This report focuses on gifted and talented education in six rural schools. An introduction summarizes a 1999 national assessment of rural gifted education and points out that the standards movement may hinder development of both effective rural schools and gifted programming. Of the six schools profiled, two were founded especially for gifted and talented students, all are small, and each has a niche developed by a special teacher or in response to specific circumstances. Akron-Westfield Community School in northwestern Iowa serves 700 K-12 students; features include social support and mentoring for gifted students, a schoolwide History Day, and yearlong history projects by high school students. Jackson River Governor's School (Clifton Forge, Virginia) offers community college courses to gifted high school juniors and seniors from surrounding rural school districts. At Voznesenka School on the Kenai Peninsula (Alaska), a teacher reflects on the situation of gifted students in a traditional village of Russian Old Believers. Nevada City School of the Arts is an arts-based charter elementary school in north-central California that provides flexible, individual attention to student needs--physical disabilities, exceptional abilities, behavioral problems, or some combination of these. The Native American Preparatory School (Rowe, New Mexico) is a residential high school for gifted and talented Native Americans that honors students' cultural heritage while providing a rigorous college preparation. Idalia High School in eastern Colorado was part of a school district"deconsolidation." Idalia's gifted students benefit from their English teacher's involvement in the Bread Loaf Rural Teachers Network. Sidebars present quotes from students and teachers, information on special programs, and Web addresses. Appendices present national data on rural schools by state, an Iowa timeline on education, and Iowa school data. (SV)