Exploring a significant segment of rural education research and field experience in the developing nations, the communication of relevant knowledge to disadvantaged rural populations was examined in terms of: situational-structural variables (factors of physical location, environmental or ecosystem relationships, and community structures); client systems and behavioral change; and organization of curriculum and instruction. Findings indicated that: educational/training activities developed closely in relation to and interacted with a community's ecological and social-structural environments; decisions on knowledge dissemination were usually strongly influenced by groups which carried social and/or political weight, though clients were also influenced by their immediate social environments and preferences; clients tended to learn most effectively when they were in a position to engage in some decision-situation activity related to their sociocultural needs and/or to develop problem solving behaviors; curricular and instructional development was most successful when it included methods for collecting data on clients' actual and potential utilization of knowledge, their social-psychology, and the instructional theories appropriate to a given rural setting; integrated educational development was not feasible in most countries where the urgent needs for agricultural productivity were paramount, though integration as a natural by-product was sometimes operative. (JC)