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For many Latinx at-promise youth, college is a critical and high-stakes form of aspirational wealth (Yosso, 2005), one that offers a path to "get out" (Brandehoff, 2020) of their current circumstances and circumvent a life of difficult choices. To get there, one must not only navigate personal and societal barriers, but also navigate graduating from high school and cultivating systems of support such as mentorships. In 2020, a qualitative study to understand the phenomena of informal mentoring took place in a rural area in a western state, demarcated by gang violence, poverty, and a largely Latinx immigrant population (Brandehoff, 2020). In this study, five rural, Latinx, gang-affiliated youth shared their stories of political, economic, and racialized oppressions that they faced and the difficult decisions they had to make growing up in a gang-impacted community. With no formal mentoring programs available to them, these youth utilized their navigational wealth (Yosso, 2005) to cultivate informal mentorships (Timpe & Lunkenheimer, 2015) with members of their family and community to help guide their choices and to find alternate endings to their once predetermined stories. This article will focus on one of these stories and offer suggestions on how community-based mentoring practices can provide at-promise youth a pathway to higher education.

Rural youth may have a distinct vantage point on STEM issues in their community, and if STEM interest is developed at a young age, the likelihood of solving these in adulthood may occur. Therefore, a place-conscious informal STEM program was developed to be delivered to youth ages eight to twelve in rural communities. Qualitative methods, including focus groups, were used to study interest development. These focus groups provided subtle details of how the interest developed. The results indicated an increase in participants' STEM interests.

This promising practice describes the summer programming transformation at a rural, Title I school. After eliminating barriers to education and remediation overtones, the school now provides free transportation, meals, and books for all participants and engages them in research-based, enrichment-focused literacy learning. The program's first year experienced a 746% increase in registration, a 34% increase in retention, and an 18% increase in attendance. Similar registration and participation numbers were reported in years two through four, with reading growth demonstrated in all four summers. Both students and their parents reported increased engagement and motivation to read in the summer months. Results from the program's modifications highlight the need for and value of equitable and enrichment-focused summer learning in rural communities.

Community engagement programs offer college students an opportunity to impact youth in rural, low-income communities. While in a rural setting where educational training and support is not abundant, college students learn about struggles that rural, low-income youth face in exploring and attending postsecondary education options. The Alternative Spring Break (ASB) program in Vinton County impacts over 1,000 youth each year by increasing their awareness to education opportunities beyond high school. ASB college students are provided classroom instruction time to deliver content and real-life experiences to Vinton County youth.

The objective of the current study is to examine the impact of an in-school computer-assisted learning (CAL) intervention on the math achievement of rural students in Taiwan, including a marginalized subgroup of rural students called Xinzhumin, and the factors associated with this impact. In order to achieve this, we conducted a cluster randomized controlled trial involving 1,840 fourth- and fifth-grade students at 95 schools in four relatively poor counties and municipalities of Taiwan during the spring semester of 2019. While the Intention-To-Treat (ITT) analysis found that the CAL intervention had no significant impacts on student math achievement, the Local Average Treatment Effect (LATE) analysis revealed significant associations with the math performance of the most active 20% of students in the treatment group. LATE estimates suggest that using CAL for more than 20 minutes per week for ten weeks corresponds to higher math test scores, both in general (0.16 SD-0.22 SD), and for Xinzhumin students specifically (0.3 SD-0.34 SD). Teacher-level characteristics were associated with compliance rates.

Following the work of Tamatea and Pramitasari in the Bali Coding Class (2018), we ask if liberal empowerment can sit alongside Bourdieu's social reproduction theory in framing a non-formal education coding class for rural Balinese youth. While a review of critical theory informed literature suggests not, we appropriate the work of Mills to read data obtained from coding class students, teachers, and industry representatives to suggest otherwise. Focusing upon four 'problematics' identified in the 'critical' literature, we argue that Mills' non-ideal deracialised liberalism provide the conceptual space for working with liberal empowerment and social reproduction theory contiguously.

