A set of conceptual schemes that can provide a partially articulated framework to serve as a basis to relate educational policy to the ends of rural development is described in this paper. Education is viewed in a sociological perspective as a process and as a social institution. Rural development as a social process is examined by means of a…

The author reviews the "Cultural Missions Programme" of Mexico's educational reform after 1920, in which groups of teachers using Catholic missionary methods fought poverty and ignorance in rural Mexico. These mission programs embody most of the community development principles and are still needed. (MF)

Data from Shiloh County's effort to improve quality of life for its residents lead to three conclusions: political intervention can convert private sector growth into a platform for rural development, exchanges between community and schools are not difficult to understand, and the ethnographer has a function in discovering local contexts to which…

Uses a case study approach to determine how a rural supervisory union school district and its communities attempted to improve the union's economic feasibility and address important school needs. Efforts appear to have resulted in greater teacher involvement, commitment, and ownership of subsequent changes and promotion of teachers to…

Rural school and community renewal efforts may depend upon a reconceptualization of our democratic institutions and practices. During at least the last 130 years, we have come to judge our democratic institutions on the basis of whether they deliver the goods rather than develop our people. In the name of progress, efficiency, higher standards of…

This paper lays out a rationale for building local rural development policies that focus on potential strengths of school-community relationships, while empowering local citizens. Rural communities and their schools are caught up in trends that complicate policy at all levels. These trends include changes related to national and global economic…

This brief reports on the Ford Foundation's establishment of the Rural Community College Initiative (RCCI) for selected institutions in economically distressed areas of the Southeast, Deep South, Southwest, Appalachia, and western Indian reservations. This is the fourth report in a series by the RCCI Documentation Team. The RCCI program challenges…

This chapter describes a community development project in Siete Pilas (Spain), a village whose economy is based primarily on small family farms and unskilled labor. The project grew out of the Sierra Education Program, which in 1980 sent adult-education teachers to five villages in the Sierra de Ronda region. The goal was to stimulate a socially…

This paper discusses ways to make social work education more appropriate for the preparation of development practitioners to work with the people and communities of Appalachia. The current dominant theory developed by economists of Appalachian development is that of modernization. The theory emphasizes economic growth. Modernization sees society…

Available in English or Spanish, this resource guide aims to help rural schools and communities learn ways of supporting each other so that both can thrive. Background information and basic tools are provided for starting a joint school-community development effort. Chapters contain: (1) outline of the guide and statement of beliefs about…

Addresses Australia's changing economic structure and the increasingly important role of adult education in rural economic development. Adult programs that positively impact rural development include training for employment, small business training, enterprise education, community awareness programs aimed at promoting understanding of how money…

This paper proposes a model in which the rural school becomes an active agent in community economic development through leadership development and civic education. Families, school, and community are the three pillars of public education, and the concept of community engagement is crucial to rebuilding this educational partnership and creating an…

The study documents what happened in 10 rural communities when a federal educational funding program (Experimental Schools) in 1972 provided 5-year grants for demonstration projects designed both to improve the school system and, through the schools, to address a variety of community needs. The study employs two strategies to document the ways in…

Opened in 1963, the Swaneng Hill School in Serowe, Botswana, was an experiment for its untrained founders whose objectives were to reduce the exclusiveness of secondary education, equip students with skills and knowledge needed for development, make the school a focal point for community development, and instill a sense of social justice in the…