Building Professional Practice Consortia: Strategies for Systemic Reform in Rural Schools.

The standards-driven approach to school reform, exemplified by Goals 2000, shows promise for unifying contemporary efforts by affecting change at the classroom, school, and community levels. The special aspects of the rural context, particularly distance and low population density, set it apart from the urban and suburban schools on which most reform research has been done. To develop reform strategies applicable to rural schools, the literature is reviewed in three related lines of inquiry: developing professional practice among teachers; enhancing organizational conditions for systemic change; and supporting collaboration/consortia-building. Four types of cooperative linkages are defined: networking, coordination, cooperation, and collaboration. These form a series of continua in relation to formality, definition of goals, time commitment, autonomous control, responsibilities, and concerted effort. Three major studies are reviewed to delineate the factors that contribute to successful collaboration. To enable rural students to achieve high standards, rural schools must begin to develop whole strategies that will result in fundamental changes in curriculum, instruction, and student assessment. Professional practice, positive organizational conditions for change, and rural consortia building are necessary elements of a potentially viable rural change approach. Contains 30 references. (RAH)