Project Rationale
There is an educational attainment gap between rural and urban areas:
As the USDA's Economic Research Service reports, "In 2017–21, the share of working-age adults (ages 25–64) with at least a bachelor’s degree was 37 percent in urban areas and 21 percent in rural areas, while the share of younger adults ages 25–44 with at least a bachelor’s degree was 40 percent in urban areas and 22 percent in rural areas" (Economic Research Service).
Rural students attend college at lower rates than urban students, with 59% of rural students enrolling, compared with 65% of urban and 57% of suburban students. Rural student graduation rates are higher than for urban students (41% compared with 35%) but lower than suburban students (47%).
The American Council on Education synthesizes different definitions to conclude: "what most definitions of rurality have in common is small populations that are spread across large swaths of land and isolated from densely populated urban locales with more people and buildings" (McNamee). Approximately 25% of rural residents are people of color).
Project research questions
What experiences do rural student writers have in open-admissions contexts as they transition to college writing?
What are the strengths of college writers who live in or come from rural communities?
What do writing instructors in open-admissions writing programs identify as strengths and challenges of rural student writers adapting to college literacy expectations?
Goals
Within this context, the proposed project has two goals for primary research:
Trace the college literacy development of rural writers to understand pathways for educational equity in open-admissions college writing programs that serve students from rural communities.
Develop a qualitative picture of the differences, experiences, strengths, and challenges of rural students’ experiences transitioning to college writing.
Definitions of Rural
Our project will use definitions of "rural" from the Office of Health and Human Services and the Census Bureau. As the Bureau itself notes, "The Census does not actually define “rural.” “Rural” encompasses all population, housing, and territory not included within an urban area. Whatever is not urban is considered rural. We will narrow to include some other characteristics such what the Economic Research Service identifies as having:
open countryside,
rural towns (places with fewer than 5,000 people and 2,000 housing units), and
urban areas with populations ranging up to 50,000 people that are not part of larger labor market areas (metropolitan areas).
Resources on Defining Rurality
Mapping Rural Colleges, UW Madison Student Success through Applied Research Initiative.
Rural-Located Institutions and Rural-Serving Institutions: What We Know and Where We Go from Here
Mapping Rural Colleges and Their Communities, UW Madison SSTAR Lab.