Two surveys were conducted to determine perceptions of administrators and teachers regarding the impact of Public Law 94-142 on programs for severely handicapped children in New Mexico's small, rural school districts. One year after the infusion of federal funding, 55 percent of the respondents perceived no improvement in the level of services.…

Despite problems, extraordinary progress has been made to provide a free and appropriate public education for handicapped students in rural America. A study of 75 school districts and cooperatives in 17 states revealed significant improvements in programs and services offered and types and ages of exceptional students served. Achievements included…

Major findings are presented of a national comparative study with two primary objectives: first, to identify performance of rural special education service delivery systems prior to the 1975 enactment of Public Law (PL) 94-142 and again during the 1979-1980 school year in providing a free, appropriate education for all handicapped children, with…

A questionnaire was developed in order to discover the aspects of P.L. 94-142 (the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975) that prove both most and least problematic for rural special education cooperatives. A cooperative was defined as any interdistrict administrative arrangement that provides specific services to member school…