This article considers how the experience of community for young people from rural places (inclusive of regional and remote) can be influential in building a legacy of strengths and qualities, much like an inheritance. While there are many studies of rural youth, few consider rurality through complex social-relational dimensions; fewer still include both school and university students. We contend that legacies borne from collective hardship, pulling together and a sense of belonging can set rural young people in good stead for life beyond their smaller communities, playing a significant, yet under-explored, role in preparing them for the very personal repercussions of movement into and through university. This study explored the influence of communities on young people's hoped-for futures through qualitative interview and survey data drawn from two groups: university students (aged 18-20) and secondary school students (aged 16-18). The theoretical concept of "possible selves" enabled a nuanced insight into motivation to achieve future goals, in which rural biographies valorised the significance of relational connectedness and socioemotional attachment to communities. Legacies of community for these young people were embodied in their capacity for complex decision-making, motivations and altruism, driven by a strong desire to give back. Universities have much to learn from the rich insights of rural youth, particularly in the post-COVID recovery, through more committed understandings of how relational aspects across policy and practice could be prioritised and implemented for the benefit of all.

Background: Given the emerging information about the COVID-19 pandemic's detrimental impacts on youth well-being, it is paramount to consider interventions that may mitigate these consequences, especially those available in socially distanced, outdoor settings. Further, adolescents in rural settings are at a significant disadvantage for accessing critical mental health services; therefore, novel, community-based approaches are necessary to support youth wellness efforts. Purpose: This study sought to address youth mental health challenges exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic in rural Montana by combining mindfulness techniques with Equine Assisted Learning. Methodology: The study applied a mixed methods phenomenological case study. Surveys and participatory observations/ interviews provided a foundation for multi-phase data analysis. Descriptive statistics and paired samples t-tests were used to analyze quantitative data; multi-phase qualitative coding (open, focused, and values coding) was utilized to analyze interview and observational data. Findings: Participants' anxiety levels were greatly reduced following the intervention; mixed outcomes resulted from self-efficacy measures. Qualitatively, the findings demonstrate alignment between course topics, goals, and outcomes. Implications: Results suggest the potential for EAL to reduce anxiety levels in youth and increase self-awareness and agency in application of strategies to manage anxiety. Questions surrounding Bandura's self-efficacy scales arose as a result of this research.

The capacity to aspire for young people is significant, as they cannot choose to be what they cannot experience or imagine becoming. Student exchange programmes that expand experiences of STEM may increase opportunities, interests, and participation for rural young people in the STEM subject field. This paper creates a cartography with data created from self-reported Year 10 students' affective responses to experiences undergone during a three-week rural exchange (RE) programme. Students reported increased feelings of belonging to both school and STEM subjects during and after participating in the RE programme. The data created with students during this study provided a deep insight into the positive affective impact of the experiences undergone. Students' increased aspirations and motivation to continue in STEM fields were reported as sustained on return to their home rural school.

This paper seeks to explore how rural Latinx students' STEM identity development can be fostered by utilizing their cultural capital. By both a community cultural wealth and science identity model, this paper reviews previous literature to conceptualize how and why rural Latinx youth are continuously underrepresented within STEM education and future career pathways. When forming STEM identities and aspirations for the future, Latinx students draw from six forms of capital- "aspirational," "linguistic," "familial," "social," "navigational," and "resistant." Throughout this paper, we discuss each of these six forms of capital wealth and the value rural Latinx students can bring into STEM educational spaces. Supporting rural Latinx students' STEM identity development is a vital key to the disruption of systemic inequalities that perpetuate societal and institutional spaces. Conclusions drawn from the literature showcase how cultural wealth sustains the development of Latinx students' STEM identities. Future considerations need to focus on the STEM disparities that still exist for this population of students, specifically those in rural communities.

Background: Creativity is an important ability for problem-solving in both personal life and academic learning. Few creativity studies have investigated the development of children's creativity in disadvantaged rural areas or compared the rural-urban differences through digital game-based creativity learning. Understanding such differences can help provide resources for promoting learning equality in creativity. Aims: This study aimed to compare the rural-urban difference in elementary school children's creativity performance and their learning effect through digital game-based creativity learning. Sample: Participants were 261 3rd and 4th graders and 194 5th and 6th graders from 6 elementary schools. Method: Two digital game-based creativity learning systems were employed to conduct a five-class experimental instruction. A creativity test and a questionnaire were also used. Results and Conclusions: The results indicate that the urban middle graders, but not the upper graders, outperformed their rural counterparts in the creativity test before game-based learning. Nevertheless, all children got a higher score on the creativity test after the game-based learning, suggesting the employed creativity learning systems could be vehicles for improving elementary school children's creativity. However, the rural children gained less from the learning than the urban children, which may be due to weaker competencies in self-regulated learning. Further studies can employ an inventory to verify this and also consider providing more scaffolding of self-regulated learning to more disadvantaged students during digital game-based creativity learning. Additionally, the results of this study reflect the importance of self-determination and rewards in learning motivation. Appropriate rewards may encourage persistence in taking on challenges.

