This paper, the first in a series on inclusive education in a rural Canadian school district, reports an attempt to develop a succinct, common cross-age scale to measure student views on important school-related aspects of inclusive education. A lengthy scale, previously developed for use in a different study, was administered to 855 children in Grades One to Twelve in a school district in rural Alberta, Canada. A succinct 12-item scale was produced, addressing four of five conceptual areas thought to be important to inclusive education from a student's perspective, and within the Canadian educational context. This scale has been named the Student Perceptions of Inclusion in Rural Canada (SPIRC) scale. Future areas of study include the addition of a component addressing sentiments towards disability and inclusion in the newly refined scale. (Contains 6 tables.)