This digest examines the best evidence available on mathematics achievement in rural schools and offers recommendations for further research. Findings on the mathematics achievement of secondary students are presented, based on analyses of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in 1996 and 2000, the Longitudinal Study of American Youth in 1987-89, the National Educational Longitudinal Survey of 1988, and the NAEP for 1992 and 1996. Nationally, no mathematics achievement gap was found between rural students and students in nonrural, suburban, or urban classifications. A rural-nonrural achievement gap was found in 40 percent of states--half the time it favored rural students. Conditions of schooling accounted for a large proportion of the variance associated with state-level achievement gaps. These findings refute charges of rural inferiority in relation to national averages. School and system characteristics are listed that might influence mathematics learning and that should be researched in the rural context. (SV)