This article examines two Canadian high school work experience programs that focus on rural youth. The first encourages students to consider work in skilled trades, while the second encourages them to become qualified as healthcare aides. Both programs were designed to encourage high school students to explore careers in fields where labor market…

What are the qualities of classroom, school, and district processes and practices in rural high schools with higher-than average graduation rates? How do these processes and practices compare with rural schools with histories of average graduation rates? In this study, six schools were sampled for a multiple case study of rural high school…

The current study examined associations between organized activity involvement, academic achievement, and problem behavior in a sample of youth from a non-agricultural based rural community (M[subscript age] = 15.26, Age range = 11-19 years, N = 456). Analyses examined whether associations varied as a function of adolescent gender and age.…

Educational practices that purposely seek to tie the realities of place to instruction, particularly for the purpose of student engagement, are typically referred to as place-based education. This study investigates how one teacher considered place in making instructional choices for eighth grade English students in a rural high school, and…

Using data from the 2005 NAEP High School Transcript Study, this paper examines the mathematics course-taking of rural high school students. Although several studies indicate rural high school students' mathematics achievement is comparable to that of students in non-rural high schools, the mathematics course-taking patterns of rural and non-rural…

This research examined how rural high school students' self-perceptions and environmental perceptions influence their engagement, expectations, and achievement, and how those relationships differ by geographic rural location. Participants were 224 students in four rural, public high schools in two U.S. states, Colorado and Indiana. Path models…

This study is an investigation of how school consolidation between 2003 and 2006 affected the lived experience of students and educators in four Arkansas high schools. We present findings from twenty-three interviews with students, teachers, and school administrators who moved to a new high school because of consolidation, as well as those who…

This research tested a path model for how rural high school students' self-perceptions and environmental perceptions influence their course-related interest, school engagement, and ultimately, post-graduation intentions. Participants were 414 students in all four grades, in 10 rural, public high schools. Correlation and path analyses (in LISREL…

This study examined community adults' conceptions of successful early adult outcomes for rural African American adolescents from 2 low-resource communities in the Deep South. Focus groups were conducted with parents, teachers, and community leaders. Parents also completed semistructured phone interviews. The focus groups identified 2 general types…

In the current study, we examined factors that influence rural West Virginia high school students' college attendance decisions. Using Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory of human development as a theoretical basis, we studied direct and indirect influences of environmental factors upon the academic aspirations of rural Appalachian youth.…

This study explored the social networks and sources of social support for rural high-school adolescents and how these are related to educational and psychological outcomes. We examined quality, frequency. and nature of social relationships of high school students to understand how size, density, heterogeneity, compositional quality of social…

Data on 3397 students from 28 high schools in the Western Australian School Effectiveness Study revealed that self-concept had a mitigating effect on student aspirations and achievement; urban students had higher aspirations and achievement than rural students, but similar self-concept; and classroom environment was a powerful determinant of…

Surveys of 11th- and 12th-grade students from rural schools in 21 states and their parents and teachers revealed significant coefficients of concordance among the three groups' expectations for adulthood. While aspirations for personal and economic success were highly prized, community-minded goals for civic responsibility were ascribed far less…

Interviews with 33 teenagers from three small rural Midwest towns examined how they saw themselves, their families, friends, communities, and futures. Interview excerpts illustrate ambivalence about rural experiences, desire to move elsewhere, and Hispanic students' experiences with racism, but also convey positive attitudes about family, friends,…

Analysis of National Education Longitudinal Study data found that students attending small high schools (less than 800 students) had higher extracurricular participation than students attending large high schools (more than 1600 students). Participation was significantly related to 12th-grade self-esteem but not to academic achievement. However,…