The 2001 conference proceedings of the American Council on Rural Special Education (ACRES) contains 62 papers and summaries of presentations concerned with issues in rural special education. The papers are presented in 12 categories: impacting governmental policy, at risk, collaborative education models, early childhood, gifted, multicultural, parents and families, preservice and inservice teacher education, technology, transition, and other. Topics include personnel preparation and service delivery issues in rural areas, school-level implementation of inclusion policies, addressing challenging behaviors, collaborative partnerships within and among schools, inclusive practices in schools and classrooms, rural gifted education, culturally and linguistically diverse students in special education, special education practices and programs on the Navajo Reservation, rural teacher practicums, professional development, distance learning, university-school partnerships, Web-based teacher training, transition of special needs students to the community, crisis response in rural schools, rural support groups, and training in low incidence disabilities. (SV)