This study explored the relationship between social interaction anxiety (SIA) and problematic smartphone use (PSU) among Chinese adolescents. Further, the roles of online basic psychological needs satisfaction (online BPNS), nature connectedness (NC), and related differences between urban and rural adolescents were examined. We recruited 840 Chinese adolescents to complete a questionnaire. Results showed that online BPNS mediated the relationship between SIA and PSU after controlling for sex, age, duration of smartphone use, and rural-urban differences. NC moderated the mediating effect of online BPNS as a second-stage moderator, and the mediating effect was stronger for adolescents with lower NC. The indirect effect of SIA on PSU through online BPNS depended on NC. Our findings suggested that reducing SIA and online BPNS levels, enhancing connection with nature, and training adolescents (especially rural adolescents) on methods to seek social support and develop social abilities can effectively deal with PSU.

Informed by Bronfenbrenner's ecological model of development, this mixed-methods study's aims are to: (1) describe rural Latino/a adolescents' (N = 62) narratives and lived social experiences in the context of rurality, and (2) examine their personal networks to better understand their social interactions (subset of 30 adolescents). Rural Latino/a adolescents move in limited social circles and experience geographic, cultural, and social isolation due to immigration status problems, socioeconomic issues, racial discrimination, and family dynamics. This limitation is reflected by personal networks that tend to be homogenous in terms of ethnicity, age, and sociodemographic characteristics. School, although characterized by weak social ties often disconnected from community and family contacts, emerged as the dominant context of sociability where adolescents build their social identity outside the circle of dense family ties. Findings suggest a critical need for interventions to reduce isolation and enhance social connectedness between family, school, and rural community in this population.

The career development experiences of rural youth are worthy of specialized attention from career counsellors. While rural youth share many commonalities with their urban counterparts, the rural experience presents distinctions that can influence their life-career decisions. To support career decision-making, career counsellors should be aware of how local economies, access to post-secondary education, and limited career exploration services shape the rural youth experience. Furthermore, counsellors must also consider the relationship between rurality and identity, and recognize how rural youth confront and negotiate this tension as they explore career options. Both theoretical and applied implications for supporting rural youth are discussed.

Fundamental movement skills (FMS)-oriented school-based intervention allows children to be more competent and interested to participate in a wider range of physical activities. This study aimed to determine the physical activity and fundamental motor skills outcome from a school-based intervention programme among rural pre-schoolers in Kuching. It used a quasi-experimental non-randomised design with a total of 153 children from 9 government kindergartens. For physical activity level, there was a significant difference between the intervention and control group at the 3 months, F (1, 151) = 3.90, p = 0.05, with a [eta][superscript 2] = 0.025 and 6 months-time duration, F (1, 151) = 55.70, p < 0.001, with a [eta][superscript 2] = 0.27. The same pattern of interaction effect (time * group) was also found in gross motor skill, F (2, 150) = 80.9, p < 0.001, [eta][superscript 2] = 0.52, where the mean score in intervention group was greater than in control group. It is important to understand in depth each of the skills components involved in locomotor and object control and also its differences between the boys and girls, as it can help in planning of the module of an intervention programme. Object control skills have higher predictive value in engaging in wider range of PA which could be the possible reason why boys are more active than girls.

Aligning with the NREA's "college and career readiness" research priority, this article presents a systematic literature review of 134 publications regarding the state of rural college access and choice research between the years 2000 and 2020. We use Perna's (2006) college choice model to guide our comprehensive summary of current themes as well as remaining challenges and opportunities. We find that studies in the Appalachian region were overrepresented and that a majority of publications focused on the roles of rural habitus or K-12 and community context in shaping college aspirations and enrollment for rural students. Future research should prioritize rural regions outside of Appalachia, rural youth of Color, rural forms of capital, and how higher education and social, economic, and political contexts impact rural college access and choice.

