Effective utilization of computer technology can help rural and small school administrators and teachers overcome problems of time, distance, sparsity in course offerings and support personnel, and unequal funding through facilitation of communication and through the potential to replicate quality instruction. Tools that have implications for rural education include computer managed instruction (CMI), computer assisted instruction (CAI), interactive videotex, noninteractive videotex, and interactive videodisc instruction. Development of CMI systems requires defining curriculum in terms of specific objectives, developing placement testing systems, implementing monitoring processes, and revising instructional programs on the basis of pupil achievement data. The adaptation potential of small business data-base-management programs to CMI academic applications offers access to powerful management programs at modest cost. The portability, cost, and flexibility of CAI using microcomputers may provide the means to offer an urban equivalent delivery system to rural students, but the diversity of alternatives in products and implementation practices requires well trained teachers to apply available technology. Universal excellence obtained through CAI still appears to be more vision than substance. Videotex technology, already a major vehicle for information flow between farmers and the public and private sectors, should be present in rural schools, if only for the vocational training involved. (NEC)