to be diminishing and researchers…

The report addresses characteristics and concerns of New Mexico's 19 smallest school districts with a 1981-82 average daily membership ranging from 262 to 60 students. Information was gathered from a Public School Finance Division questionnaire sent to the 19 superintendents; from a December 1981 meeting with 10 of the smallest districts; from…

Key points of presentations are captured in this report of a conference which addressed issues of concern to educators in Alaska's small schools and provided an opportunity for educators to share classroom approaches that work for them. A total of 77 presentations are briefly summarized. Contents are organized under the following headings: (1)…

Presenting information drawn primarily from interviews and visits to abandoned, operating, and restored country schools in Nebraska, this report is part of the Country School Legacy Project, intended to study the role rural schools played in the history of the frontier and to locate and preserve information related to country schools. The report…

The state superintendent, the county superintendent, and the one-room school teacher each contributed to classroom instruction in North Dakota. In 1895, the "School Text Book Law" provided for free text books and school supplies for all pupils; however, the law was not mandatory. Specific courses of study and elaborate handbooks on all…

As part of an eight-state research effort to locate and preserve information related to country schools, this report examines western South Dakota's country schools as historic sites, country schools as community centers, teachers (their roles, rules, and restrictions), school curriculum, education for Sioux Indians, and country schools today.…

A review of relevant available literature divides the functions of rural principals into six categories (instruction/curriculum leadership, personnel guidance, school/community relations, administrative responsibilities, evaluation, professional improvement) and provides suggestions on helpful material for each. Recent research on principals and…

Eleven Iowa towns in 11 counties and 11 Area Education Agencies (AEAs), having both elementary and high schools in 1960, were chosen via a rural-urban continuum to ascertain evidence of creativity in providing community services after losing the high school between 1960 and 1980. The study compared: community services in 1955-56 and 1980-81 (a…

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…

Eight on-site visits (focusing on school districts which did not use federal Vocational Education Act funds) were made with state vocational education administrators and rural school superintendents in two states to identify factors related to providing vocational education to rural secondary students, to ascertain why some rural districts did not…