Reports from the Field: Teacher Corps in Rural Sites.

Teacher Corps experience in meeting Corps objectives in rural sites provides a rich source of information about rural education. Collaboration exists between university faculty and rural school staff despite distances involved and sharp increases in transportation costs, but development of on-site facilitators is critical to making collaboration work. College scholarships and low-interest loans offered to young local people who agree to return as teachers in local schools can alleviate the problem of attracting and keeping quality staff. Weekly conference call sessions and use of videotape are possible solutions to problems which distance creates for the delivery of supportive inservice training. Utilization of on-site facilitators, combined with an orientation toward more individualized and staff-based inservice, can greatly improve a small district's staff development efforts. A consistent finding, relevant to the improved school climate objective, is that morale of staff, students, and community residents is generally high in rural areas. Progress has been mixed with regard to Teacher Corps objectives focusing on multicultural education and needs of exceptional students. Establishment of an office or center for rural education seems essential to meeting objectives of institutionalization, demonstration, and dissemination. A land grant university would be an ideal location for this. (CM)