In this paper, we suggest strength-based approaches for the creation of sustainable rural learning ecologies. We have framed the creation of rural learning ecologies with appreciative inquiry (AI) as a framework and argue that it begins from understanding rurality from positive psychology. The premise within AI has been seen to be the shift from…

In many school districts, rural life in British Columbia continues to be a geographic and economic fact. Delivering equal school services and ensuring equal educational opportunities to areas with thinly scattered populations continues to be a challenge for the provincial government and school districts. Rural schools offer many positive benefits…

Argues that state government must take a strong lead in promoting rural development. Justification for such a role includes improving the efficiency of the state's economy; making full use of fixed investments; improving rural-urban equity; preserving a rural lifestyle; and responding effectively to population density differences between rural and…

The National Commission on Agriculture and Rural Development Policy, established by Congress to provide broad, long-range policy perspectives, examined rural development policy issues and made many field visits to observe rural conditions and rural development projects. The Commission recognized the diversity of rural communities and identified…

Describes the Skyline Farms Project in Appalachian Alabama, a largely unsuccessful attempt to transform ex-tenant farmers into independent landowners. Traces the history of Skyline Farms from the 1930s to the early 1940s. Describes community attitudes and social services (education, health, recreation, home economics). Discusses reasons for the…

The United States government has no true national rural policy toward education and rural community development. The need exists for the federal government to assume a different role in these areas from what it has traditionally played. In the past the federal education enterprise has failed to relate the design, purpose, or implementation of its…

In March 1989 this working group explored how the federal government might better address rural America's problems. The WGRD consisted of key officials from relevant federal departments and agencies, who came together to explore the following areas of rural development programming: (1) rural education and training; (2) rural economic development;…

Rural development is rarely defined and there is no clear definition of what the development process intends to accomplish. The nature of the larger economy in which rural places must operate has changed in ways that reduce the relative advantage of most rural areas and have left them struggling to define new economic functions. The political…

Reviews a book that describes changes affecting rural America including the farm crisis, growing poverty, and in-migration of those who contribute little to the local economy. Addresses implications for rural service delivery and government policy. (LP)

Each year commonwealth, state, and territory governments allocate millions of dollars to alleviate differing kinds of disadvantages among local communities in Australia. This paper is concerned with the allocation of resources to remote and rural areas by the Commonwealth Government on a national basis. Current formulas and resource allocation…

The conference reported in this proceedings brought together states' rural development policymakers in an effort to identify the programs and research needed to establish successful state policies. Topics of papers presented at the conference and included in the proceedings covered: (1) telecommunications and computer technology as sources of…

To provide grassroots judgment on the validity of the 28 recommendations stemming from the May 1979 National Seminar on Rural Education and to determine how specific federal programs impact rural education, 179 invited non-federal representatives from rural organizations, rural educational systems, state departments of education, and the general…

Examines the condition of human resources in the rural South, particularly educational attainment, outmigration, illiteracy, and quality of rural schools. Discusses strategies for the development of human resources in the 1990s involving local, state, and federal governments and the role of rural sociologists. Contains 40 references. (Author/SV)

This publication presents a series of five papers based on presentations given at a rural development symposium dealing with the role of education in off-farm employment and rural economic development. The first paper, "Education and Rural Economic Development" (Thomas G. Johnson), discusses linkages between the regional educational…

In 1989-90 three Congressional hearings received testimony on the need for modern telecommunications infrastructure in rural areas and the ways such infrastructure could foster rural economic development. A researcher on rural development reported findings that deregulation policies had removed incentives for telecommunications companies to serve…