Today, after nearly 100 years of pressure toward consolidation, communities which have resisted consolidation for the last generation are finally getting some support. Some of this support comes from simple facts and figures. There is strong evidence that centralized schools are expensive, remote from the communities they are supposed to serve, and not especially satisfactory to teachers, parents, or students. Today, policy makers seem to be recognizing that rural America has its own unique and desirable qualities. This has been translated into a newly receptive environment for people concerned with rural issues, and especially for those interested in small-scale, community-based solutions to general rural problems. Since it would appear that the eighties will be a fertile decade for people devoted to the improvement of rural education, there are three clear areas which are critically in need of work: basic research on small school problems, practices, and unique features; curriculum and program development which builds on those unique features, and which makes use of children's rural life experiences; and the elaboration and implementation of models for funding and regulating small rural schools. Much of the burden for this work is going to devolve on people such as the members of PURE (People United for Rural Education). However, once this pioneer work has been done, it can be adapted to the needs and uses of other rural communities. (NQ)