The study was carried out to evaluate influence of participation of in and out of school youth in decision-making on showcasing success stories by young agri-preneurs for motivation of adolescents in rural areas to implement agricultural programmes for self-reliance. The first objective evaluated influence of the level of exposure to showcasing success stories on the level of implementation using a Likert scale coded 1 to 10. The second objective determined how youth in and out of school rated strategies proposed to increase their participation in decision making on showcasing success stories using a 5 point rating scale. The study was carried out in Kisii and Nyamira counties region, Kenya in 2019-2021. Survey research design was used. Stratified, purposive and simple random procedures were applied in sampling of respondents. The in-school youth comprised of fourth forms enrolled in school agriculture for the Kenya certificate of secondary education examination (KCSE). There were 361 youth sampled from 36 secondary schools of 3 different categories. The out of school youth consisted of 161 young people out of 280, that had similarly studied agriculture in their schooling days and are registered with 75 youth groups promoting agricultural activities for livelihood. The schools and youth groups are spread in 5 different farm types typical of Kenyan farming systems. The farm types were used as sampling points to provide varied segments of youth in exposure to farming activities, opportunities for livelihood and challenges in the application of vocational skills acquired in school agriculture for self-reliance. Results show that gender of youth in and out of school does not have a significant difference in the level of participation in decision making on showcasing success stories in agripreneurship. School youth were significantly more exposed to success stories than out of school. Youth in and out of school were in concurrence that strategies 5, 6, 4 and 3 were more significantly very important than the rest in increasing their participation in decision making in showcasing events. Strategy 5 on decision making is rated as outstanding by both in-and-out of school youth. The strategy 5 prioritizes formation of agribusiness clubs at community level in rural areas where successful agri-preneurs could mentor the out of school youth, share ideas, and experiences to motivate them and acquire more and specialized agricultural vocational skills for livelihood. There is a positive significant and linear correlation between the level of participation in decision making on showcasing success stories in agripreneurship and the level of implementation of agricultural programmes by youth in (R = 0.30, p < 0.01) and out (R = 0.438762, p < 0.01) of school. So, showcasing success stories could considerably contribute to learning experiences, acquisition of more and specialized skills, and motivate implementation of the programmes for self-reliance.

Too often research studies on Black boys emanate from deficit orientations and take a problem-centered approach that overemphasizes stereotypes or pathologizes Black male students, overlooking their aspirations and successes. Utilizing the High School Longitudinal Survey of 2009 (HSLS: 09), we examined the postsecondary goals of rural Black male ninth graders as well as the relationships among their educational aspirations, college knowledge, and support from school counselors using social and aspirational capital situated within the community cultural wealth conceptual framework. We found that the educational aspirations of rural Black male ninth graders are high; however, their knowledge of college falls short of their educational aspirations and their support from teachers and school counselors. We discuss the strengths, attributes, and systems of support that are useful to rural Black male students as they transition through secondary education to post-secondary settings and, based on our findings, call for a paradigmatic shift using family-school-community partnerships.

In 1900, the Westbrook Reformatory for Boys, an institution holding both young people convicted of criminal offences and those deemed to be neglected children, was established in a farming region in Queensland, Australia. The institution would remain in the same location until 1994. By then, it had been rebranded as a Youth Detention Centre, housing teenagers convicted of crimes or on remand rather than the original mix of neglected and offending children and young people. In the institution's earliest stages, rurality and agricultural labour, were central to its work. By the century's end, Westbrook's rural setting, its distance from the capital city, and its inclusion of a working farm were key contributing factors to its closure. Drawing on archival data, newspaper records, memoirs of former inmates, and the findings of three inquiries into the institution, this essay seeks to explain how and why rurality, perceived as central to projects of moral reform in 1900, became understood primarily through the lens of inconvenience and danger by 1994. In doing so, it argues that the moral and rehabilitative discourses associated with rurality did not necessarily become obsolete or irrelevant by the end of the twentieth century. Instead, they interacted with shifting cultural expectations about the treatment of institutionalised children, as well as changing economic circumstances, creating a situation in which the perceived value of rurality alone was insufficient to justify the continued presence of a youth justice institution at Westbrook.

Conjoint Behavioral Consultation (CBC) is an indirect intervention delivered by a consultant, wherein parents and teachers engage in collaborative problem-solving. This small-n study investigated the effects of remote videoconference delivery of CBC (Tele-CBC) in a rural region. The effectiveness of Tele-CBC was tested using a concurrent multiple baseline across participants design replicated across three participants in a staggered fashion. In addition to assessments of student outcomes, the acceptability of Tele-CBC and perceived effectiveness of the Tele-CBC consultant were evaluated. Results indicated the majority of students whose parents and teachers participated in Tele-CBC demonstrated a decrease in off-task behaviors at school and problem behaviors at home after a collaborative intervention plan was implemented. Parents and teachers rated Tele-CBC as highly acceptable and the Tele-CBC consultant as highly effective. This study indicates Tele-CBC offers promise as an intervention to increase access to consultation in underserved rural communities.

