During the 1963-64 school year, a secondary teacher from the rurally isolated area of Silverton, Colorado initiated an individualized program in problem solving for a senior social studies class (N=8-10). Utilizing community resources, the instructor planned several units on government, while the students selected resource materials from the…

Data from 1982-83 random sample of K-12 public school districts under 900 students across the United States were compared with data from 13 states with largest proportion of small-rural districts. Enrollment figures and trends, district size, faculty turnover, teacher/student ratios, salaries, educational finance, academic course offerings, and…

Educational frameworks to accommodate rural America are designed around the concept of smallness and incorporate basic skill development through programed instruction, individual projects, use of volunteers, cross-age tutoring, and computer study. Other areas of focus include community involvement, practical skills, familiarization with the…

The 2002 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, known as No Child Left Behind, significantly expands the role of the federal government in elementary and secondary education and has important implications for rural and small schools. This guide examines 15 areas of the legislation that will have the greatest impact on rural…

This handbook addresses the provision of an equitable basic education in rural areas, particularly in developing countries, by means of small schools located close to the pupils' homes. It is based on beliefs that small schools can be good schools; the appropriate place for a small school and its teachers is within the community; and small schools…

This report describes the development and implementation of a place-based curriculum for a small charter high school of 25 students in Wisconsin. The curriculum involved 100 days of field studies in local places such as historical archives, a restored wetland, a river valley, and a senior citizen community center. The students worked with 60…

The mission of the Rural School and Community Trust is to enlarge student learning and improve community life by strengthening relationships between rural schools and communities and engaging students in community-based public work. Following a message from the president, a section on the Rural Trust's capacity building program presents the six…

Urban Little Schools (ULS) is a model that presents an alternative to failing urban schools. In these schools, each student's education is planned and guided in trusting teacher-student relationships where students take responsibility for their own learning. Secondary ULS students work alongside people in their community to learn to be…

A study in Finland examined rural students' experiences of the transition from a small rural primary school (grades 1-6) to a bigger village secondary school (grades 7-9). Qualitative data were obtained from essays written by 132 students in 13 small rural primary schools, 1 village school, and 1 city school. Students wrote the essays as…

This anthology compiles over 90 articles, short pieces, and book reviews originally published in Skole: The Journal of Alternative Education. The entries are arranged in 10 sections: schools and school people, teaching and learning, teaching and learning at home, history of innovative education, student writings, social change and comment, battle…

A growing number of families are looking for alternative ways to educate their children, as discontent with mainstream schooling rises. Human Scale Education sees the problem with the education system in the United Kingdom as one of size and believes that most schools and classes are too large for children to be known individually by their…

Educators working to improve dropout prevention programs should closely examine the development of defensive overlays in children's world views. Efforts to neutralize defensive world views within existing dropout prevention initiatives should refocus efforts to be more holistic. Such neutralization may best succeed in small schools. (SM)

Rural schools in west central Texas face declining fiscal resources and enrollments. Their main needs center around staffing and technology. Region 14 Education Service Center, which serves 43 school districts, delivers monthly on-site training and technical assistance to administrators and staff and works with school districts to offer more…

Maintains that rural school reform in California between 1900 and 1940 was motivated by many of the same concerns that underlay the national movement to reform rural education. Describes the growth of state control over classroom teachers. (CFR)

Describes a project that was developed to determine the potential of computer-based instruction for meeting the needs of elementary students in small, rural school settings. Highlights include computer-managed instruction; the importance of local context, including administration, parents, and staff; and the impact on student achievement, school…