Youth, Education, and Rural Vitality Research and Interest Group Supporting youth, strengthening schools, and sustaining rural communities
What We’re About
The Youth, Education, and Rural Vitality Research Interest Group brings together scholars and practitioners committed to examining the complex relationships between youth development, educational opportunity, and community well-being in rural places. We focus on how schools, local organizations, and policies can support the success of rural youth and the sustainability of the communities in which they live.
This RIG encourages interdisciplinary work that critically explores how education systems, demographic change, social inequality, and local culture intersect to shape outcomes for rural children, families, and communities. Our goal is to generate scholarship that informs both theory and practice and contributes to meaningful improvements in rural education and vitality.
Annual Dues:
Regular Members – $5
Student Members – $5
Get Involved:
Attend our sessions and networking events at the RSS Annual Meeting
Participate in planning discussions or propose new activities
Contact our leadership team to get connected
What We Do and How to Get Involved
The Youth, Education, and Rural Vitality RIG provides a space for collaboration, mentorship, and engagement on issues related to rural youth and education. We:
Organize paper sessions and roundtables at the RSS Annual Meeting that highlight current research and community-based work.
Connect researchers and educators across disciplines who are interested in advancing equity, opportunity, and resilience in rural communities.
Promote dialogue on the role of rural schools, youth-serving institutions, and public policy in shaping rural futures.
Support emerging scholars and encourage practitioner engagement to bridge research and real-world impact.
To get involved, join the RIG when renewing or initiating your RSS membership. Attend our annual sessions and business meeting, submit proposals to present your work, and help shape the conversation about youth, education, and the future of rural communities.
Leadership:
📰 News and Announcements
📚 Selected Publications and Resources
Explore work from our members and resources on rural sociology:
- Income Segregation between School Districts and Inequality in Students’ Achievement
- Critical Rural Theory: A Decade of Influence on Rural Education Research,
- Effectively engaging first-generation rural students in higher education: New opportunities for sociology
- Rural definition triangulation: Improving the credibility and transferability of rural education research in the United States
- Race and rurality: Considerations for advancing higher education equity
- Because I’m from a Rural Background”: An Examination of Rural Students in Higher Education Through a Critical, Non-Deficit Framework
- Navigating new worlds: The college transition of rural Latinx undergraduate students from California’s San Joaquin Valley
- Rural-Serving Institutions Data Tool
- Integrating Rural Development, Education, and Management: Challenges and Strategies
- Spatial inequality in higher education: a growing urban–rural educational
- Becoming Academically Eligible: University Enrollment among First-Generation, Rural College Goers
- The Forgotten Fifth: Rural Youth and Substance Abuse