Research in Rural Education, Volume 6, Number 3,1990 Community Factors Threatening Rural School District Stability

This paper presents three principles of community that, when compromised, appear to contribute to school district instability. One school district in the state of Nebraska is examined to illustrate how these three principles can be used as heuristics to analyze changes within such school districts. The three principles are: I) the principle of centripetalism; 2) the principle of inclusiveness; and 3) the principle of distinctiveness. The authors conclude with the implications these principles have for educational policy relative to rural school districts, and pay particular attention to the growing interest in treating education as an instrument for rural economic renewal