This report summarizes a study conducted during 1993-94 evaluating rural secondary education in Alaska. The six components of the study included: (1) a survey of boarding school graduates concerning how well their educational experience prepared them for college, trade school, and employment; (2) a telephone survey of 800 rural households…

Comparisons between 35 small/rural K-12 Kansas school districts (900 students or fewer) and 642 similar districts nationwide use data gathered during 1982-83. Qualifying Kansas districts (208, enrolling 95,466 students) were identified, to be compared to 4,125 qualifying districts nationwide. A questionnaire mailed to superintendents of 36…

A 1982-83 survey produced data used to compare 17 small/rural K-12 New Mexico school districts (900 students or fewer) with 642 similar districts nationwide. Of New Mexico's 88 school districts, 43 were identified as qualifying (48.9%, enrolling 16,648 students), for comparison to 4,125 similar districts nationwide. A questionnaire mailed to…

Of 238 small K-12 rural public school districts (enrollments under 900) identified in the Arkansas study, 40 were chosen for use in gathering information to assist educators in understanding and improving education of rural residents. An 80% response rate to the 123-item questionnaire mailed to superintendents provided information on district…

Conference papers and various related materials are collected in this volume compiled in conjunction with the National Rural Teacher Education Conference. The bulk of the document consists of papers presented on the 12 major topics of the conference: (1) accreditation and endorsement standards versus the needs of rural education; (2) innovative…

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…

While the legal question of what constitutes a private school--and whether home schools can continue to operate as such--remains a matter to be resolved by the courts or further legislation, a separate question remains: What should be the role and relationship of home schools to the educational network of the future? Economically and…

To determine if a relationship can be found between school size and academic achievement, a study examined correlations for 566 New Mexico public schools (grades 5, 8, and 11) from 1978 to 1981. The measure of academic achievement used was the schools' average "total scale score" on the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills. The two…

The Halstead/Bentley Public School District in south-central Kansas has a long, successful history of administering a comprehensive evaluation program of achievement, scholastic aptitude, and interest tests and inventories in grades K-12. The PSAT/NMSQT (Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test) is an…

This paper studies the needs and strengths of rural schools with the intent of improving rural science education. It examines the history of rural schools, and posits a rural-to-urban continuum of characteristics, citing studies that indicate rural schools are more effective in some ways than urban schools. The paper looks at needs of rural/small…

The Nebraska educational system is experiencing internal turmoil even though its students are highly ranked nationally on standardized tests and show a higher ratio of graduating high school than those in most other states. This report was commissioned by Nebraska education officials who were concerned that their state was not taking a large…

This collection of 5 major papers and 32 abstracts covers a range of issues surrounding rural education. In the first paper, Glen Shaw, a rural Minnesota schools administrator, contends economic and technological changes have threatened rural jobs and the rural way of life. Anecdotes and statistics are employed to define rural problems and to urge…

The circumstances preceding and following the 1984 merger of two small school districts in North Central New York State contained cooperation, controversy, and disharmony. The school districts had enough similarities--in their rural, agricultural base, in the pride and loyalty with which many residents viewed their schools, in the central role…

Because 66 of New Mexico's 89 public school districts experienced declines in 1981-82 enrollments and most were unable to decrease educational costs at the same rate as their decline in enrollment, the legislature requested a study on effects of declining enrollment and possible adjustments to the school distribution funding formula to cushion…

This report presents attempts to understand more about how six background characteristics (small scale, population sparsity, district isolation within a BOCES (Boards of Cooperative Educational Service), interaction between a change in enrollment and initial scale of the district, rapid changes in full value property wealth over time, and large…