A study was conducted to determine the status of Internet access and usage in selected rural schools of northeast Alabama, and to contribute to an ongoing database that describes Internet access and usage in rural schools as a benchmark for future study. A 28-item survey of 107 teachers and media specialists in 18 selected rural schools in…

First-year physical educators may abandon the goals promoted in teacher education programs and face "reality shock" in the workplace called school. This case study examines the perceptions of Mr. Miller, a beginning physical education teacher with no formal induction program available to him, and the effect of school culture on his…

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 Texas project developed a model distance learning program for a Health Care Science course. It determined the feasibility of using a distance learning delivery system for providing small rural districts with additional vocational education options. Activities included advisory committee selection, course development and support material…

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…

Ten innovative rural school programs are briefly described. Included are North Dakota's Mott School District #6 (316 students), which cooperates in a Multi-District Vocational Mobile Program bringing vocational education opportunities to isolated, rural students; Washington's Liberty School District (180 secondary students), where supervised…

The trends in post-industrial society toward decentralization, diversity, and individualization, with emphasis on synthesis rather than analysis, require educators who are more flexible, adaptable, and capable of managing diversity; this can prove advantageous to small and rural schools, which have long been using such a philosophy. Educators will…

An annotated bibliography lists publications, films, slides, and tapes issued by Washington State University's Partnership for Rural Improvement (PRI) between 1976 and 1983. A section covering educational materials lists 10 guides, reports and case studies; 1 film; 1 slide presentation; 3 video cassettes/tapes; and 7 audio tapes. Subjects dealt…

Addressing the concerns and resources of small, rural school districts, this book sets out a rationale and model plan for school-community relations. After introductory material and a review of what's been done, the first major section lists and describes 10 criteria shown by research to be most important for a small school district community…

A mediated peer coaching program implemented in rural Middle Tennessee in 1984-85 was designed to improve classroom instruction within the constraints imposed by poor, rural schools. Participants were 35 teachers in 9 rural schools, each assigned to a peer coaching team consisting of teachers in the same school but with different grade and/or…

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…