Much progress has been made in the quest for better rural schools. In 1977, People United for Rural Education (PURE) began its work as an advocate for rural education and small schools. In 1979, PURE was notified that it was to receive the National Volunteer Activist Award. In 1980, the Rural/Regional Education Association became the Rural Education Association and expanded its goal to improve educational opportunities for rural children with additional attention to those who had previously been most severely limited. President Carter's Small Community and Rural Development Policy (1980) reflected a major change in both the programs and the attitudes of the federal government regarding problems in rural areas. That policy translated generalized concerns about rural problems into a set of specific goals, principles, programs, and mechanisms for effective implementation. The Regulation Flexibility Act (1980) called for a complete federal review of all rules and regulations to establish their effect on small and rural schools. In October 1980, $10 million was budgeted for a rural education initiative for 1982 intended to: provide technical assistance to rural areas in the form of Rural Outreach Services; establish a Network for Communication; make more funds available for locally initiated rural education research; fund in a data base in Washington, D.C. and provide increased support to the ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools; establish a Model for Rural Services; and identify and validate successful rural programs and set up an information diffusion network. (CM)