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This volume contains short papers and commentaries from a conference on rural education in Iowa. Prefatory notes compare the characteristics of Iowa rural students and rural schools to those of the North Central states in general, and discuss two rural education issues repeatedly identified at the conference--equity of educational opportunities and efficiency of rural school operations. Overall, conference participants suggest that equity and efficiency issues are best addressed through continued innovation in the areas of funding for rural districts, collaboration among rural educators, and coordinated application of technology to rural education. Section I, the keynote address, discusses "Urban Chauvinism and Rural Values." Other sections discuss: (1) school size and curriculum diversity in Iowa, new state curriculum standards, and improving quality and equity of curriculum delivery through whole-grade sharing, interactive television, and magnet vocational schools; (2) school effectiveness in the rural community setting, inherent advantages of small community schools, the importance of the school to its community, and the ongoing threat of school closings and school district reorganization; (3) the Iowa state funding formula, and equity, quality, and efficiency with respect to rural schools; (4) student needs and how rural education can meet them; (5) ways of redesigning Iowa rural schools--sharing, restructuring, and consolidating; (6) elements of effective staff development in rural schools; and (7) planning and implementing technology applications in rural education in Iowa. (SV)

Papers on the following topics are presented: (1) the future of teacher education; (2) organizing for change: lessons from experience; (3) rethinking the role and function of the school of education; (4) options for teacher education; and (5) teacher education: 1984 and 2001. (JD)

The 18 papers of this conference were divided into five topics ranging from literacy to the history of progressive reform to history of education from an international perspective. Part 1 includes: "Isabella Graham and Joanna Bethune's Early American Experiments in Educating Illiterates" (L. Townsend); "The Dilemma of Equivalency: American Colleges and the Evaluation of Armed Services Training in the 1940s" (A. D. Rose); and "An Analysis of Historical Studies of Literacy Standards from Three Epochs in American Elementary Education" (K. Hanus). Part 2 includes: "John Dewey: 'Philosophy and Education in Their Historic Relations'" (J. J. Chambliss); "Addams's Pragmatic Impact on Adult Education" (M. T. Colky); "Charles Deneen and Illinois Education Reform during the Progressive Era" (E. E. Gordon); "Progressive Education and School Architecture" (D. Nelson); and "The Hessian Hills School, 1930-1941: Social Reconstructionism in Practice" (K. M. Campbell). Part 3 includes: "The Career of Edward Orton, the First President of the Ohio State University" (K. A. Work; D. L. Shaver); "Booker T. Washington and the Movable School" (E. H. Goldstein); and "Frederick Siedenberg, S. J.: Catholic, Priest, and Progressive, a Contradiction in Terms" (M. C. Schiltz). Part 4 includes: "Pre-British European Educational Activities in India" (K. C. Thottopuram); "Education for Subjugation and Liberation: The Historical Context of Peoples' Education in South Africa" (T. Reagan); "An Historical Overview: Educational Assimilation of the Saami in Norway" (G. Roland); and "Dunkel's Herbart Revisited: The Milieu in which He Worked" (E. V. Johanningmeier). Part 5 includes: "Education and Reform at Robert Owen's New Lanark" (G. Gutek); "The Old Northwest Revisited: Education before the Era of the Common Schools" (C. R. Wolf); and "The Passage of Compulsory Attendance Laws, 1870-1915" (M. J. Eisenberg). The conference program, minutes of the business meeting, and a directory of attendance are included. (JB)