Using the nationally representative High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09), this study documents that rural and small-town students were significantly less likely to enroll in postsecondary STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) degree programs, compared with their suburban peers. This study also shows that schools attended by rural and small-town students offered limited access to advanced coursework and extracurricular programs in STEM and had lower STEM teaching capacity. Those opportunities to learn in STEM were linked to the widening geographic gaps in STEM academic preparation. Overall, our findings suggest that during high school rural and small-town students shifted away from STEM fields and that geographic disparities in postsecondary STEM participation were largely explained by students’ demographics and precollege STEM career aspirations and academic preparation.

使用具有全国代表性的 2009 年高中纵向研究 (HSLS:09)，该研究表明，与农村和小镇学生相比，农村和小镇学生参加高等教育 STEM（科学、技术、工程和数学）学位课程的可能性要低得多。他们的郊区同龄人。这项研究还表明，农村和小镇学生就读的学校提供​​的 STEM 高级课程和课外项目的机会有限，并且 STEM 教学能力较低。这些在 STEM 中学习的机会与 STEM 学术准备中不断扩大的地理差距有关。全面的，