This book tells the story of the 1989-90 basketball season at Northfield High School, a small rural school in Wabash County, Indiana. That year, Steve McClure began his fourth season as varsity basketball coach at Northfield with a 56-14 record. For McClure, basketball was more than team play; basketball was an integral part of personal growth for…

This study, conducted by a group of teachers, examined various aspects of multigrade classrooms in Virginia through a mail survey of the state's multigrade teachers whose names and addresses were available (87 responded). A 21-item Grade Combination Teacher Experience and Perceptions Survey developed by the study group was used to collect…

Research generally points to a negative relationship between school or district size and student achievement. When all else is held equal (particularly community or individual socioeconomic status), comparisons of schools and districts based on differences in enrollment generally favor smaller units. A recent study found that small elementary…

A program was developed to reduce the rising dropout rate of 9th- and 10th-grade students at Lewisville High School, a small rural school in Chester County, South Carolina. In the face of limited financial resources, the program manager coordinated existing services and networked with community agencies. School records, surveys, and questionnaires…

Rural teachers have few opportunities to learn specific strategies for developing computer literacy among boys and girls in their classrooms. This paper describes an inservice program for rural Kansas teachers that taught skills such as programming, software evaluation, word processing, building a database, and creating lesson plans that involve…

Effective individualized learning continues to be the primary educational goal of small-rural schools. Three thrusts towards individualized learning--non-graded instruction, an emphasis on basic skills, and socially relevant education--can be enhanced by instructional computing, the use of microcomputers to facilitate learning. However, most…

Conditions leading to the loss of accreditation by Parsons College and ethical questions raised by the closing of the college are considered. Practices at the college that were undertaken under the Parsons Plan during 1955-1967 increased enrollment from 200 to over 5,000 students in 11 years. These practices included: open-door admission for…

Educational philosophy, land economics, cost benefit, environmental strategy, and decentralization reinforce the evolution of the small school as the educational shape of today. (Author/DW)

School finance is basic to understanding and improving the condition of rural education. Information necessary for financial planning and policy development at the state and local levels is stored in large computer readable data bases and needs to be accessed. Pertinent data elements need to be extracted from the data base and relationships among…

In 1987-88 three small, rural elementary schools were demonstration sites for implementation of a computer-managed instructional (CMI) program. The schools were located in Anne Arundel County, Maryland; Palmyra, New Jersey; and northern York County, Pennsylvania. Implementation costs were supported by the school districts, federal grant money, and…

This publication describes adaptations of teaching methods and instructional materials to meet the special needs of rural students in the late 1930s. These "newer" types of instruction were often child centered, and included: (1) grouping subject matter into broad divisions such as social studies and language arts rather than the traditional…

This digest presents recent findings about effective instructional practices for classroom teachers in small schools. In terms of instruction, small schools have two characteristics: a broader scope of teacher responsibilities and more instructional levels per classroom. Teachers in small schools have the opportunity to develop the student as a…

This document is a stand-alone training package for staff development providers in rural small schools. Based on research and best-practice information, the school improvement model used promotes cooperation, content transferability, and adaptations for long-term program maintenance. The underlying assumptions of the model are that when school…

This weekly syllabus designed for teachers in small schools in Australia uses the Kodaly singing-based approach to teach music skills to students in primary years one through seven. The program divides instruction into four units: year one, years two-three, years four-five, and years six-seven. Teaching plans for each unit contain learning…

The research question posed in this study is as follows: How are small, rural school districts different from other school districts? The study involved analysis of data from 52 unit (K-12) school districts in a 9-county region of East Central Illinois. Data were collected from the 1986 school district report cards and from Illinois State Board of…