Many educators see school downsizing efforts as the linchpin of school restructuring. Several forms that school downsizing efforts are taking are explored, along with a discussion of the reasons for which small schools are being established. The types of subschools that are being launched (houses, mini-schools, schools-within-schools) are…

This paper describes the field experience of 30 undergraduate students in a teacher education program at the University of North Dakota. As part of an introductory teaching and learning course, teacher education students prepared for and taught elementary students in a small, rural school for one-day. The school enrolled 80 children in…

This paper presents research findings and the testimony of educators, students, and researchers demonstrating that small schools meet the essential conditions for providing high-quality education to all students. These essential conditions are: (1) students are known well by their teachers; (2) students are actively engaged in learning and in…

The Rita Christian School on Majuro in the Republic of the Marshall Islands is a comprehensive preK-8 program that has successfully combined factors that contribute to an effective school program for the Pacific region. Factors contributing to the school's success are community involvement, strong leadership, a committed and well-trained staff,…

A former superintendent of a small school district in rural Texas describes the conditions and needs of the district and reflects on school consolidation and alternative solutions to the district's problems. In 1994, the district enrolled 650 students. Facilities were 30 years old and in constant need of repair, with leaking roofs and unsafe…

Small size is often cited by reformers and parents as the key ingredient necessary to create an effective learning environment. In New York City, the new public secondary schools have consistently smaller numbers of students than most existing high schools. The literature is unambiguous that smaller schools show better outputs than schools of…

This practicum paper describes a method for developing and implementing a student-discipline plan in a small, rural high school in north central Florida. The combined middle- and high-school is the poorest in the county. When corporal punishment was banned in the county and no alternatives were implemented, the number of suspensions increased. An…

With over half of mothers of school-age children in the labor force, there is a growing need for after-school child care. This paper describes an after-school program in a small Kansas elementary school. Of a total school enrollment of 270 students, 120 are enrolled in the after-school program. Activities include story telling, crafts, computers,…

The cost of providing an educational program is higher for rural, small schools and districts than for others. Nevertheless, recent studies suggest that small schools and districts may be a more efficient investment than large schools because the "learning value per unit of expenditure" seems to be greater there. This new idea expands…

Exploring relationships between organizational and personal characteristics and responses to innovation, this study surveyed teachers--including identified innovators--in 10 small rural secondary schools. The research was informed by a developing theory viewing receptivity, or variation in acceptable conditions of risk, as determined by the…

The paper seeks to find a way to make rural education the focus of special efforts to develop electronic technologies, and to use rural schools as the developmental sites for configurations of technology that have broad and general utility. The first section suggests that smallness is an asset to rural education, for education in small units is…

Effective leadership appears to be an element of a successful school, but few studies have covered either leadership in small and rural schools or effective schools with the ethnic mix of Anglo, Hispanic, and Native American students. This study's population consisted of the 24 New Mexico rural public elementary schools having an enrollment of 500…

Small, sometimes multi-cultural, rural schools need specialized preservice teacher education programs to prepare teachers. After outlining the classroom, school, and sociocultural characteristics affecting a teacher's success and survival in a rural community, this paper discusses the apparent lack of rural content in teacher preparation programs…

Based on data from a 1982-1983 study and from other sources, the average annual salaries of teachers in rural schools were compared, by geographical region, with salaries for all public elementary and secondary teachers in the United States, and the average beginning salary for rural teachers was compared with regional data for beginning public…

This study was designed to correct misperceptions many Americans have concerning one-room schools and Old Order Mennonite and Amish education in the United States. It was also intended to quantify the number of U.S. public and private one-room schools. The paper briefly reviews the history of Amish and Old Order Mennonite schools. Recent research…