Notes that most small rural school counseling programs will continue to face resource shortages, but suggests that school counselors can solve many of their problems, expand their services, and increase their resources when they shift their role emphasis from being service providers to being leaders. Discusses the leadership challenge for these…

Describes cultural characteristics of small schools that may produce adverse reactions to expansion of educational opportunities through technological development. Suggests that leaders must share their vision with teachers to achieve staff consensus about methods of obtaining the goal and assure staff of security before technological change will…

Notes that the role of counselors in rural schools, particularly small rural schools, is extremely different from that of guidance counselors in larger urban and suburban schools. Discusses differences as reflections of economic, social, and political realities that influence families, communities, and schools of rural America. (NB)

This digest reviews recent evidence of the positive effects of small-scale schooling on student achievement. Historically, larger school size has been viewed as an important educational reform producing cost-effectiveness and educational efficiency. Today, small-scale schooling is found primarily in rural areas and small towns. A 1964 study…

Discusses (1) characteristics distinguishing independent schools from public and other private schools (self-governance, self-support, self-defined curriculum, self-selected students and faculty, and small size); (2) self-imposed and environmental challenges confronting independent schools (demographic change, commitment to diversity, and public…

Two-thirds of all schools in the United States are rural and three-fourths are small. Statistically, most teenage parents are from such school systems. Yet the problem of teenage pregnancy is most frequently overlooked by rural and small school communities. In fact, some cultural factors and resource deficiencies of these communities actually…

The Old Order Amish community is a unique minority group that does not receive adequate public school services. While a majority of Amish children attend an estimated 470 Amish parochial elementary schools, some Amish enrollment is in small rural public schools. However, six states with large Amish populations have no significant public school…

This paper describes school consolidation in six small towns in South Nevada County, Arkansas. None of the six schools had the resources to meet the requirements of advanced programs set by the Arkansas Educational Standards Act. School boards met with each community to gather support for consolidation, discussing increased taxes to pay for a new…

Forming a consortium to share the financial burden of bringing microcomputer hardware and software into the schools is one way that small schools can maintain educational quality and equity in a time of rapidly increasing microcomputer technology. Six small schools in Missouri, in conjunction with the Missouri Department of Elementary and…

Discusses Milwaukee's (Wisconsin) project for school choice. Describes the program of public funding for private schools, vouchers, and parent-run schools for African-American and Hispanic students. Cites autonomy, small class size, and values instruction as advantages of the small private schools. Reports graduation rates are higher and reading…

The National Conference on Rural Education, a major event in the 1979 calendar of the Education Department of Western Australia, was held under the auspices of the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Educationalists, government, and community representatives…

Effects of Federal education policy on rural and small school include inequities and neglect. Funding formulas based on concentrations of targeted pupils and average cost per pupil appear to deprive small and rural local education agencies (LEA) of a fair share of Federal education monies. Selection criteria such as density and Education Division…