Rural schools in the western region states of California, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada are facing enormous challenges due to major shifts in the demographics of the region. Rapid growth in student enrollment, particularly of minority and limited English proficient students, the increasing rate of rural poverty and homelessness, and a projected teacher shortage, are only a few of the pressing problems which are stretching the limits of the "make-do" attitude prevalent in rural communities. To respond to the challenge, the Rural Schools Assistance Program was organized in 1987 to: (1) identify, gather, and disseminate information about programs, practices, and resources to rural, small schools in the region; (2) develop and strengthen networks of rural education service providers in the region; and (3) provide or broker technical assistance services to rural, small schools. This report evaluates the program based on interviews with the project participants from the four states. The program has hosted a wide variety of workshops and a regional conference on issues related to rural schools, developed and disseminated numerous research briefs and resource materials about promising rural practices, and conducted collaborative technical assistance projects in all four states in the region. These projects focused on interventions which improve rural staff development, enhance rural schools' ability to offer coursework, improve the performance of rural at-risk students, and help rural schools organize for school improvement. The measure of success for the projects is the assessment by participants in rural improvement consortia of the program. Appendixes include summaries of interviews with the project participants, student evaluations of distance learning, and evaluation of three workshop. (ALL)