A 15-year study of Amish schools in the United States and Canada found that the number of Amish schools has grown dramatically from 1940 through the present. The Amish provide formal schooling only up to the eighth grade, after which adolescents are engaged in mastering a trade before entering into adulthood. The Amish once supported public schools, but when compulsory attendance beyond grade eight was enforced and consolidation required busing students to schools outside the community, the Amish resisted and started their own schools. Public school officials did not want to recognize Amish schools, which resulted in conflicts in several states. The Supreme Court ruled in 1972 that Amish children could not be forced to attend public schools beyond eighth grade. The Amish have significant impacts on rural education in 22 states and the province of Ontario. The Amish add cultural diversity to rural areas and they affect public school attendance and size by not participating. They preserve a part of rural public school history by buying public one-room schools and equipment, they preserve the one-teacher method of teaching, and they preserve an organizational oversight system through school boards for each school similar to that utilized by country schools of earlier decades. Twenty-five tables present numbers of Amish schools in 22 states and Ontario, numbers of Amish schools in the United States, and schools and communities visited. (Contains 25 references.) (TD)