The Essential Three (e3) is a professional learning series that focuses on supporting rural school districts and school leaders as they engage in the important work of prioritizing and determining areas of instructional focus. As educators transition to new rigorous state and national standards and face the challenges of learning newly adopted…

This policy brief summarizes and critiques the findings of the US Department of Education's Section 5005 Report on Rural Education. In September of 2018, the Department of Education released the "Section 5005 Report on Rural Education: Final Report." The report was written in response to a provision of the Every Student Succeeds Act of…

Describes career skills approach to career education as focusing on the whole person, being inexpensive, and being taught by every teacher. Outlines how the career skills approach can be implemented in rural schools. (AH)

A program promoting international education in South Dakota's rural elementary schools has provided staff development opportunities and assistance in curriculum modification based on information about the status of international education in the schools and student knowledge of the world. The program succeeds where key teachers and administrators…

Describes setting, rationale, organization, schools and communities, activities, and evaluation of a model small school cluster begun in 1981 in South Dakota. Discusses issues in implementing cluster strategies: goals, commitments, size, location, outside support, organizational structure, leadership, meeting schedules, faculty involvement,…

A career development coordinator describes how she implements a mentoring program for students from five rural high schools in Montana. After students identify occupations that they would like to explore and professionals agree to participate, participating students from all five schools are bussed to spend several hours job-shadowing their…

The rural special educator can evaluate commercial programmed curricula by considering seven major categories: theoretical foundation consistent with existing instructional theories; content; training needed to implement; assessment measures for properly placing students; cost; time required for implementation and record keeping; and program…

The Hale County (Alabama) school system and the University of Alabama formed a long-range collaborative relationship targeted at meeting staffing shortages and improving science instruction in the rural county. Statistically significant gains were achieved in the science teachers' mastery of content, teaching methodology, and attitudes toward…