In 1989, the Federal Interagency Committee on Education (FICE) developed an agenda for research on rural education that included 6 priority topics containing 44 areas of research and development. In an effort to validate, update, and expand the contents of that agenda, a three-round modified Delphi study was carried out with 29 members of the Rural Education Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association. In the first two rounds, participants rated FICE areas of research and development and suggested new areas. In the third round, participants reviewed those areas with the highest ratings, assigned them an order of priority, and allocated a hypothetical $5 million research budget. Of the original 44 FICE research areas, 31 were retained; 23 new areas were suggested, and 16 of these were retained. The broadest major topic in the new agenda was the overall effectiveness of rural schools; this topic contained 13 areas for research and development and was given the highest priority and the largest budget allocation. School and community partnerships on behalf of rural schools was ranked second, followed by financial support for governance for rural schools, human resources for rural schools, use of technology in rural schools, and curricular provisions in rural schools. (SV)