This study examined the effect of dialogic reading intervention on improving the theory of mind of rural Chinese children. A 12-week-randomized controlled trial design with two intervention groups, i.e. school practice intervention (SPI), parent-involved intervention (PII), and one control group with traditional reading intervention (TRI) that provided data at pre-, mid-, post-test, and follow-up tests, was adopted. Seventy-five children participated in the study, with twenty-five participants in each group. Results indicated the gain scores of ToM score from pre to mid-tests and pre- to post-tests of the two intervention groups were higher than the control group. The PII group showed higher gain scores in the mid- and post-test than the SPI group. The intervention effects were well maintained in the SPI and PII groups during the two-month follow-up assessment. The findings indicated school-based dialogic reading can effectively promote ToM development and has a maintenance effect, especially when parents are engaged.

Children and youth in foster care and their caregivers often experience mental health challenges. Rural settings introduce barriers that prevent these youth from accessing such services. Nevertheless, rural area school personnel, and particularly special educators, are positioned to help improve access to mental health services for foster care students, who often qualify for special education services. In this article, we explore ways U.S. school personnel can support this vulnerable population through psychoeducation, mental health screenings and referrals, evidence-based therapies (EBTs), and supportive infrastructure to help students and their foster families access mental health services through schools. With such services, school personnel can help these students improve stability within home life, increase positive life-long outcomes for school performance, decrease incarceration, and reduce drug and alcohol abuse.

The Health Sciences and Technology Academy's, (HSTA) goals are to increase college attendance of African American, financially disadvantaged, first generation college and rural Appalachian youth and increase health-care providers and STEM professionals in underserved communities. Students enter in the 9th grade and remain in HSTA four years. They engage in a rigorous academic program within the nurturing environment of small after-school clubs punctuated by yearly summer camps on multiple college campuses. A distinctive piece of HSTA is its students' development of research projects under the mentorship of teachers and researchers that examine and address health issues faced by their communities. The projects help HSTA students to understand the health dynamics in their local community, transforming them into community advocates who address health and social issues at home as they prepare to move on to college and beyond. Substantial in-state tuition waivers inspire 99% of the 3,021 HSTA graduates to attend college versus 56% of WV high school graduates. Approximately 85% of matriculating HSTA students graduate with a four-year degree or higher versus less than 50% of all college entrants. To date, 57% of HSTA students go into health and other STEM majors, much higher than the state and national figures. [For the corresponding grantee submission, see ED609230.]

The purpose of this article is to highlight a critical approach for practice, youth participatory action research, that can be used to invite rural youth to collaborate with school administrators, educators, and community leaders to identify and examine challenges, while building upon the strengths of a school and community to address challenges. Our youth participatory action research project was a collaboration between adult researchers and five students from a rural high school to examine and address postsecondary education access challenges. The adult and student researchers developed and implemented two evidence-based products: (a) a conference and (b) a resource corner in the school library. Student co-researchers demonstrated an increased commitment to the project, development of postsecondary education knowledge, and development as leaders during the project. Our project demonstrates evidence of youth participatory action research being an effective approach to address problems of practice in rural education. [Note: The publication year (2021) shown on the PDF is incorrect. The correct publication year for this article is 2020.]

Objective: To explore the relationship between loneliness, self-efficacy, and satisfaction with life of Left-behind middle school students in China. Methods: A cluster random sampling method was used to study students from Left-behind middle schools in Binhai County of Jiangsu Province. The loneliness scale, general self-efficacy scale, and satisfaction with life scale were used to conduct questionnaire surveys. Results: Compared with non-left behind middle school students, Left-behind middle school students had higher loneliness, lower self-efficacy, and satisfaction with life. There were significant gender differences in loneliness and satisfaction with life of the two types of students. Whether to live in school or not had an insignificant impact on the loneliness and satisfaction with life of Left-behind middle school students. Loneliness had a significant negative predictive effect on the satisfaction with Left-behind middle school students' life and self-efficacy. In predicting satisfaction with life by loneliness, self-efficacy generally played a part of the mediating role, which could partially buffer the adverse effects of loneliness on student satisfaction with life. Conclusion: The mental health of left-behind middle school students should arouse the common concern of family, school and society. Try to do some intervention counseling in reducing the experience of loneliness and enhancing the sense of self-efficacy to improve their satisfaction with life and maintain a positive mental state.

