Parent and student surveys were conducted in nine primarily rural West Virginia counties to gather baseline information on incoming seventh-grade students' and parents' awareness of and aspirations for postsecondary education. The surveys are administered each year as part of Fairmont State College's GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness…

Louisiana Tech University conducted a program to reduce drop-out probabilities for at-risk special needs adolescents as part of the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA). Eighty-six students between the ages of 14 and 16 were chosen as "at-risk" based on economic disadvantage, lower academic performance, behavioral and adjustment problems,…

Data from the National Longitudinal Study of 1972 (designed to provide statistics on a national sample of young adults as they moved out of high school into their early adulthood) were utilized to examine the determinants of college attendance with controlling variables, such as family background and students' ability. The sample from base year…

Education reform mandates that teachers be able to function competently in multicultural classrooms. This paper describes a culturally aware teaching model designed to address the problems and needs of rural at-risk students. The major goal of the model is to empower students through acceptance, understanding, respect, and appreciation of both the…