Aspirations predict students' trajectories, and knowledge of how youth develop and achieve goals is crucial to supporting success. However, rural students may encounter constraining conditions that can curtail their aspirations, and students of color often face institutional barriers that impact their postsecondary pathways. Guided by theories…

The literature presents conflicting views of the rural experience, with one perspective chronicling the deficits associated with growing up rural while the other reveals advantages to small-town community and schooling influences. Adding to the complexities of the rural narrative are the recent demographic and social changes in rural…

Empirical evidence unambiguously asserts that a college education provides robust benefits to both individuals and societies. However, disparities in college enrollment and completion persist and limit opportunities for marginalized students to enjoy the advantages a college education affords, impeding progress toward equitable outcomes for all.…

Students underrepresented in higher education often require unique support throughout their career and college planning. Rural Appalachian youth characterize a large population of underrepresented students. This article describes a theory-based multiweek career education curriculum aimed at increasing career and college readiness that was…

This article employs historical analysis of a unique collection of essays to examine the college aspirations of rural high school students. Although researchers attribute the low educational attainment of this population mainly to poverty and poor school quality, many scholars continue to believe that historically rooted cultural norms and kinship…

In order to understand how students from low-income rural backgrounds in South Africa experience higher education and the opportunities and obstacles they encounter, the paper draws on two waves of interviews with 30 students currently studying at three large urban universities. Using concepts of capabilities and functionings, monetary resources…

This study seeks to update past studies of rural youth by examining college attendance and choice decisions for students who graduated from rural high schools, while also conducting an examination of how the effects of socioeconomic status manifest differently by locale. Logistic regression is used to study the postsecondary attendance and…

The continuing expansion of digital service-learning is bringing emergent dynamics to the field of community engagement, including the challenge of fostering asset-based views of community partners in online spaces. "Online disinhibition" ("Suler," 2004) can prompt harsh critique or insensitive language that would not have…

This article uses a queer lens in an intersectional analysis of students' schooling experiences in rural China. I argue that a queer perspective has been largely neglected and issues related to sexuality have not been carefully investigated in Chinese educational contexts. Drawing on queer theory and an intersectional framework, I re-interpret one…

This study investigated patterns of college attendance using data from a nationwide and contemporary sample of 2112 rural youth. We found that more than half of rural youth attended two-year institutions at some point during their college career and about a fourth initially enrolled in a two-year college before enrolling in a four-year college.…

The Health Sciences and Technology Academy's, (HSTA) goals are to increase college attendance of African American, financially disadvantaged, first generation college and rural Appalachian youth and increase health-care providers and STEM professionals in underserved communities. Students enter in the 9th grade and remain in HSTA four years. They…

The Health Sciences and Technology Academy's, (HSTA) goals are to increase college attendance of African American, financially disadvantaged, first generation college and rural Appalachian youth and increase health-care providers and STEM professionals in underserved communities. Students enter in the 9th grade and remain in HSTA four years. They…

The need for developmental education is ever present in higher education as more students annually enter college underprepared for entry level college coursework. Underpreparedness is a pervasive concern in higher education. Community colleges in particular are the primary means of shepherding developmental education. Academic underpreparedness is…

Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, this study documented college attendance patterns of rural youth in terms of the selectivity of first postsecondary institution of attendance, the timing of transition to postsecondary education, and the continuity of enrollment. The study also examined how these college attendance…

National efforts have been made to encourage technology integration in teacher preparation with expectations for frequent and successful applications with K-12 learners. While online learning has become pervasive in many fields in education, it has been somewhat slow to catch on in K-12 settings. The "Handbook of Research on Emerging…