RMC Research Corporation is a company of educational research, evaluation, and technical assistance professionals supporting local, state and national educators in the formation of policy and the improvement of programs. Systemic reform has been the focus of many large and small RMC projects ranging from Title 1 Rural Technical Assistance Centers, to Statewide Systemic Math and Science Initiatives (the CONNECT Project).

RMC Research has also successfully conducted a number of large scale evaluations and provided technical assistance in the related areas of systemic reform, educational technology and multicultural education. The most recent evaluations similar to this proposed study include the Navajo Distance Learning Project, Creating Connections: Rural Teachers and the Internet (an Annenberg/CPB Initiative II), The French Connection (a Kansas Educational Excellence Grant) and the National Science Foundation Boulder Valley Internet Project.

The Navajo Distance Learning Project in an interactive television (ITV) project that links the Navajo capitol to the Arizona NAUnet system and to private schools located on the reservation. Funded by Title 1, this project is designed to bring Title 1 instruction to qualifying students in parochial schools and to provide staff development over the ITV system. RMC's role is to provide support for planning and implementation of the project through overseeing the project, training the staff on the system, coordinating outside resources, and facilitating the development of quality teaching and learning over the system.

The goals of the Creating Connections: Rural Teachers and the Internet project are to establish communication links between rural teachers and to give rural teachers greater access to research, instructional strategies, and materials to enhance their teaching of math and science. RMC staff is assessing whether the training, online support, and materials provided by the project increase participating rural teachers' abilities to use the Internet system as a resource and as a vehicle for communicating with each other in order to improve instruction in their classrooms. The evaluation design includes a combination of traditional and innovative methods, all of which parallel the instructional methodology used in the project.

The purpose of the Kansas French Connection was to increase excellence in education by creating a model that allowed students from relatively isolated rural districts to expand their view of the world through the use of technology. This innovative model of geography instruction linked students in rural Kansas to students in suburban Paris, France, via interactive television. The evaluation had three purposes: to describe the project in detail; to provide feedback on the effectiveness of individual components; and to evaluate the efficacy of the model. RMC also provided training in use of the system and portfolios.

RMC Research is evaluating the Boulder Valley Internet Project to evaluate a districtwide model for effective educational utilization of the Internet system. The goals of the Initiative include delivery of comprehensive districtwide teacher training for using the Internet and the establishment of a foundation for curriculum applications and development. RMC staff is conducting a case study, focus groups, surveys, and indepth interviews to evaluate the efficacy and impact of this project as a whole as well as of its various components, and to generate recommendations for future development and applications.

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