Article
Author
Self-efficacy, academic motivation, and readiness for postsecondary pathways play a critical role in shaping adolescent aspirations and attainment. School climate, culture, and students’ lived experiences further influence these outcomes, but how these factors collectively operate within rural school contexts remains underexamined. Moreover, rural schools often lack practical tools for identifying which students benefit from existing supports and which require more targeted interventions. To address this gap, the present study employed a latent profile analysis using a large sample of rural adolescents (N = 8,541). Results revealed four distinct student profiles (low, limited, moderate, and high academic motivation and college and career readiness), each characterized by unique patterns of school experience factors and demographic characteristics. Findings demonstrate meaningful differences in how rural students experience schooling and prepare for postsecondary pathways. An actionable implication is that rural school and district leaders can use readiness profiles to design differentiated supports—such as targeted mentoring; social-emotional learning opportunities; and aligned, flexible college and career pathways through work-based and project-based learning opportunities—to ensure that resources are matched to student needs and relevant interests rather than applied uniformly. These findings offer a data-informed framework for advancing equitable postsecondary preparation in rural schools.
Keywords: rural; college and career readiness; academic motivation; latent class and profile analysis
How to Cite: Knox, P. N. (2026) “Rural Readiness: Identifying Rural Adolescent Patterns of Postsecondary Preparation and Motivation Using Latent Class and Profile Analysis”, Journal of Research in Rural Education. 42(3). doi: https://doi.org/10.4148/jrre.20756
None