In an effort to help shape a research agenda for rural education, this document reviews the research on rural education and at-risk students to determine the relative influence on student outcomes of poverty and community location. Sections of this review address: methodological considerations (definitions of "rural" and "at-risk," inadequate controls and comparisons, philosophical orientation of rural literature); the context of rural education (student distribution by rurality and poverty concentration); rural-urban differences in poor students' academic achievement, high school completion rates, and college aspirations; community and student characteristics (poverty, income sources, cultural milieu, ethnicity, single-parent households, limited English proficiency, parental educational attainment, substance abuse, absenteeism, student employment, teen pregnancy); and school characteristics (size, location, expenditures, courses and programs, staff qualifications, technology resources, school-community connections, parent involvement, social capital). Preliminary findings suggest that: (1) poor rural students' academic achievement is quite low but better than that of poor urban students; (2) the magnitude of the problem of low achievement is smaller in poor rural areas than in poor urban areas; (3) rural communities are quite diverse; (4) the characteristics of rural students differ from those of urban students overall, but the profile of poor rural students is similar to that of poor urban students; and (5) rural students attend smaller schools with community connections but a smaller breadth of course offerings than urban schools. Five main research recommendations are outlined. Appendices include participants at a rural education issues meeting, referenced journals, and definitions. (Contains 69 references.) (SV)