Characteristics

In an effort to help shape a research agenda for rural education, this document reviews the research on rural education and at-risk students to determine the relative influence on student outcomes of poverty and community location. Sections of this review address: methodological considerations (definitions of "rural " and "at-risk, " inadequate controls and comparisons, philosophical orientation of rural literature) ; the context of rural education (student distribution by rurality and poverty concentration); rural-urban differences in poor students ' academic achievement, high school completion rates, and college aspirations; community and student characteristics (poverty, income sources, cultural milieu, ethnicity, single-parent households, limited English proficiency, parental educational attainment, substance abuse, absenteeism, student employment, teen pregnancy) ; and school characteristics (size, location, expenditures, courses and programs, staff qualifications, technology resources, school-communit