Welcome and Setting the Stage
n Robert Gibbs, Economic Research Service
n Bo Beaulieu, Southern Rural Development Center

Nonmetropolitan America in the Global Economy: Demographic Changes of the 1990s
Keynote Speaker: Daryl Hobbs, University of Missouri

Keynote provided compliments of the Population Resource Center through funding from the Ford Foundation

Session I: Achievement in Rural Schools

Random and Systematic Variation in Student Performance by School Size: Implications of of No Child Left Behind for Rural Pennsylvania
n Stephan Goetz, Pennsylvania State University

Laying the Foundation for Employment: The Role of Social Capital in Educational Achievement
n Glenn Israel, University of Florida
n Bo Beaulieu, Southern Rural Development Center

The Relationship between Local Community Context, State Policy and School Performance: Evidence from Rural Illinois
n Frank Beck, Illinois State University

Discussant: Kathryn Wilson, Kent State University

Session II: Rural Schools, Communities and At-Risk Populations

Low Income Student Transiency and its Effects on Schools and School Districts in Upstate New York
n Kai Schafft, Cornell University

Education and Socioeconomic Well-being in Racially Diverse Rural Counties
n Elton Mykerezi, Virginia Tech

Preparing Rural Educators to Teach Students in an Era of Standards-Based Reform and Accountability
n Sheryl Lazarus, University of Minnesota

Discussant: Mike Arnold, Mid-Continental Regional Education Laboratory

Session III: Schools and Local Community Impacts

The Importance of the Education and Health Sectors on the Economy of Atoka County, Oklahoma
n Mike D. Woods, Oklahoma State University
n Gerald A. Doeksen, Oklahoma State University

The Importance of Schools to Rural Community Viability
n Thomas Lyson, Cornell University

Education and Nonmetropolitan Economic Development in the South
n Mark Henry, Clemson University
n David Barkley, Clemson University

Discussant: Mark Schafer, Louisiana State University

Session IV: Education and the Labor Market in Rural Communities

The Returns to Education in Rural Areas
n Stephan Goetz, Pennsylvania State University
n Anil Rupasingha, Pennsylvania State University

Work-Based Learning in Rural America
n Gary Paul Green, University of Wisconsin

Education and the Organization of Work in Rural America
n David McGranahan

Discussant: Peter Schaeffer, West Virginia University