This book contains 10 case studies of rural community development in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and Catalonia, as seen from the perspective of community-work practitioners. Development projects encompassed such activities as promotion of tourism, establishment of community centers, vocational training for school dropouts, adult community…

This book compiles 21 action research articles from 12 countries that describe community-based initiatives in adult literacy education in peripheral rural areas. These initiatives represent dynamic experiments in cultural action that explicitly link individual basic education and a collective change in the conditions of local life. The reports…

The third in a series of volumes of curriculum essays on the concepts, issues, and strategies of community development education and training is presented. Five sections with 20 papers are as follows: (1) introduction: theories, definitions, and origins of experiential education--"Experiential Education for Community Development" (I. Harris, P.…

This collection of 31 essays examines the idea of community rooted in a particular place, usually a small town or rural place. Many essays comment on the role of education in promoting the transient materialistic lifestyle or suggest ways in which education could foster place attachment and community building. Essays specifically focused on…

This book documents the story of Alice Lloyd, a Massachusetts woman who founded Caney Creek Community Center and Caney Junior College (now Alice Lloyd College) in eastern Kentucky during the early 20th century. For the past 70 years, the college has enabled thousands of students from Appalachia to obtain a college education at little or no cost.…

This book examines cases of rural community development initiatives in the United States, Canada, and Europe, identified during a study of multicommunity collaboration projects. Section 1 includes 36 community development ideas operating at provincial, regional, and local levels. Included are ideas such as bank community development corporations,…

The close-knit, personal nature of small rural communities results in school and community operating as a single integrated social structure. Useful rural school improvement strategies must, therefore, address needs that are recognized by both the local school and the community and must operate in a style congruent with the local setting. Although…

This proceedings contains 13 papers on the role of distance education in sustainable community development, particularly in Canada's remote northern communities. Four sections cover theoretical issues such as the meaning of "community" in international distance programs and the influence of students' immediate community on their survival…

This book addresses the need for research information that can be used as a foundation for rural development policy. Part I deals with the four components of rural development: education (human capital), entrepreneurship, physical infrastructure, and social infrastructure. Part II examines analytic methods of measuring rural development efforts,…

Intended to spur policy makers, practitioners, parents, and other interested individuals to reopen rural educational issues, this volume explores "conventional wisdom" (the widely accepted assumptions and theories about rural education) and examines its merits in light of both accumulated experience and recent research. The text is…

This book documents community-based educational practices that hold promise for rural communities struggling to survive in difficult times. Rural schools can benefit from closer ties to community by providing opportunities for community-based learning through community service and career exploration. On the other hand, community development groups…

This book explores how community functions in "Bremer," a small rural town in eastern Washington. Human interactions in a variety of contexts are analyzed within a framework that posits three distinct eras of social and economic organization: community-control, mass-society, and information eras. Contexts examined are farming (the…

Socioeconomic development in China between the two world wars included an extensive mass education effort by reform-minded young Chinese. Focusing on adult literacy and rural reconstruction, Chinese educators employed various strategies to stimulate and assist self-help efforts in Chinese villages. Paramount among these educational techniques were…

This book provides an overview of existing human resource conditions in rural America; examines key economic, social, and technological forces shaping the future viability of rural areas; describes human capital issues for rural women and minority groups; and outlines strategies to strengthen rural human capital resources. Chapters are: (1)…

The study documents what happened in 10 rural communities when a federal educational funding program (Experimental Schools) in 1972 provided 5-year grants for demonstration projects designed both to improve the school system and, through the schools, to address a variety of community needs. The study employs two strategies to document the ways in…