Recognizing that New York State has one of the largest rural populations in the United States and that it is impossible to institute special curricula at the College of Saint Rose (CSR) to train future special education teachers for rural areas, this manual was compiled to provide CSR Education Division faculty with a guide to available existing resource materials in rural education which would permit selection of objectives, competencies, activities, and/or materials appropriate to a specific course/topic and to supplement and complement existing course materials. Primary resources were the 19 Rural Education Preservice Modules prepared by Western Washington University's National Rural Research and Personal Preparation Project. Five major competencies were identified from Marrs'"A Bandwagon Without Music: Preparing Rural Special Educators": awareness of the nature of rural schools and their surroundings, understanding of differences involved in serving handicapped students in rural and urban settings, knowledge of "state of the art" rural special education, skills in working with parents of rural handicapped students, and understanding of personal development skills for professional growth and for building local support system. Sample and content activities to meet these competencies are excerpted or cited from the National Rural Project Modules. A list of the 19 Rural Project Modules and a 35-item bibliography complete the document. (NEC)