Queried 571 elementary school principals in 12 states to determine: (1) the frequency of nontraditional (combination and nongraded) classes; and (2) changes in the use of combination classes during recent years. Found that although combination classes represented 17% of California classrooms, most states contained only 3 to 7%. Nongraded classes…

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…

Scheduling concerns such as how to keep instructors teaching in the areas for which they are qualified and how to allow for elective offerings in a student's schedule led North Cache Middle School, a year-round education school serving grades 8 and 9 in Richmond, Utah, to explore a number of solutions. Seven solutions are examined along with…