Class and geography profoundly influence rural youth's opportunities and aspirations for social mobility (Carr & Kefalas, 2009). Neoliberalism insists this mobility is achievable individually through education, though education is also often antithetical to the rural lifeworlds and communities of youth pursuing it (Corbett, 2007). These socioeconomic tensions are underscored by cultural assumptions that consider rurality to be deficient and dangerous (Theobauld & Wood, 2010). Jeff Zentner's "The Serpent King" (2016) offers representations of the economic barriers and cultural pressures rural youth experience as they navigate the inequitable opportunities for their post-secondary lives. The analysis shows that although the novel suggests a model for rural youth to support one another, the solidarity does not address the actual structural causes of inequity. Although the novel misses opportunities to imagine militant particularisms among rural youth (Williams, 1989), attending to these oversights reveals possibilities for imagining action for change that benefits both rural youth and the communities in which they live.

Performance-based measures of children's executive functions (EFs) do not capture children's application of these skills during everyday emotionally-laden and socially-mediated interactions. The current study demonstrates the value of using assessor report of self-regulation behaviors (inhibitory control and positive affect/engagement) in addition to EF tasks when studying early childhood experiences and development in a rural lower-middle-income country setting. In a sample of 1302 disadvantaged 4-year-olds living in rural Pakistan, we found that directly assessed EFs were significantly related to assessor observations of children's inhibitory control and positive affect/engagement during a structured assessment protocol. However, EFs and two types of self-regulation behaviors demonstrated unique associations with children's (1) "contextual experiences," as indexed by family socio-economic resources, participation in parenting interventions, and children's physical growth; and (2) "age-salient developmental outcomes," as indexed by direct assessment of pre-academic skills and maternal report of prosocial behaviors and behavior problems. First, family wealth uniquely predicted only observed positive affect/engagement, whereas maternal education uniquely predicted only EFs. Second, children's antecedent linear growth was a significant predictor of both EFs and positive affect/engagement, but exposure to an enhanced nutrition intervention during the first 2 years of life and preschoolers' hair cortisol concentration were associated only with observed self-regulation behaviors. Finally, both EFs and observed positive affect/engagement uniquely predicted children's pre-academic skills. In contrast, only assessors' ratings of positive affect/engagement uniquely predicted maternal report of prosocial behaviors and only assessors' ratings of inhibitory control uniquely predicted maternal report of behavioral problems.

This paper explores the impact of the contraction of the mass HE system (after 2005) on rural youth who represent the biggest disadvantages group in Polish higher education. It provides empirical evidence that the system contraction is the major reason for widening access for rural youth to public (prestigious) higher education institutions. By doing so, it challenges a long established assumption that the HE system expansion reduced inequalities in access to higher learning. Instead, we argue that it was the contraction of HE system that widely opened university campuses to those previously underrepresented. The most prestigious public universities become more inclusive and less selective only when the traditional pool of students was exhausted and a big number of state's funded places needed to be filled.

We use an autoethnographic case study of a Latinx high school student from a rural, agricultural community in California to highlight how AI is learned outside classrooms and how her personal background influenced her social-justice-oriented applications of AI technologies. Applying the concept of learning pathways from the learning sciences, we argue that redesigning AI education to be more inclusive with respect to socioeconomic status, ethnoracial identity, and gender is important in the development of computational projects that address social-injustice. We also learn about the role of institutions, power structures, and community as they relate to her journey of learning and applying AI. The future of AI, its potential to address issues of social injustice and limiting the negative consequences of its use, will depend on the participation and voice of students from the most vulnerable communities.

Internationally, there is a gap in high-school completion rates for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. In Australia, gap estimates are commonly based on lag indicators, precluding examination of underlying mechanisms. Using two longitudinal representative samples of Australian youth, we explored differences in high-school completion between Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous rates, and whether the gap varies for students of similar academic ability. Using an intersectional approach, we show the Indigenous gap is significant, is mostly a function of differences in academic achievement, but varies by socioeconomic status (SES) and location. Specifically, high SES and living in urban settings are protective factors for non-Indigenous students, but not for Indigenous students. Conversely, rural and poor non-Indigenous students appeared to have dropout rates as large or even larger than similarly poor and rural Indigenous youth. Overall, the results suggest the need for a more nuanced perspective on 'Indigenous gaps' in educational attainment.

