Rural Amrica has been experiencing dramatic changes in the transition toward a socially and culturally diverse society. This study is a first effort to explore multicultural reform in rural schools. Multicultural education is the process by which the school environment is modified to accommodate cultural differences as well as to teach the role culture plays in shaping people's view of society. The Rural Clearinghouse for Education and Development commissioned five separate case studies of selected rural schools in Alaska, Arizona, New Mexico, Nebraska, and Washington. At each site, school administrators, teachers, students, parents, and community members were interviewed and documentation on multicultural education was collected. The centerpiece of this document consists of the five case study reports, each by a separate writer, with the analyses focused on some or all of the following elements: (1) school mission; (2) staffing; (3) curriculum; (4) instructional strategies; (5) policies and norms; (6) home linkages; (7) community linkages; (8) staff development; (9) extracurricular activities; (10) assessment and testing; (11) multicultural leadership; and (12) student characteristics. A summary of various multicultural educational practices and a listing of resources on multicultural education are included. An appendix presents the protocol for the case studies. (ALL)