'For a Sharing of Life's Glories': An Evaluation of the Rural Competencies Curriculum Development Project of the Rural Communities Educational Cooperative.

The grassroots Rural Communities Educational Cooperative (RCEC) made higher education accessible/affordable to adults in rural Appalachian communities, designed courses for competency-based rural education, and received high ratings from students and faculty. The Mountain Women's Exchange--a network of seven community organizations run by low-income women in Campbell County, Tennessee, and Whitley County, Kentucky--began RCEC in 1983 as part of its effort to provide training, employment, and services to women of the area. RCEC developed curriculum to identify rural leadership competencies required for someone committed to living and improving rural Appalachian communities and recruited and oriented faculty. RCEC's success demonstrated the importance of community organizations in organizing educational opportunities. RCEC offered lessons in relating college education to community improvement strategies, in collaboration with institutions of higher education, and in orienting faculty to nontraditional students. This study reports RCEC's history, goals, objectives, and evaluation processes/results and reviews program activities and surveys of students, faculty, and community leaders. A review of literature on rural adult education and on Appalachian socioeconomic trends establishes the context of the RCEC. The report emphasizes development of learner-driven competency-based adult education relevant to rural living and rural leadership training. Appendices provide survey responses, RCEC organizational structure, and course list. (LFL)