Discusses consolidation as a method to reduce the costs of rural education. Describes the interrelatedness of the rural economy and rural education. Enumerates advantages and disadvantages of small schools. Suggests that educational reform should focus on the unique circumstances of rural schools. (KS)

Conducted 3-year catch-up prospective study of 654 rural special education students. Record review of handicapped students from preschool through secondary school revealed that 32.8 percent had classification change. Changes in type of program occurred for 33.1 percent, and changes in frequency of services occurred for 71.2 percent of students in…

Interrelates school and district data files from the National Center for Educational Statistics with county demographic files and county typologies from the Economic Research Service. Explores the usefulness of cross-tabulating rural versus urban status with metropolitan versus nonmetropolitan status as contextual categories for understanding the…

Discusses ongoing efforts of the National Rural Education Association (NREA) to support rural research and data collection activities. Describes research activities and projects at three university-based rural education research centers established with NREA endorsement. Provides criteria and application procedures for NREA-endorsed research…

Describes a program designed to facilitate the conditions whereby children in a small rural village school could perceive pleasure and purpose in literacy and thus create a climate of positive motivation resulting in productive reading and writing activities. (RS)

Describes the experiences of one teacher-consultant who was sent to conduct inservice workshops for English teachers in a rural environment. Considers the nature of the word "rural" and the kinds of problems encountered in rural settings. (HB)

Explores the educational experiences of Australian travelling circus people, who regularly cross the boundaries between urban and rural, as evidence contradicting pervasive negative stereotypes about rural education. Discusses implications of these experiences for reinvigorating education in rural Australia. Calls for enactment of strategies that…

In response to the expense and unreliability of radio and telephone communications, the New South Wales (Australia) Department of Education and Training undertook a trial of satellite technology to deliver interactive lessons to elementary students in remote areas. The Gilat satellite system developed in Israel is described, including equipment,…

Discusses improvements to preschool education in rural France as a result of a 1992 ruling by the Minister of Education. Considers strategies adopted, including peripatetic/itinerant teachers, occasional groupings of very small classes for joint project work, and bringing children together in one setting from three smaller ones. (JPB)

Two recent books complement each other to provide a more complete and realistic understanding of the challenge of Education for All in rural India. The World Bank report offers a macrolevel, statistical perspective on Indian primary education, while the "Public Report" portrays the reality of village primary education as lived and…

Traces evolution of rural-school education plan in Colombia (Escuela Nueva), focusing on importance of Colombia's changing political and social climate in policy development. Identifies three phases of reform development and implementation: grassroots, formalized, and decoupled. Uses Escuela Nueva to demonstrate importance of recognizing dynamic,…

Previous scholarship on farm families emphasizes the importance of socializing children to become farmers. This study is the first to focus on the parental socialization factors that are associated with preadolescent children's attachment to, and plans to take over, the family farm. Forty-seven 7- to 12-year-old children and their farming parents…

In this qualitative study, yearbook students from five suburban and five rural high schools described how they perceived themselves as diverse and how they worked through their diversity to produce inclusive yearbooks. Students knowingly used a variety of strategies in their yearbooks to involve, include, and showcase marginal students. Rural…

As Mexican immigrants move from urban centers to rural, mountainous regions of the U.S. Southwest, their children are often measured by mainstream middle-class cultural ideals that value athleticism, extroversion, and English language proficiency. Based on a year-long ethnographic study undertaken in 1998-1999, this article explores how newly…

The second volume of the English-language The China Educational Development Yearbook offers international scholars a glimpse into key issues in Chinese education today from the perspective of Chinese academics, practitioners, and applied researchers. An edited translation of the 2009 volume of the Chinese-language "Blue Book of…