Reimagining Rural Readiness: Examining Challenges of the Rural Working-Class in Education

Rural students comprise nearly half of all students enrolled in public schools in the nation. With increasing amounts of students living in poverty, rural school districts are combating many issues but with fewer resources than urban and suburban school districts. In addition, new Federal and state regulations continue to be enacted, sometimes to the detriment of students from rural working-class backgrounds. The research design consisted of a collection of memories from the author, who grew up in a rural working-class family and spent a career teaching and leading schools from this demographic, in an autoethnographic journal narrative format. Other superintendents leading predominantly rural working-class families were interviewed to corroborate and combat risks to the study's integrity. Responses were coded according to the themes of equity, lack of readiness, and social identity. The findings of the study illuminated numerous examples of how these three issues created challenges for students from rural working-class backgrounds. As a result of the study, recommendations for further research on rural poverty, defining characteristics of members of the working class, and resilience of rural working-class students were specified. Implications for educators, elected officials, and professional organizations to assist in improving the educational quality of students from rural working-class backgrounds were detailed and charged with reimagining rural readiness. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]