An extended body of research has documented the outmigration of the "best and brightest" youth from rural areas. Some of this scholarship has suggested that rural schools and educators may be complicit in this process as they devote extra attention and resources to the highest achieving students--those most likely to leave their rural…

Agglomeration--the clustering of people, businesses, or structures within an area--is investigated for two purposes: (1) defining the nature of agglomeration and erecting a suitable agglomeration theory, and (2) suggesting further research. These two objectives are seen as being vital to help improve the economic well-being of rural people by…

Presents a collective behavior model for examining the population turnaround (urban to rural migration) of the 1960s/1970s as a specific form of mass movement. Specifies the value-added process that produced this particular episode at this particular point in social history. Explores factors influencing decline in turnaround migration. (Author/MH)

Consequences of population turnaround for rural economic development are examined in a 9-county region of Northern Lower Michigan. Data from census reports and 374 usable responses to a questionnaire mailed to a random sample of property owners drawn from 1982 county tax assessment rolls were used to test competing hypotheses about rural…

International migration is presented as a permanent phenomenon. Historical changes in migration patterns are traced; and different types of immigration policies, and current and future trends are reviewed. Open and unrestricted immigration is a thing of the past, but selective, and illegal, immigration will continue. (SLD)

Because demographic and social changes in rural communities also affect small and rural school environments, schools must consider the impact of community change and plan accordingly. Rural school administrators, who are visible and respected, know how to work with groups, and understand the local community, are well qualified to provide their…

Anticipated demographic changes in the United States adult population in the decade between the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) of 1992 and the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL), which is scheduled for 2002, were reviewed. Next, the implications of those changes for the NALS and NAAL were analyzed. The analysis focused on births,…