In an effort to identify and prioritize critical issues in rural education, three groups were surveyed: policy makers (N=10 national, 7 state, and 4 local); practitioners (limited to 48 school superintendents from districts randomly drawn by region, with no more than 2 to a given state); and trainers (N=48 trainers with 16 in each of the categories of pre-service trainers, administrative consultants to school districts, and in-service trainers). Results indicated some differing concerns and information needs among the respondents surveyed. All groups wanted to learn how to deal with limited resources; interest in personnel was high across all groups; reorganization, consolidation, and cooperation concerns were highest among policy makers; strong interest was expressed among all groups for curriculum, teaching materials, basic and vocational education, and services; policy makers were moderately interested in student motivation, and there was division in the areas of education for community participation vs education for cosmopolitanism; practitioners were especially interested in obtaining community approval of educational expenditures and policy makers and practitioners were more concerned about parental involvement than were trainers; practitioners were interested in innovative techniques only when applicable to rural restrictions; and policy makers were interested in local power structures. (JC)