Inequities in Funding and its Impact on College & Career Readiness for Rural Students in Iowa

Item

Title
Inequities in Funding and its Impact on College & Career Readiness for Rural Students in Iowa
Creator
Jill Whisler
Degree Name
Master of Science in Justice Studies
Project Type
Professional Project
Date
6/15/2025
Abstract
The Iowa Department of Education defines that upon graduation, their students are college and career ready if they have successfully achieved proficiency in essential content knowledge, acquired practical transition skills, developed key learning skills and cognitive strategies, and built a strong foundation of self-understanding and engagement strategies. Given this, school districts have the responsibility to implement college and career readiness programming to assure their graduates’ success in post-secondary endeavors. This study serves as an investigation in the realities of college and career readiness in the state of Iowa and examines if there is an inequity of programming in this area for high school students in rural communities compared to their urban counterparts. To examine programming, the framework presented by Conley’s Model of College and Career Readiness was utilized to create three variables to measure levels of college and career readiness: school counselor-student ratio, the implementation of work-based learning, and access to rigorous curriculum. Twenty school districts in Iowa were randomly selected to study: ten of rural geographic location and ten of urban. Findings indicate urban schools outperforming rural schools in work-based learning implementation and providing additional support services to students for college and career efforts. However, discussion of this topic encourages research to better understand how rural identity and culture impact students’ decisions in rural settings. Findings call for state legislatures to establish equitable funding policies to support college and career efforts and for school districts to advocate for local tax levies to do the same.
Keywords
Rural Iowa
College & Career Readiness
Rights
Western Oregon University Library has determined, as of 06/20/2025, this item is in copyright, which is held by the author. Users may use the item in accordance with copyright limitations and exceptions, including fair use. For other uses, please ask permission from the author.
https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en
Language
eng
Type
Text
Identifier
JillWhisler_PP_2025
Item sets
Graduate Work
Media
JillWhisler_PP_2025.pdf