In this conceptual article, we posit that Black life matters in the Black Belt of the American South. We connect two current trends in rural educational research--a return to questions of place and sincere attention to race as a crucial conversation in the field--and provide readers with an introduction to Black Geography as a means to inform…

Data on postsecondary degree attainment show persistent equity gaps between rural and nonrural student demographics. Accordingly, colleges and universities throughout the United States are now recognizing the need for more explicit support of rural stakeholders. These efforts are spurred by political shifts that have foregrounded the concerns of…

This study examines the outcomes of non-school internships hosted by two Appalachian Ohio organizations: Rural Action and Building Bridges to Careers (BB2C). As intermediary organizations, these entities work outside the boundaries of formal schooling to address issues of youth outmigration and sustainable community development through high school…

While there are many calls for enhancing support of Black and Latinx students on college campuses, much of the existing literature promotes deficit thinking and assumes monolithic experiences. Drawing upon Yosso's model of community cultural wealth, we used a qualitative case study approach to examine the assets 13 rural Black and Latinx students…

This article depicts a qualitative narrative study that reflects on the educational paths followed by three generations of Black women from rural Mississippi. The purpose of this study was to expand the documented footprint of Black women's educational experiences in the rural Deep South by exploring my own educational experiences as a researcher…

8 minutes and 46 seconds. This was the amount of time it took me to watch George Floyd, an unarmed Black man be murdered at the hands of the police. While George Floyd's death was not the first Black murder to happen while in police custody or in 2020, his death served as a catalyst that reignited something in me, millions of around the globe, and…

The purpose of this article is to critically probe racial discourse around how the convergence of Black Lives Matter (BLM) and white nationalist organizations complicate the reality of segregation, education, and social change in a rural community in Central Georgia. Critical race studies ground the work, using narratives as a device to frame and…

In June 2020, in a rural Rust Belt town in the Midwest, over 100 residents stood on the grounds of the county courthouse and publicly protested for Black Lives Matter. Once students began to arrive, the protest shifted. Latinx youth led chants, held signs, and stood in the front of the other protesters, moving the protest forward, away from the…

Research-practice partnerships (RPPs), where researchers and practitioners work in concert to address persistent problems of practice, provide promising mutualistic benefits in urban school settings. Drawing on an integrated framework, this case study explores the initial development of an RPP between six small and rural school districts and two…

Cross-sector, place-based, school-community partnerships seeking to improve educational and other outcomes at scale have experienced a resurgence in the United States. Rather than isolated efforts, this new generation relies on scaling up models in networks, such as Strive Together. However, many of these models evolved in urban contexts, creating…

In this article we analyze the emergence of the field of rural literacies. We attempt to map this field in a way that illustrates the foundational ideas of literacy and rurality as relational concepts, which are devoid of meaning as what we call "singularities." Our insistence on the importance of context and place reveals multiple rural…

The number of deaths caused by the use of heroin or prescription pain killers nationwide has increased annually over the past decade with some of the most rapid growth occurring in the nation's most rural areas. This qualitative study examines the responses of districts and superintendents to this growing health crisis in twelve rural school…

This study examined whether recent disruptive events would increase the likelihood of high school dropout among both rural and urban youths, and whether the types of disruptive events preceding dropout would be different in rural vs. urban environments. Based on interviews conducted with early school leavers and matched at-risk schoolmates (N =…

Although some studies have explored the influence of academic achievement on rural students' college access and success, little research has analyzed the relationship between students of different types of rural communities and their persistence in postsecondary education. This study examined the likelihood of college-going students from three…

Defining rural is a critical task for rural education researchers, as it has implications for all phases of a study. However, it is also a difficult task due to the many ways in which rural can be theoretically, conceptually, and empirically operationalized. This article provides researchers with specific guidance on important theoretical and…