While metropolitan school systems are moving toward decentralization and personalized instruction, rural America is still being coerced into consolidations and district mergers. The Annenburg Rural Challenge, a force for nontraditional reform, is sponsoring bold, community-based initiatives aimed at transforming teaching and learning in genuinely…

There is no basis for the belief that making a school or district bigger is likely to make it better. Educational improvement and economic efficiency are the real challenges. (Author/MLF)

There is no strong empirical base to support the assumptions and assertions of school and district consolidation advocates. This article reviews and analyzes this body of evidence and discusses why consolidation has been so popular even in the absence of solid and reliable supporting evidence. (Author/MLF)

While the policy of rural school and district consolidation is not totally devoid of worth, its strengths were greatly exaggerated, its weaknesses simply ignored, and its overall merits as a strategy for educational reform grievously oversold. Despite the massive investments made on its behalf, consolidation has not dramatically alleviated the…

Presents an overview of issues and concerns related to rural education and schools in 12 member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Major problems include lack of access to specialized resources and supporting institutions and rural diseconomics. Relevant issues are organization, teacher training, and…

At the request of the North Carolina School Boards Association, a nationally recognized expert on school and school district consolidation evaluated the 1986 North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (DPI) plan for school district consolidation from the perspective of economic, educational, and social/political considerations, including the…

The Nebraska educational system is experiencing internal turmoil even though its students are highly ranked nationally on standardized tests and show a higher ratio of graduating high school than those in most other states. This report was commissioned by Nebraska education officials who were concerned that their state was not taking a large…

Rural education trends and issues confronting state legislatures are examined in this handbook of narrative as well as statistical tables. Designed to provide state legislators with information they need to better understand rural implications of statewide education reforms, the handbook presents a range of legislative alternatives in key areas.…