The Saturday Seminars for Able and Ambitious Students, a small schools rural enrichment program at the State University College at Oneonta, New York, is described. (BD)

Zions First National Bank in Utah adopted a local school in Garrison with a student body of 11, and invited them to participate in their Christmas tree program and a field trip to Salt Lake City. The venture proved so popular and rewarding for the children and bank staff that more field trips were funded and later, when the school burned down, the…

Describes faculty designed program to provide individualized basic education for each of 116 grade 4, 5, and 6 students in Bigelow, Arkansas, as well as daily opportunities for enrichment through community resource persons. Summarizes community involvement, educational considerations, evaluation efforts, recommendations, and limitations. (NEC)

Explains how interactive television is expanding course offerings in two remote, sparsely populated Northern Michigan school districts (Cheboygan and Mackinaw City), how interactive television works, and how the programs were made operational in less than two years. Offers reflections about the program and plans for expansion. (NEC)

Small, sometimes multi-cultural, rural schools need specialized preservice teacher education programs to prepare teachers. After outlining the classroom, school, and sociocultural characteristics affecting a teacher's success and survival in a rural community, this paper discusses the apparent lack of rural content in teacher preparation programs…

The Head of Upper Nidderdale High School in North Yorkshire shows how a small 11-16 comprehensive can provide a common core curriculum and a choice of options that keeps career doors open. (Editor)

A remedial math program was devised for a rural school with a total population of 110 students housed in split grades. Volunteers implemented the program, which combined metacognition strategies and behavioral reinforcement. Students made slow, consistent gains, The average number of computation facts mastered per month per student was six. (JHZ)

Argues that the most effective in-service programs for rural schools take place in the classroom with teachers and in-service tutors sharing the teaching, analysis, and evaluation. Describes such a program that helped rural Norfolk and Suffolk (England) elementary teachers gain skill and confidence in teaching science. (JHZ)

Systematic activities of the guidance program at the Halstead, Kansas high school--enrollment 215--are used to illustrate what a small rural school can do to help students register and prepare for the ACT (American College Testing Program) and use test results to plan their educational futures. Halstead students' ACT scores consistently exceed…

Points out eight factors consistently associated with effective schools (academic focus, student participation in decision-making, etc.) and eight common problems with effective schools projects (short-term focus, unrealistic expectations, etc.). Summarizes successful projects at a K-12 village school and an urban junior high school. (JHZ)

"Making good things better" was the theme of the 1985 AASA Small School District Administrators' Conference. The keynote speaker listed four efforts school leadership should take: encouraging people to change, accelerating the growth of people, setting organizational goals, and continuing personal growth. A full day of the conference focused on…

Ten rural school improvement clusters involving 63 districts, 7 colleges and universities, and 6 state departments of education have been developed in Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and North Dakota through the work of the Mid-Continent Regional Educational Laboratory's Rural Education Project. Four essential steps appear necessary for…

Compiled in this document are forms, charts, letters, and instructions used in "Turnstile," a management system for individually designed classroom curriculum extension, small group training, and/or independent study programs offered to approximately 400 gifted and talented students in 32 rural Shasta County, California, schools.…

A 9-month project examined the potential for technology to assist rural schools in their programs, identified exemplary programs using technology in rural school districts, and resulted in the production of a guide for rural administrators and teachers on successful uses of technology (issued separately). Technologies investigated included…

Discusses factors related to the success of a mathematics program selected for excellence by criteria that included student performance on standardized math tests and the intensity of involvement in extracurricular activities. Outlines characteristics of the school's rural farm community, administrative and teacher leadership, and the role of…