This article highlights various paradoxes and false dichotomies in rural education research. Using Paulo Freire's theories of oppression and critical awareness, the article delineates a theoretical framework designed to explore a reframing of rural education. We propose that this reframing would serve as rural praxis for school leaders and teachers, and we make use of these theories to discuss school leader and teacher preparation programs. This reframing for the field of rural education research proposes a way through contradictions and dispels deficit narratives underlying conceptions of rurality and theoretical constructs in rural education research.

In a state ravaged by suicide and a mental health crisis, this study sought to mitigate impacts of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and depressive and anxiety symptomology in high school students in a rural Montana community. Through a seven-week, twice weekly intervention of trauma-informed yoga, participants experienced statistically significant reductions in anxiety (GAD-7) and increases in Strengths and Difficulties (SDQ-11) overall scores and some subscales; noteworthy improvements were also present in depressive symptomatology (PHQ-A), salivary cortisol levels, and sleep duration. Importantly, participant qualitative feedback indicated significant benefits in focus, relaxation, and overall well-being. Further research is needed to imply generalizability and should include a larger, more diverse sample as well as utilization of control groups and an examination of academic and behavioral impacts at the school level.

Purpose: This article addresses the gap in understanding the performance of emerging private agricultural advisory service (AAS) models in developing country contexts, in relation to their dual objectives of supporting farmer-clients and becoming profitable agribusinesses themselves. Methodology: Multiple case study of Service Providers Enterprises (SPEs), an emerging youth-led agribusiness model offering silage making and other services in the Kenyan dairy sector. Using mixed methods, data were collected through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, from eight sampled SPEs, 72 farmers, and key informants across four counties. Findings: The results show SPEs' contribution to some changes in farmers' practices, including improvement in milk production, but with some limitations to optimal technical performance. SPEs' mixed business performance is linked to limited market demand, seasonality, and limited fit of some services offered, highlighting gaps in entrepreneurial and market orientation of such agribusinesses, compounded by a challenging operating environment. Practical implications: This evidence implies enhancing the contribution of such service agri-enterprises -- in transforming agri-food systems and offering employment opportunities especially for youth -- requires targeted and sustained policy and program support in business incubation, market development, and strengthening the value proposition to farmer-clients. Theoretical implications: The dual perspective on performance expands theoretical perspectives for assessing AAS, especially in relation to commercialization. The emphasis is on the mutuality of substantive demand and economic viability of these services, which is reliant on certain market maturity. Originality: This article is a novel attempt to assess private AAS models from both a technical perspective and regarding their viability as agri-enterprises.

Access to mobile gadgets has increased exponentially, altering social and educational conditions in Africa. This also applies to the reading habits of rural learners in secondary schools. This paper investigates how mobile gadgets could be embraced to nurture the reading habits of rural secondary school learners in Southern Africa. This qualitative study employed a multiple case study design in five rural secondary schools in Beitbridge District, Matabeleland South, Zimbabwe, and five rural secondary schools in Vhembe District, Limpopo, South Africa. Focus group interviews were adopted as a data collection tool for this study. Data was then analysed thematically according to the objectives of the study. The findings reveal the benefits of mobile reading, which include sharing reading materials, easy access, and use by rural learners. The barriers to mobile gadget reading include a strong emphasis on academic, as opposed to leisure, reading and internet connectivity problems. The findings further reveal that some rural learners in Beitbridge did not have access to mobile gadgets. In addition, we found that some rural learners in Limpopo were using their mobile gadgets to read e-news and e-novels. Some of them spend five or more hours accessing social media for entertainment purposes only, and this has a negative effect on their reading. The study concludes that some rural learners in Southern Africa use their mobile gadgets to nurture their reading habits, although some challenges were identified. In response, this study presents an integrated framework that could be adopted to embrace mobile gadgets to improve the reading habits of rural learners.

Although considerable research has explored what it means to be a leader from an adult perspective, little has been conducted from the student perspective as an integral component of leadership education, decision making, or educational change. Findings from a longitudinal qualitative case study presented in this article reveal how youth perceive leadership as a complex construct integrating diverse skills, abilities, learning, and change opportunities as well as team and management processes utilized to improve the world and people in it. Youth perceptions of leadership also include responsibility, active and purposeful self-direction, inspiration, desire and willingness to make a difference, ethical character, and collaborative partnerships with school and district leaders. This article thus bridges the gap in research involving rural youth and informs high school principals and leadership educators about ways to initiate and foster a positive educational change and sense of community among youth, community, school, and district leaders.

