Function and impact of Maine Learning Results educational plan in elementary schools of rural Maine. Includes a segment on Walters School in the St. John Valley, and discusses its elementary French language program as it becomes incorporated in MLR methods. From the author: "Many rural educators and researchers have not embraced standards-based reform warmly. Some are wary of standards driving out unique and locally responsive curriculum. Others cast standards as one more example of a reform largely geared toward urban and suburban schools but foisted on rural schools regardless of applicability. These arguments are mostly rhetorical. Few studies have looked at the effects ofstandards' implementation on the classroom practices of rural educators. In this paper, I examine the impact ofa state standards-based reform, the Maine Learning Results, on curriculum and instruction in four rural schools. I focus on the impact that standards have on locally responsive curriculum in the schools. I suggest that state standards and locally responsive curriculum ultimately may not be as incompatible as many scholars and practitioners suggest."