Rural schools, which comprise 67% of the nation's school systems, experience distinct educational environments and have unique strengths and weaknesses. Quality research to assess the effectiveness of rural education has been hampered by inconsistently applied definitions of "rural" and inadequate data to compare rural and urban districts. A study conducted in 1984 by the National Rural Education Research Consortium was the first comprehensive national effort to derive an empirical data base for rural education research priorities. This synthesis of the larger study reviews methodology, lists the nine resulting research priority clusters and the questions related to each cluster, and outlines implications for federal government, state agencies, higher education institutions, rural schools and students, and data dissemination. The nine rank-ordered research clusters are listed as rural school effectiveness, governance and finance, staff training needs (technology as a resource), teaching styles and incentives, field-based personnel preparation, preservice preparation, personnel recruitment and retention, school-community interaction, and rural versus non-rural factors. (LFL)