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Between 1857 and 1860 William Gilpin promoted a new regional concept of the Cis-Rocky Mountain West. After reviewing the earlier ideas about the area this paper traces the stages in Gilpin's formulation of his Great Plains concept. The final statement of 1857 is analyzed and appraised from several points of view: as a geographical concept, as a factor influencing settlement, and as a basis for predicting economic developments. As a geographical concept it was much more valid than its precursors. As a factor influencing settlement it provided a powerful motivating image. However, as a basis for prediction it was too generalized and grossly incomplete. Nevertheless, for twenty-one years it remained the most significant statement on the region, until eventually superseded in 1878 by the more mature concepts of John Wesley Powell.OR almost three centuries (circa 1530-F 1803) the region now known as the American Great Plains was occasionally entered by Spanish and French explorers, but, except on its southern and southwestern margins, it remained unsettled by people of European origins. Published general descriptions of the area were vague or fictitious,2 and the few first-hand accounts remained, for the most part, unpublished and unknown. The subsequent discovery of some of the latter has afforded a glimpse of the best-informed opinions. None were based on prolonged or recurrent experience of the area and most were written by either soldiers, missionaries, or fur traders, men not particularly well qualified to describe and assess what they saw. They

Rural schools struggle with limited resources including an inadequate curriculum, lack of qualified teachers and little access to programming usually available to larger metropolitan schools. Such inequities have prevented many rural students from pursuing scholarship opportunities and entrance to institutions with restricted admissions.The Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts attempts to remediate the problem by serving rural students throughout the state with a distance learning network, Project Outreach, which delivers special classes that otherwise would be unavailable. The system uses interactive computer technology to teach advanced content courses in math, foreign language, science, and survey of the arts. The effectiveness of the outreach program was evaluated as to its potential to provide courses at a distance to rural students in Louisiana. Results of the study included a significant gain in scores between pre-test and posttest scores on a national calculus exam, and open-ended responses revealed favorable comments toward the system from its participants. The distance learning network is seen as one method for connecting rural students to the superior programs offered by special schools.

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