As Internet technology encroached on the public school classroom about a decade ago, Kim Ross, superintendent of the Houston School District in Houston, Minnesota, saw an opportunity. At first, he and his administrative team simply wanted to offer students in the district of 1,300 access to more classes via the web than what a district that size…

A small high schools' staff development effort to train teachers in computer literacy is recounted. Staff developers used teacher feedback in designing the program, which started as a one-shot workshop but grew into a continuing professional development activity. (PP)

The purpose of this practicum was to design, develop, and implement a career guidance program for small high schools. The program description would act as a model for implementation at other high schools desiring a career guidance program. The method of communicating the program to others was the writing of a "how to" book which others would use…

This presentation offers a design for developing a long term staff improvement program using the talents available in a small or rural school district with low financial resources, limited personnel time, and difficulty in obtaining outside training. The plan focuses on improving teaching skills through a participatory structure involving peer…

Under Broward County's (Florida) decentralized school finance program, each school principal was given $686 per student to operate his school, regardless of the school's size. As a result, small schools were unable to provide the same special services as larger schools, since they could not afford special teachers for physical education, music,…

The basic realities which prompted the development and planning of this 1957 Yearbook (prepared by the Department of Rural Education, National Education Association) are: (1) there are and will always be a need for a large number of small schools; (2) the educational program of every small school can be greatly improved; (3) the extent to which…

Activities undertaken by the Amity school district to accomplish its six goals to infuse career education materials into the curriculum at the awareness, exploratory, and preparation educational levels are briefly described: to develop and initiate a career guidance program 1-12 for small schools; to develop and initiate Downtown Math and Language…

Aspen High School's (Colorado) Experiential Education Week, developed to provide a "real-world" experience for students from a small, mountain, tourist-oriented community, is planned by both student and faculty; the whole process encourages both self-reliant and responsible students and develops positive student-teacher and peer…

Three small rural school districts in Montana and Wyoming used alternate school day scheduling to make time for staff and curriculum development inservice programs. The schedule of one short and four long days delivered the instructional time of 175 6-hour days each year. Benefits of alternate scheduling included time for regular inservice…

To help in providing high quality school programs in rural communities which do not generate adequate revenue dollars, a model of sharing and pairing services between schools is being used in southeastern Minnesota. The cooperation model, which includes four small districts, consists of eight or nine basic programs which are coordinated by a…

This book provides information supplemental to the accompanying videotape regarding the implementation and use of two-way, full-motion interactive television. Based on a study conducted by the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, "Local Heroes" describes in detail how citizens have implemented the technology in small rural…

The Community Centered School Support Program, also known as the Bingham Project, is not a new idea but rather a more structured application of an old concept. The plan assists small rural schools with inadequate guidance funds to establish a career information program at a minimum cost using the community, a heretofore untapped resource. The…

Small rural schools incur greater expense and hardship to take advantage of staff development activities, usually held in cities or universities. The Iowa Intervention Initiative (III) overcame practical and logistic problems to hold teacher workshops for 79 small rural Iowa schools. Discusses III goals, recruitment of participants, selection and…

Chicago Public Schools, in partnership with the greater Chicago community, is implementing the largest-scale community school initiative in the nation. The establishment of Local School Councils (LSCs) and the creation of small schools, charter schools, and other alternative educational settings have propelled Chicago into the national spotlight.…

Since communication is the working link between the school district and the community it serves, public school administrators serving small towns or rural areas are developing a planned program of two-way communication based on a clear policy statement adopted by the board of trustees which basically upholds the public's right to know. In order to…