Students, faculty, administration, and community members of three Iowa rural school districts were interviewed to identify educational issues in their communities. The results of the Iowa investigation are compared with the results of the Claremont Graduate School investigation published in "Voices from the inside: A report on schooling from inside the classroom" (1992). The Claremont study investigated large urban schools. The Iowa study provides insight into small, rural school districts. Although similar issues emerged from the two studies, other issues demonstrated the different realities of education in rural Iowa and education in a large culturally diverse urban setting.