This packet describes 10 promising practices identified in small and rural elementary schools in New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont. Descriptions of the following innovations are presented: (1) community volunteers with diverse talents and experience became enrichment "teachers" during school time for students in intermediate grades,…

Two studies in southeastern Sweden examined rural children's conflicting attitudes toward environmental change in the local community. Following a yearlong curriculum in environmental studies, 14 fifth and sixth graders in Ramkvilla were presented with an imaginary scenario involving the construction of a new factory. Their small, somewhat idyllic…

Consolidation has become both a solution for small, rural school districts and a contentious policy fraught with numerous difficulties. Despite concerns about limited curricula and higher operating expenses, there is no generalizable evidence that students educated in rural settings underachieve or have deficient social skills. Recent research has…

An advisory group's study of the training needs of people working in countryside conservation and recreation in Great Britain recommends that: (1) employers and training providers make available training that balances the three strands of management (resources, people, and the system), ensure that staff acquire the full range of key skills and…

Rural schools, which comprise 67% of the nation's school systems, experience distinct educational environments and have unique strengths and weaknesses. Quality research to assess the effectiveness of rural education has been hampered by inconsistently applied definitions of "rural" and inadequate data to compare rural and urban…

Begun in June 1984, the national study utilized questionnaires from 461 rural education researchers and practitioners to provide the first empirical data for prioritization of rural education research needs. Since conducting and supporting rural education research are clearly federal functions, the study was prepared for dissemination to federal…

The Program for Exceptional Children of the University of South Carolina developed a project to address the need for an improved service delivery model for handicapped students in rural South Carolina. The project trained regular elementary teachers at the master's degree level to function as consultants to other regular classroom teachers with…

There is a great need to build effective partnerships to serve rural communites. Rural schools are excellent places for new private sector partnerships, especially those concerned with utilizing the new educational technology uniquely suited to compensate for rural isolation and lack of financial and cultural resources. In many rural areas, the…

In this keynote address, the Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult Education described federal efforts to foster partnerships in support of rural education. According to the 1980 Census, the country's rural non-farm population grew 11.1% between 1970 and 1980 but rural communities lagged behind the rest of the country in educational…

Recognizing that New York State has one of the largest rural populations in the United States and that it is impossible to institute special curricula at the College of Saint Rose (CSR) to train future special education teachers for rural areas, this manual was compiled to provide CSR Education Division faculty with a guide to available existing…

The rural superintendency offers unique challenges and insights into the educational process. Rural superintendents require a broader range of administrative training and skills than their urban counterparts, with a strong emphasis on interpersonal skills. The range of problems and daily activities encountered by the rural superintendent is…

This monograph traces the history of Iowa State University from its founding in 1868 to 1982. Following a brief description of the background of teacher training in the ancient world, and its development in Europe and subsequently the United States, the foundations laid for an educational system in mid-western United States are discussed. Iowa…

The proceedings consist of the entire major addresses of Senator Nancy Landon Kassebaum, Steve Miller, and Walter Turner, and abbreviated versions of 29 other papers or presentations. The materials deal with a variety of rural-focused topics: women (Evelyn Hausmann); teacher career ladder plans (Paul Burden); inservice (Robert Norton, Myron…

A UNESCO survey on the use of the broadcasting media in combating adult illiteracy indicates a steady increase in their use. (AG)

Lincoln Land Community College (Springfield, Illinois) serves a population with a mixture of industrial, agricultural, and commercial interests in a geographical area of 3420 square miles. This article describes its special programs for the blind, the placement of its graduates, and some of its programs and problems. (DC)