Half of all 16,023 U.S. school districts are both small and rural. In a decade of nationwide reform, these "forgotten" school districts must fight for survival rather than substantive reform. Teachers in rural Indiana cannot rely on principals for instructional leadership nor on each other for professional enrichment. Includes four…

Evaluates user response to the TI-IN Network's live interactive television courses for high school students and staff development in rural or small schools. Reports favorable responses from school principals and students but finds that students would prefer regular classroom instruction if available. (SKW)

Presents first impressions of attitudes toward education and education facilities in China. Compares Chinese education to rural or small town education in the U. S. Describes the positive attitudes of Chinese students and the helpful involvement of parents and grandparents. (SKW)

Administrative changes were tabulated for 275 rural Kansas school districts with K-12 operations. Data covering a six-year period showed high school principals changing most frequently, followed by middle/junior high school principals, high school assistant principals, and elementary principals. Central office personnel and superintendents…

Recent college graduates (N=162), teaching in schools of 600 or fewer students, rated the importance--to success in teaching--of 45 areas of college studies. Only two areas were rated below the mid-point on the scale of importance. Oral communications, discipline, classroom management, teaching major specialty, and motivating students were rated…

Describes the successful first year of a public communications class at Chanute High School (Kansas), the objective of which was for 10 participating students to research, organize, and present a biweekly, school-oriented television program which would be shown on the local Cablevision channel. (MH)

Describes nine of Colorado's smallest rural elementary school communities. Shows how they fall into six community types (agricultural, rural industrial, stable recreational, ranching/railroad, rural commuter, loosely structured/isolated). Notes the interdependence of rural schools and their communities. Explains how the idea of school as community…

Describes the management advantages computers can bring to small school districts. Advises purchasers to select quality software first, then purchase a computer that can handle the software. (MLF)

Describes how the Violet Hill, Arkansas K-12 school district developed a new curriculum through outdoor education. Describes how the district's alternative energy agricultural complex (including a windmill, solar greenhouse, and farm plots, and gardens) will be incorporated into the curriculum via math, business, science, agriculture, economics,…

Reports a project that used simulated master schedules as an alternative to grade-level, subject-matter, classroom-group organization of instruction in small schools. Describes a multigrade, multicourse learning center approach that decouples the course = class equation and allows small schools to offer a stronger educational program. (SB)

New Visions for Public Schools' New Century High Schools Initiative in New York City highlights a strategy of school-level partnerships between educators from the New York City Department of Education (DoE) and non-profit organizational staff. The strategy aims to support the transformation of chronically low-performing large high schools…

The relationship between elementary school enrollment and fifth-grade achievement was explored using data from a large urban Missouri school district. The district's 39 elementary schools received uniform allocations of resources from the district and used the same instructional materials but varied considerably in K-5 enrollment, socioeconomic…

Educators are under increasing pressure from policymakers and the public to demonstrate that educational resources are used in appropriate ways. This demand, coupled with an environment of increased standards and shrinking budgets, is a major challenge to rural, small, and low-income schools. This digest reviews contemporary research on resource…

Although great interest surrounds class size as a policy instrument, inferences on its effects are controversial. Recent work highlights a particular way to consider the endogeneity issues that affect this variable: class size is often correlated with enrollment, which in turn may be related to socioeconomic status (SES). This paper shows why such…

This report examines the issue of teacher turnover in small schools and offers suggestions for how small schools can sustain changes in structure, instruction, and leadership, yet make room for new voices and ideas. Data was drawn from a three-year study of high school conversions in Washington State. The report also includes self-study questions…