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An Examination Of Attachment And Aspirations In Diverse Rural Youth: The Role Of Peers And Teachers, Gresi Bonomo Irdam

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three studies that examined diverse rural youths’ educational and rural aspirations. These studies have the potential to inform rural communities, educators, and parents by providing novel understandings of how peers and teachers in mathematics and science classrooms influence diverse rural youths’ rural attachment, and aspirations (i.e., educational, rural residential, community, and proximity). Thus, the purpose of this dissertation was to investigate rural teachers and their diverse students from White, African American, Hispanic, and Native American backgrounds. In particular, the studies within this dissertation examine how teachers’ social connectedness to their rural communities relates to their teacher …