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 conclude that poverty has deleterious effects on home environment, which in turn has a major impact on educational achievement. While the rural population is now declining or growing at a lower rate than urban areas, rural areas are maintaining their traditional higher percentage of children and have a proportionately greater need for elementary and secondary education. There is a lack of precise information on rural education, but recent efforts are attempting to determine research agendas for rural education. Among the trends/issues in rural education propelled into the limelight by the events of educational reform are school consolidation and its alternatives; utilization of distance education strategies; teacher preparation, recruitment, and retention; and rural school effectiveness. Until the economic well-being of rural America is reinvigorated, the plight of its small, rural schools will be just one more piece of a much larger, unsolved puzzle. A bibliography lists 50 references. (NEC)