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Great changes are occurring in the vast and extremely diverse nonmetropolitan regions of the United States as a result of economic and social shifts taking place. These are not the only issues facing state and local education policy and planning communities. Nationwide focus on the school reform and school excellence movement poses another serious constraint on the workings of many rural school districts. This paper provides an overview of the school reform and school excellence movement of the past decade; discusses the major effects of economic, social and educational developments on rural school districts; and presents the principal implications held by the changing context of rural America concerning educational planning and policymaking for rural schools. Core considerations for the discussion of new, comprehensive, integrated, and cohesive policies and programs for rural school improvement efforts include those discussed briefly in the following sections