In small rural schools, despite the nourishing sense of community, there is the constant danger of professional isolation. Without enough colleagues for a typically structured PLC, teachers have plenty of community but not enough structured professional learning. With the NW RISE network, however, rural educators are connecting with…

Educators from a rural school describe the alternative program their school developed to help students who were seriously isolated, anxious, and disengaged--some of whom were falling through the cracks. These students are placed in smaller ELA, math, and science classes (usually with two teachers) so they receive more attention. They also enjoy…

In the struggle to raise U.S. students' achievement in literacy, Hartnett-Edwards says, the emphasis has shifted from finding the right materials to creating better teachers. Central to creating better teachers are literacy coaches. The author claims that the role of literacy/reading coach has evolved beyond its roots in NCLB legislation, when…

A recent report points to the potential of the community school movement to concentrate resources in impoverished rural schools and build effective partnerships between the community and school. According to "The Rural Solution: How Community Schools Can Reinvigorate Rural Education," community schools might be the most economically feasible way…

The natural beauty that surrounds many rural schools hides the troubling realities that students in these schools frequently live in poverty and the schools struggle to give these students the education they need. James A. Bryant believes that one source of the problem is the fact that so many school reforms are designed with urban schools in…

Analyzing long-term demographic data from the Schools and Staffing Survey, Ingersoll and Merrill found a number of intriguing trends in the teaching force that they say "appear to have been little noticed by researchers, policymakers, and the public." The number of teachers, they write, is growing at a rate that far outpaces increases in student…

From the nefarious achievement gaps, to the racial isolation in increasingly segregated schools; from the digital divide that results in kids not having access to computers, to the poverty gulf that results in kids not having homes; from boys' reading difficulties and girls' problems with math, to the disparities among rural, suburban, and urban…

Outlines the technologies that rural schools have available for the development of expanded curriculum opportunities in high schools. They include: audio teleconferencing, videotape lessons, interactive television, interactive video, and computer networks. Includes a discussion of the problems of sharing. (MD)

Describes a Vermont elementary school's transformation into a computerized learning center, thanks to a $1.1 million grant from a former state senator. After choosing appropriate hardware, an 11-member technology committee initiated teacher training, appointed a full-time technology facilitator, and set learning goals for students. Beneficial…

About four years ago, a rural Maine middle school abandoned its computer classes and integrated computers into its curriculum. Now, instead of using educational software or spending lots of time on training, students are writing stories with word processors, illustrating science diagrams with paint utilities, creating interactive reports with…

In 1989, the Quality Education Project was initiated in seven Mississippi school districts through a Department of Education grant. QEP is designed to meet local families' specific needs. In each locality, teachers, parents, administrators, and community representatives develop a plan, with support from area businesses, churches, and civic groups.…

South Dakota's Rural Schools and Community Development Project was based on the belief that rural schools and communities are tightly linked and highly interdependent. School success is too often measured by how many graduates leave to pursue education or job opportunities elsewhere. (MLH)

A close relationship between teaching quality and student achievement is documented by a steady flow of research since the early 1990s. A cutting-edge rural school is tapping the talent of its National Board-certified teachers to transform teaching and learning.

Profiles computer usage at Tapawarea Area School, a small, rural, pre-K-12 school in New Zealand. A guided tour finds 14-year olds writing stories at individual terminals, several students participating in distance learning, older students teaching younger ones in forms 6 and 7, and a social studies class communicating with another school. (MLH)

In the 1993-94 National Center for Education Statistics survey of 50,000 teachers, secondary teachers consistently rated violence, vandalism, and verbal abuse as more severe in their schools than in elementary schools. Teachers at all levels were concerned about students' physical conflicts. Both levels have become increasingly violent, however,…