Presents the views of a concerned citizen on reshaping U.S. schools in a peaceful, grass-roots revolution. Emphasis is on the neighborhood school, with parent participation, and a system that keeps students with the same teacher for multiple years. The human and technological resources that the approach requires are discussed. (SLD)

In Greece, "small schools" usually means those with less than 50, and perhaps, as few as 3 children. The isolation and inaccessibility of many regions, due to Greece's many mountain ranges and islands, have resulted in many small "schools of necessity." Even with the demographic shift to urban regions since World War II, 24…

This book describes the experience of a young and inexperienced teacher during 1926 in rural Marengo County, Alabama. Susie Powers Tompkins accepted her first teaching assignment to earn money to continue college after her freshman year at Alabama College. However, for Tompkins the rewards of teaching went far beyond just earning money. She found…

The characteristics of one-room rural schools in Barbour County, West Virginia, are representative of one-room rural school characteristics in general. These include building design and problems; teacher' lives and duties, certification, salaries, and training; scheduling and curriculum; games; punishments; and hot lunch programs. Since one-room…

The One-Room-Drop-In-School (ORDIS) emerged as one of Tennessee's dropout prevention program innovations. A pilot ORDIS was started in Nashville (Tennessee), in a high density housing project where concentrations of poverty and illiteracy usually exist. A five-bedroom apartment in the housing project was set up as a school. A certified teacher,…

Statistical data on the 158 rural schools of Wyoming are presented, based on information collected in 1967. Data are categorized into 2 types: schools under county superintendents, and schools not under county superintendents. Teacher-pupil ratios are presented for each school. The data indicate that 127 schools were under direct supervision of…

A comparative study is presented from the results of a questionnaire on rural education submitted to 71 countries. Information is given on administrative organization, criteria used to determine rurality, rural-urban differences, special courses for rural areas, curricula for rural education, staff distribution and preparation, and centralization…

In this interview (funded via a Title III Elementary Secondary Education Act grant) the roots of progressive education are revealed as Marian Brooks recounts the beginnings of her teaching career in 1924 at the age of 15 in a one room rural New Hampshire school. The interviewer's questions encompass the: (1) nature of the early teacher preparatory…

During the 1996-97 school year, 63 one-teacher primary schools were identified in Great Britain and 54 of these were surveyed. Three of the schools surveyed were in England, 47 in Scotland, and 4 in Wales. The majority of teachers in these schools were female, married, and 40-49 years old; had over 20 years teaching experience, with 5-15 years in…

Documents the higher educational and professional attainment of black and white students from two segregated, one-room schools in rural Virginia in the 1930s-40s. Data from life histories and interviews indicated that black students' inferior educational opportunities were offset somewhat by the values of their immediate community. Community…

The document presents organizational details of the 18-month Country School Legacy Project (June 1980-December 1981) to begin an on-going inquiry into the history of rural education and current public policies which affect country schools and which will result in greater public use of library facilities and historical collections in public,…

The country school legacy of Wyoming is rich in history, folklore, and tradition. Materials (many anecdotal) gathered from school records, oral histories, autobiographies, and memoirs provide glimpses into the diverse and demanding role of frontier teachers (who were mostly female and, by contract requirement, usually single) and the work and…

A review of the country school in literature discusses Irving's "The Legend of Sleppy Hollow," Whittier's "Snowbound" and "In School Days," Eggleston's "The Hoosier School Master," and Stuart's "To Teach, To Love" and "The Thread That Runs So True." These literary works portray the…

THROUGH LEGISLATIVE ACTION, THE STATE OF KANSAS REDUCED ITS SCHOOL DISTRICTS FROM 1500 TO 349 IN A SINGLE YEAR. INITIALLY IN 1896 THERE WERE 9,284 SCHOOL DISTRICTS, MOST OF THEM ONE TEACHER ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. THEY BECAME COMMUNITY CENTERS AND ALTHOUGH OUTMODED IN PRACTICALITY FOR EFFECTIVE AND ECONOMICAL EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES, THERE REMAINED…

Designed to preserve the rich heritage of the rural school system which passed from the education scene in the 1930's and 1940's, this narrative, part history and part nostalgia, describes the author's own elementary education and the secure community life centered in the one room Spring Valley School in Hamilton County, Iowa, in the early decades…