Rural high school graduates are less likely to graduate from college than their urban counterparts, mostly because they are less likely to attend college. Half of rural college attendees leave home and do not return by age 25. Those that do return are drawn largely by home ties and intervening life choices rather than local job opportunities.…

Stresses the importance of developing rural education initiatives that address the changing workforce in rural areas and the accompanying need for career preparation beyond high school. Describes a program at Edinboro University (Pennsylvania) that prepares rural high school students for career decision making and builds connections between rural…

Gifted females have less frequently sought high-prestige and high-income careers due to a number of barriers. Some barriers are related to society's expectations of women, and others are related to the workplace itself. The most limiting and pervasive barrier is "sex role socialization's impact on the child's developing self-belief system"…

Contrary to recent national trends, enrollments at colleges of agriculture have increased 181% between 1963 and 1976, with an ever increasing proportion of agricultural students coming from urban backgrounds. During the spring of 1977, mail questionnaire data were collected from 3,175 undergraduate "ag" majors (93.8% White and 6.2%…

The broadcasting media's treatment of Appalachia was cited as one example of the massive failure of America's institutions to meet the needs of the area's people. From government at all levels to churches, private agencies, schools, colleges, labor unions, etc., the region has received an unequal share of exploitation, netlect, unfulfilled…

In 1999, the U.S. Department of Education funded 21 state and 164 college and middle school partnership grants for Project GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs), which encourages disadvantaged youth to prepare for college. As part of its grant, Fairmont State College (West Virginia) surveyed parents and…

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…

This report describes the results of the Gulf County (Florida) College Counseling Project designed to raise the educational aspirations of students in rural areas who would otherwise stop their education upon completion of high school. It also describes how and why scores of young people from poor and working class homes in the Florida Panhandle…

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,…

Project GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) encourages disadvantaged youth to stay in school and prepare for college. To gather baseline information on incoming seventh-grade students' and parents' awareness of, interest in, and aspirations for students' postsecondary education, surveys were administered to…

Interviews with 87 adolescents from farm and nonfarm families in rural New York revealed that farm adolescents were closer to their families, were more isolated from peers and peer-related activities, were less likely to pursue a college degree, and were unlikely to remain on the farm despite the positive aspects of farm life. Addresses…

Seven intensive interviews with female college students at Roseworthy College, a rural agricultural college in South Australia, revealed that the college's historic rural masculine tradition and misogynist social environment restrict women to narrow sexual-subject positions: acting like a male; tutor/cleaner/mother/cook; "slut" versus…

The interests of two different at-risk populations in Pennsylvania are compared. Both urban minorities and rural youth participated in programs designed to motivate them to continue their education. Participants (52 rural and 30 urban middle school students) completed an interest survey as part of the program orientation. Although the rural youth…

This bibliography contains 108 citations (some with annotations) for selected rural education literature entered into the AGRICOLA database between January 1979 and March 1990. The publications include books, commission papers, journal articles, legal documents, reports, and academic theses. Some of the topics covered in the bibliography as they…

Case studies of three Philippine villages were undertaken to find the impact of schools on youths (both in and out of school), parents, graduates, and community. Educational alternatives included the barrio high school (general academic/college preparatory), pilot barrio development school (secondary school for youths who intend to stay in the…