Little information exists to provide an accurate portrait of education in small rural schools, including staff development practices and needs in such schools. The Southwest Educational Development Laboratory conducted a review of literature and a survey of rural educators in the Southwest concerning staff development in their schools. The survey represented an initial effort to describe the staff development activities that existed in rural small schools and the staff development activities that educators working at these schools actually preferred. A sample was drawn from Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, for survey purposes, and structured interviews were conducted with 20 teachers. Results of the survey indicated that 80% of the respondents regularly participate in multiple staff development activities during the school year. The most frequent activities consist of one-shot lectures given by consultants from outside the district with little follow-up provided for the participants. The data also suggest that staff development activities are not typically planned and initiated at the local level, but from the top down, perhaps reflecting the fact that staff development is not based on local needs. While the data suggest strong tendencies towards episodic staff development, there are also signs of an emerging locally driven system as well. Topics covered were wide-ranging, from the basic to the controversial. The topics considered most relevant were those that offer immediately useful materials, or specific, directly applicable skills. Survey information is presented in 12 data tables. This document contains 31 references and a copy of the Staff Development Questionnaire. (ALL)