Data analyses from 14 case studies of American rural communities reveal specific diversities and differences from typical urban areas, and suggest that rural schools and rural areas are one integrated social structure, which implies that one cannot intervene in one without impacting on the other. Implications from this hypothesis indicate that…

This paper clarifies core concepts in a Kentucky judge's decision that the State General Assembly has failed to provide an efficient system of common schools. Connecting "efficiency" of educational systems to "equality of educational opportunity," the paper argues that the realization of a constitutionally sound, efficient…