Exploring How Rural Schools and Communities Influence the Academic Journeys of College Students in STEM Majors

According to the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), over the last two decades jobs in rural areas have gone through substantial changes, with a shift toward more positions that require high-skill and college-educated workers (Davis et al., 2022). [...]the "s...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Rural educator (Fort Collins, Colo.) Colo.), 2024-07, Vol.45 (3), p.15-33
Main Authors: Cain, Elise J, Valauri, Anne, Perry, Jennifer R., DeLoach, Aliyah
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Aspiration
Academic degrees
College students
Data Analysis
Educational attainment
Educational Opportunities
Educational research
Employment Opportunities
Equal Education
Graduation
High School Students
Higher education
Influence of Technology
Literature reviews
Majors (Students)
Municipalities
Paying for College
Perceptions
Postsecondary Education
Qualitative Research
Rural areas
Rural Education
Rural Population
Rural schools
School Policy
Secondary schools
Social Environment
STEM education
Student attitudes
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:According to the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), over the last two decades jobs in rural areas have gone through substantial changes, with a shift toward more positions that require high-skill and college-educated workers (Davis et al., 2022). [...]the "structural circumstances facing rural education are amenable to change" (Crumb et al., 2023, p. 128). [...]one way to address this divergence is to understand the perceptions and experiences of students who graduated from rural high schools and pursued STEM majors in college as exemplars of rural students who persevered in postsecondary education within STEM disciplines. [...]financing college is a concern for students and can be a deterrent to pursuing postsecondary education (Ardoin, 2018; Cain, 2021; Morton et al., 2018), along with the concern of managing the social aspects of college (e.g., maintaining focus within the social environment; Morton et al., 2018). While systemic barriers can blind rural students to the opportunities that await them and lead them to believe opportunities for postsecondary education are not within reach or attainable, several vital factors can positively influence students' academic journeys, allowing them to envision the opportunities and success that await them.
ISSN:2643-9662
0273-446X
2643-9662
DOI:10.55533/2643-9662.1417