This qualitative, improvement science, autoethnographic case study aims to examine a unique perspective on rural research through the lens of place-conscious leadership. With an identified problem of inequity in advanced-level course offerings, which resulted in lost student opportunities and student attrition to neighboring schools, the…

The author interviewed Dr. Carolyn Callahan, an eminent scholar in gifted education. The interview focused on Dr. Callahan's work on implementing gifted program in rural areas, and illustrated her suggestions for teachers, researchers, and parents on how to advocate for gifted students.

This report describes the strategies, accomplishments, and outcomes of a project designed to identify intermediate level disadvantaged rural gifted children and develop curriculum practices appropriate for their use. Project objectives are outlined, along with evidence of their accomplishment. Findings of the project include: (1) the…

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…

In 1975, an experimental school program was introduced into three Indian villages, in order to make school schedules, curriculum, and teaching more relevant to village life; to select local residents as teachers; and to involve parents in planning. This article describes this program's implementation and notes its subsequent extension. (Author/SJL)

In rural China, the reform movement's goal was to universalize basic education by making education more compatible with local needs. This meant decentralizing school authority to increase local governments' involvement in school administration and revising curriculum content to increase schools' relevancy to specific communities' future economic…

Using the Biomedical Sciences Preparatory Program (BioPrep) for illustration, this paper discusses an approach to educational improvement through the development of curriculum that emphasizes experiential learning and the involvement of students in real-life problems. Opening sections describe BioPrep, a program designed to prepare rural high…

Flexibility and change have characterized the 3-year history of the English curriculum-enrichment component of the Biomedical Sciences Preparatory Program (BioPrep)--a program that stresses science for rural high school students but includes the importance of writing and communication skills. In the program's first year the curriculum team set out…

The successful computer program in rural Hillsboro-Deering (New Hampshire) Cooperative School District was the result of a program of excellence in education adopted by a completely new and inexperienced school board in 1978. Supported both by oldtimers and by newcomers, the board acquired new administrators, purged the faculty, and acquired…

This paper describes a rural Hispanic community's efforts to identify and develop a program for gifted students in grades 2-6 who are also mildly to moderately handicapped (learning disabled, behavior disordered, or communication disordered). The "Twice Exceptional" (2E) program, in Los Lunas, New Mexico, is a modified full-time separate…

Distance education is a current "catch-all" phrase for any form of instruction in which the learner is linked to an educational institution and is formally enrolled, but instruction does not necessarily have to be delivered to or from an official school site. Distance education can provide equity and increase the quality of educational…

Jilin is a rural province in northeastern China, known for its forests and forest products such as ginseng. In the past, Jilin's schools focused on preparing students for higher education and offered little of relevance to most rural students. In addition, the schools were understaffed and were managed by a remote, centralized bureaucracy. In…

This guide shows teachers how to offer successfully a food service program as part of the home economics curriculum. It describes a rural, secondary-level food service program--a bakery service offered to the community--and gives step-by-step instructions for starting the program as well as guidelines for developing it each year. The first section…

Presents strategies developed for a National Science Foundation grant to improve rural science education by helping rural teachers design an action plan for instructional improvement based on their ideals and goals coupled with a realistic assessment of their teaching situation including the strengths and weaknesses of the rural setting. (JHZ)

This manual is an overview of the science curriculum intervention that occurred in a federally funded project to identify and serve the needs of gifted and talented economically disadvantaged students (grades 3-8) from minority populations. An introduction discusses the training in curriculum development and methodology, based on Bloom's Taxonomy…