With the goal of improving citizenship and character education in the elementary school child through learning by doing in the form of a school-based club, the Young Citizens League (YCL) appeared in rural South Dakota early in the twentieth century, introduced by Michael M. Guhin and developed by E.C. Giffen. By 1930, at its peak, it had an…

In 1948, a young and naive Robert Ove arrived at Whitetail, on the Mescalero Apache Reservation, to teach at the Bureau of Indian Affairs day school. Living there were the Chiricahua Apaches--descendants of Geronimo and the survivors of nearly 30 years of incarceration by the U.S. government. With help from Indian historian H. Henrietta Stockel,…

Students explore concepts of Progressive Era education and learn how the philanthropic efforts of Pierre Samuel du Pont helped transform Delaware's education system for African American school children. It is based on the National Register of Historic Places registration file "Iron Hill School Number 112C," interviews with former pupils,…

Discusses the origins, lifestyle, and education of the Amish and introduces three papers concerning Amish educational practices. The first article presents observations of a newly appointed Amish teacher. The two remaining articles discuss educationally relevant insights involving the challenges that health-care personnel face in relating to the…

Written in 1953, this book presents the reminiscences of a renowned scientist about his early education in a one-room school at Prairie View, Kansas, during the 1870s and 1880s. The first chapter records early memories of the road to school, and describes the community of Anglo and German farmers served by Prairie View. Other chapters describe…

This book presents letters, a personal narrative, and a diary relating the experiences of nine women teachers who traveled from the East to teach on western frontiers before the Civil War. During 1846-56, the National Popular Education Board recruited 600 experienced teachers from New England and New York State; trained them in Hartford,…

This book explores the country schoolhouses of Texas' rural past. Sources include interviews with dozens of former country schoolteachers and students and first-person narratives collected from written works. Chapters cover the following topics: (1) history of public education and country schools in Texas; (2) distance travelled by teachers and…

During the 1979-1980 school year, 23 Old Order Amish pupils in the Pleasant Hill School near Bloomfield, Iowa, took the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. On the language arts subtest, five of six third grade students ranked above 50% in capitalization, four ranked above 50% in spelling and punctuation, and three ranked above 50% in usage. Four third…

This ERIC digest presents an overview of small-scale schooling in an international context; examines demographic data, staffing problems, and incentives used in other nations; and points out the distinctive characteristics and unique value and potential of small schools in both industrialized and developing nations. Rural school populations remain…

In this collection, nine master teachers with extensive experience in small, rural Alaska schools describe classroom management techniques that have proven effective in their multigraded classrooms. Over half the document consists of one paper, the last in the volume, entitled "More like a School Family than Just a Teacher and His or Her…

Materials from the I.D. Weeks Library of the University of South Dakota, relating to country schools and the history of rural education in South Dakota and written between 1874 and 1976, are listed in this annotated bibliography. Publications of the South Dakota Department of Public Instruction include: school laws, some dating back to 1877;…

Wyoming's funding programs for public education that relate to the issues of sparsity and the state's attempt to provide equal educational opportunity are reviewed. School district problems that relate to the issue of sparsity are also discussed. School district size in Wyoming ranges from the smallest district, by area, of 186 square miles to the…

Presenting detailed statistics illustrating trends and the numerical status of one-teacher schools, this U.S. Office of Education bulletin spans a 30-year period describing, by states, the overall decreases in the number of 1-teacher schools, their proportional relationship to all public schools and teachers, and the number of students attending…

In this video, former students and teachers recall their experiences in rural one-room schools in various regions. Just getting to school involved some hardship; anecdotes include experiences of walking, riding horses, driving snowmobiles or all-terrain vehicles, and canoeing to school. Students, teachers, and community members developed a…

The war has served to accentuate many marked weaknesses in the nation's rural school system. For years devoted leaders in this important educational field have carried forward a propaganda to enlist local and national interest in the matter, and not altogether without success. In many sections of the country splendid schools have been organized…