The continuing expansion of digital service-learning is bringing emergent dynamics to the field of community engagement, including the challenge of fostering asset-based views of community partners in online spaces. "Online disinhibition" ("Suler," 2004) can prompt harsh critique or insensitive language that would not have occurred during face-to-face relationships. Traditionally, the field of community engagement has drawn on asset-based community development ("Kretzmann & McKnight," 1993), which calls for relationship-driven, asset-based, and internally focused partnerships, to encourage ethical and positive interactions with community members. However, this theory was not originally intended for digital, text-based interactions. This article explores how aspects of asset-based community development might be enacted in online partnerships, in electronic asset-based community development (eABCD). A case study of a digital writing partnership between college students and rural youth is used to illustrate how students can be supported in asset-based, relationship-driven, and internally focused interactions in online service-learning collaborations.

In the context of a stark discrepancy in the educational outcomes of Aboriginal Australians compared to non-Aboriginal Australians, this article aims to contribute the voices of rural Aboriginal high school students to the discourse. This article utilises an appreciative enquiry approach to analyse the opinions and aspirations of 12 Aboriginal high school students in a South Australian regional centre. Drawing on student perspectives from semi-structured interviews, this article contributes to and contextualises the growing body of literature regarding educational aspirations. It demonstrates how rurality influences a complex system of intrinsic attributes, relationship networks and contextual factors. It offers an important counterpoint to discourses surrounding academic disadvantage and highlights the lived experience of rural Aboriginal Australians.

The purpose of this case study was to explore how rural high school teachers and students, grades 9-12 use iPads in class, the obstacles and barriers to teacher and student iPad use, and the relationship between types and frequency of use, in one high school in Southern Oregon. The study consisted of classroom observations and follow-up interviews with nine teachers with iPad carts over a three week period. Qualitative data was emphasized, with some quantitative data to support it. Overall, iPad use was low, even though access to iPads was high. When iPads were used, teachers used iPads mostly for communication and delivering instruction, and students used iPads mostly for reading, writing, and research. Observational data and interview data results on the types of use were consistent, indicating that teachers are well aware of how they use iPads in their classrooms. The most common barriers identified by teachers were student and teacher attitude and preference. The low frequency of iPad use seemed to relate to the lack of learning activities involving creativity and collaboration.

The study investigated lateness as a recurrent problem among secondary school students in Akoko South East Local Government Area of Ondo State. Four hypotheses were formulated and an instrument titled "Cause of Lateness to School Questionnaire" (COLTSQ) used to gather data for the study. The instrument had a reliability coefficient of 0.78. It had content validity and language appropriateness. The researcher used two research assistants to administer 325 copies of the questionnaire on SS2 and SS3 students in the 5 public secondary schools used. 300 copies of the questionnaire were retrieved showing 92.3 percent return rate. The data collected were collated and the t-test statistics was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings showed that there is no significant difference between male and female students in their identification of electronic media as a reason for lateness to school, there is no significant difference between students from high and low socio-economic status in their identification of broken home as a reason for lateness to school, there is no significant difference between SS2 and SS3 students in their identification of location of school as a reason for lateness to school, there is no significant difference between students in urban and rural areas in their identification of cultural background as a reason for lateness to school. One of the recommendations is that parents should put in place enforceable rules or time limit for watching television programmes at night and ensure that their children go to bed early.

This article reviews research on issues surrounding postsecondary transitions for youth in middle (North Central, Central, and South Central) Appalachia, a region that faces numerous education challenges because of its geography, poverty, and economy. Examining published research and data from 1995 to 2015, the review seeks to inform education policymakers, practitioners, and researchers about the current context, successes, challenges, and opportunities for students as they transition to adult life and to suggest directions for supporting postsecondary transitions. The review finds that high school graduation rates have improved, many youth are committed to the region, and numerous initiatives are underway to support successful postsecondary transitions. Challenges include limited job opportunities and possible misalignment with career preparation programs, high unemployment, and lack of postsecondary education experience and understanding among many adults. Implications include a need for more research on the nature and rigor of preparation in high schools and postsecondary institutions, development of place-based approaches, improved postsecondary transition awareness and support programs that involve parents, and more research on career choices of non-college-bound students.