One-room schools, or schoolhouses, were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain. In most rural and small town schools, all of the students met in a single room. There, a single teacher taught academic basics to several grade levels of elementary-age children. While in many areas one-room schools are no longer used, some remain in developing nations and rural or remote areas where scarce students or teachers complicate organizing the educational process differently.

Anderson Schoolhouse is a registered historic building near Ashland, Ohio, listed in the National Register of Historic Places on 1977-03-25. It is located at 1202 US 42 South, in Milton Township, Ashland County, Ohio. It was known as the No. 5 district out of seven in the township.

The Penn Center, formerly the Penn School, is an African-American cultural and educational center in the Corners Community on Saint Helena Island. Founded in 1862 by Quaker and Unitarian missionaries from Pennsylvania, it was the first school founded in the Southern United States specifically for the education of African-Americans. It provided critical educational facilities to Gullah slaves freed after plantation owners fled the island, and continues to fulfill an educational mission. Leigh Richmond Miner photographed students and activities at the school.

Pleasant Valley School in Bellvue, Colorado is a rural one-room schoolhouse that was built in 1879. Its foundation and walls were built of sandstone from a nearby quarry. It has a front-gabled simple roof with wide overhanging eaves.

The historic Abbe Creek School is a one-room schoolhouse museum located one mile west of Mt. Vernon, Iowa, on E48. It is believed to be the oldest standing one room brick schoolhouse in Iowa. The school is located on land claimed by William Abbe, the first white settler in Linn County, Iowa.

Ourant's School is a one-room schoolhouse located on Ourant Road, east of Deersville, Ohio. The schoolhouse was placed on the National Register on 1994-03-17.

Overackers Corners Schoolhouse is a historic school located at Middlesex in Yates County, New York. It is an Italianate style structure built about 1874. The school reopened in 1998 after renovation by the Middlesex Heritage Group.

Fishing Creek Schoolhouse is a historic school located in the Villas census-designated place, of Lower Township, Cape May County, New Jersey, United States. The schoolhouse was built in 1888 and added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 6, 1980.

Forest Grove School No. 5 is a historic building located near Bettendorf, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.

Pocahontas School is a historic school building in Pocahontas, Tennessee, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Brick Schoolhouse is a historic one-room schoolhouse at 432 New Hampshire Route 123 in Sharon, New Hampshire. Built in 1832, it is the only of the town's three such buildings to survive, and was the only one made of brick. It is also the only school building now standing in the town, since its students have been schooled in neighboring Peterborough since 1920. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002, and the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places in 2001.

Wilson District No. 7 School, also known as the O'Meara Schoolhouse, is an historic structure located in rural Clinton County, Iowa, United States near the town of Delmar. The one-room school was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. The listing includes three structures: the former school building and two outhouses.

Lancaster School is a preserved 1881 two-story schoolhouse located in rural Keokuk County, Iowa, United States southeast of the county seat of Sigourney.

McGee School, also known as Coffin's Grove Township, District #1, is a one-room schoolhouse located west of Manchester, Iowa, United States. Built in 1868 in a folk-vernacular style, it is a rare example of a brick one-room schoolhouse in Iowa, and the only on left in Delaware County. Also rare is the tall Romanesque arched entryway, which led to a cloakroom on either side. The building is also significant as the only known school associated with Sarah Gillespie Huftalen, a rural school advocate and educator, who taught here from 1883 to 1884. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

Mann School No. 2, also known as Sioux Township #2, is a historic building located west of Moorhead, Iowa, United States. Built in 1884, the building is a simple rectangular frame structure with a gable roof. Originally three bays long, an addition in the 1920s that added a cloak room and internal stairway to the basement, extended it one more bay. Located in the Loess Hills, this school differed from one-room schoolhouses on the prairie, in that it was located near the center of a cluster of families rather than at the center of four sections. Parents of the students who were educated here took responsibility for the upkeep and maintenance of the building and grounds. The building remained in use as a school until 1945 when the teacher expectantly left. Enrollment had been low to begin with so the district sent the students to a neighboring rural school and then to Moorhead. The building continued as a polling place after the school was formally closed in 1945. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.

Beach School is a historic building located northwest of Mount Vernon, Iowa, United States. Because school district lines had been redrawn, students in this area were forced to attend classes in a building some distance away. Given the condition of rural roads in the late 19th century, that created a hardship for many families. From 1889 to 1891 the school district set aside funds for a new building, and Benjamin Beach donated land on his farm for the new school. Not only was his farmhouse nearby, but Beach also operated a sawmill along the creek east of the school and a gristmill across the road. The one-room schoolhouse was completed in 1892, and a bell was purchased for the building around 1901. Early drawings of the building show a small bell tower. The building was used for educational and social use until 1946, and it has subsequently been converted into a rental home. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

A two-room schoolhouse is a larger version of the one-room schoolhouse, with many of the same characteristics, providing the facility for primary and secondary education in a small community or rural area. While providing the same function as a contemporary primary school or secondary school building, a small multi-room school house is more similar to a one-room schoolhouse, both being architecturally very simple structures. While once very common in rural areas of many countries, one and two-room schools have largely been replaced although some are still operating. Having a second classroom allowed for two teachers to operate at the school, serving a larger number of schoolchildren and/or more grade levels. Architecturally, they could be slightly more complex, but were still usually very simple. In some areas, a two-room school indicated the village or town was more prosperous.

The Lanesfield School is a historic limestone one-room school in Edgerton, Kansas that operated as a school from 1869 to 1963. The school is an example of the one-room schoolhouses that served much of rural America during the nineteenth century, and it is the only remaining structure from the former town of Lanesfield, which served as a mail stop along the Pony Express and Santa Fe Trail. The school reopened as a museum in 1967. The school is located on the Lanesfield Historic Site which includes the schoolhouse, four outbuildings, and a modern visitors center.