To explore the issue of communications technology and its impact on the rural school, the National Institute of Education (NIE) convened a 2-day workshop, bringing together 16 participants whose combined expertise and collective experience encompassed rural education and a variety of communications technologies and their applications. The primary…

Establishing partnerships between institutions of higher education (IHEs) and local education agencies (LEAs) is a common recommendation in the many state and national reports advocating the reform of education. The rationale for such partnerships is that collaboration can assist LEAs in their efforts for school improvement, while IHEs can more…

The staff of North Park School, a small urban/suburban primary school (K-3) in Wheeling, West Virginia, made their school more effective by implementing well planned and coordinated changes based on current research. The belief that all students can learn is an important characteristic of an effective school. Therefore, the goal of the North Park…

This packet describes 12 promising practices identified in small and rural secondary schools in New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, and New York. Descriptions of the following innovations are presented: (1) two small school districts and local and state businesses that cooperated to provide a Mathematics Education for Gifted Secondary School Students…

Information concerning methods and available materials for conserving energy is needed by small, rural schools to offset continued increasing energy costs and lack of financial support and technical assistance. The first step in developing an energy conservation policy is to obtain school board commitment and to establish an energy saving policy.…

A national study of small and large high schools was undertaken in 1984 to collect data regarding the extent of curricular offerings and then to determine whether the differences were statistically significant. Two random samples were used: the first consisted of 475 schools with enrollments of less than 400 and the second was composed of 900…

This pamphlet provides information for teachers contemplating employment in Yukon Territory, Canada. A preface briefly describes the political history and government of the Yukon, and emphasizes the frontier nature of the region. In both English and French, the paper discusses the curriculum, school terms and vacations, the Yukon Teachers'…

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…

This paper presents the rationale for the development of an elementary teacher training program designed to prepare students to teach in rural areas. The Province of British Columbia (Canada) is a vast geographic region populated by only two and a quarter million people. Most reside in rural communities ranging in population from a few hundred to…

The inclusion of a geographical isolation factor in a state's distribution formula for foundation aid is a mechanism for providing additional revenue to small schools or school districts that, because of geographical location, cannot be consolidated into more efficient units. This paper presents a model geographical isolation factor that could be…

Small, rural schools have proportionately as many gifted students as larger schools and can have quality gifted educational programs. As in large schools, identification involves staff and self-referral and systematic record evaluations. Referral reviews determine if needs are being met in regular classrooms, suggest alternative strategies for…

Based on case studies of the impact of declining enrollments during the 1976-77 school year in each of 9 rural Illinois school districts, this paper addresses the following: enrollment decline in smaller cities across the nation, with particular emphasis on Illinois; demographic characteristics of the east central region of Illinois, with…

Three issues of the "CRESS-CROSS" newsletter published during 1976 are compiled in this publication. These issues include information on: how to contribute to the ERIC system, the computer search services at the ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools, the Rural/Regional Education Association's research award for meritorious…

This publication is the complete transcript of a weekly radio program devoted to contemporary issues in American education. This particular program is the first of two that focus on the topic of school consolidation. In separate segments of the program, a teacher and students drill in a one-room school in Indiana; a long-time rural school teacher…

Although 1951-1966 marked 15 of the most dynamic, hectic, painful, and questionable years of Iowa school district reorganization, 28 school district reorganizations have come about in the succeeding 15 years without a state law or Department of Public Instruction regulation mandating the elimination of certain kinds or sizes of local school…