Rural, economically disadvantaged students in Southern Appalachia experienced numerous situations that could negatively affect them socially, emotionally, behaviorally, and academically. Educators who routinely worked with rural, economically disadvantaged students should understand the difficulties these students experienced, as well as employ…

This qualitative study combined critical youth participatory research and ethnographic methods to investigate rural youth relationships to race and racism, which are currently undertheorized. The research question guiding this inquiry was: How do rural youth describe the salience of race and racism in the United States (U.S.) for themselves…

Through multiple educational reforms, China has pursued developing well-rounded learners with solid content knowledge, higher-order thinking skills, and the ability to transfer knowledge to real-world problem spaces. The imbalance of learning resources between urban and rural China, however, has caused disadvantages for learners in rural China to…

Interest is a unique internal motivator of learning that can be sustained and developed by outside influences. A challenge in rural areas is instilling interest in young adults to pursue careers local industries demand in order to mitigate rural out-migration. The purpose of this mixed methods intervention study was to determine if and explain how…

As the number of rural, first-generation college students continue to rise, there was a gap in the literature regarding post-secondary enrollment and the self-efficacy of these students who participated in asynchronous credit recovery in high school to complete a high school diploma. In this qualitative, narrative study, I examined how completion…

This study examined the self-efficacy and identity beliefs about literacy of 10 rural adolescent Title I Reading students. Sociocultural theory influenced by knowledge of self, culture, identity, and self-efficacy served as the theoretical framework for the study. The research employed a qualitative case study design using a photo-elicitation…

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…

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.…