Discusses consolidation as a method to reduce the costs of rural education. Describes the interrelatedness of the rural economy and rural education. Enumerates advantages and disadvantages of small schools. Suggests that educational reform should focus on the unique circumstances of rural schools. (KS)

Examines the court struggle for fiscal adequacy and equity as it is being applied to rural schools and suggests that there are serious implications for financing education in an environment which promises continued complexity and change. The outcome of these struggles is critically important to stakeholders in rural education. (Author/KS)

Explores historical and current trends in public education policy to "improve" rural schools by making them more "urban-like" and more responsive to the needs of an economic world market. Describes a rural school district in Texas and predicts negative effects of present state reforms. Presents organizational alternatives for…

Reviews movement away from mass schooling toward individualization of instruction using telecommunications and high technology to provide information and advanced subjects. Presents One Room Schoolhouse and Smallway, two models for small rural schools which preserve the community school without sacrificing educational quality. Notes need for…

Describes cooperation among rural schools as a means of improving education. Identifies benefits of cooperative programs, documents their rapid growth in the past decade, and calls for an infrastructure in which local districts, regional cooperatives, and state and national associations combine to provide optimum access to services, ideas, and…

Examines research and trends related to equitable financing of rural schools, problems common to rural school districts, and an emerging "technology of individualization" that may negate any relationship between school effectiveness and school size. Commentaries discuss the value of district consolidation without school consolidation, and…

Paints a nostalgic picture of one-room schools, then identifies some of the current problems in rural school and cites some innovative solutions. Topics include problems and advantages of consolidation, regional services, sharing between districts, and the potential of telecommunications and other educational technology. (JHZ)

Outlines the primary arguments and much of the available evidence on desirable school size. Summarizes important factors in the history of U.S. school consolidation. Suggests that the key to the school size debate may be educational control rather than educational quality. Contains 39 references. (SV)