Toward the Construction of a Research and Development Agenda for Rural Education

Supporters of rural schools find themselves in a quan-dary. At a time when rural education interests enjoy un-precedented organizational ability at the national level and in many states and are thus better able to further their cause than in the past, they have a growing but none-theless limited and still largely nonadditive research base to support many of their claims of the values and benefits of small schools. Adding to their dilemma is the increas-ing awareness in the policy communities of the centrality of education to the relatively ambitious rural development efforts underway in the nation at the present time. Thus, the absence of a comprehensive and inclusive research literature on rural schools represents a major obstacle to the furtherance of rural interests at a time when the poten-tial for fundamental change in rural education policy is perhaps the greatest in recent history. It is imperative that the profession give immediate attention to closing the research gap that presently exists in the field so that the unmatched potential afforded by the conflux of a re-newed interest in rural schools by the policy communities and the heightened ability of rural education interests to impact on policy formulation not be lost. This essay is intended to further this effort. Presented initially are some observations concerning the current state-of-the-art in research on rural education, followed by a number of explanations for the present situation. The themes of what are regarded to be essential first steps in the construction of a research and development agen-da and those of a number of other useful initiatives towards this end are also identified. In preparation for this assignment, I reviewed a number of the works of others who have also undertaken the task of arguing for a research agenda in other fields. I am especially indebted to Erickson [8] and Boyan [4] who offered provocative essays on the state-of-the-art in research on educational administration. Many of their ideas greatly influenced this piece as did those of Browne and Hadwiger [5] who edited a recent symposium that examined rural policy