America's One-Room Schools One-room schools still exist in America, although they've dwindled from 190,000 in 1919 to fewer than 400 today. The bulk of them are in isolated Western towns. But there are schools sprinkled across the United States. At left, a one-room school -- now closed -- in Hawaii.
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America's One-Room Schools

One-room schools still exist, but they've dwindled from 190,000 in 1919 to fewer than 400 today.

Nebraska School Shrinks to the Point of Closure

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Growth Threatens Future of N.H. School

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'Old Hawaiian' Life Fading with Loss of Maui School

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Students Flourish in Gold Creek's One-Room School

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One-Room Schools Holding on in Rural America

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