This document consists of the 10 issues of the newsletter Rural Policy Matters published in 1999. The newsletter seeks to promote understanding of the complex issues affecting rural schools and communities, to inform the public debate over rural education policy, and to report what rural people are doing to shape education policy in their state.…

This document contains the 12 issues of the newsletter "Rural Policy Matters" published in 2000. Issues examine recent educational research on small and rural schools; report on state standards and court litigation related to rural schools, the efforts of communities to save their local schools, and the condition of rural facilities;…

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…