Increasing attention has been paid to rural education policy and research, yet few studies have examined the conceptualization of rural school districts. This study provides a conceptual and empirical examination of the definitions of rural districts. The results illustrate that a common, singular definition of rural is elusive and there is a prevailing notion of rural as “not urban.” Regardless of the operationalization of rurality, there are statistically significant differences across urban and rural districts in terms of their size, complexity, demographic composition, segregation, educational resources, economic structure, economic and social context, and academic and equity-related outcomes. Implications are discussed.

中文翻译：

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农村就等于城市吗？重新思考农村学区的概念化和运作化

农村教育政策和研究越来越受到关注，但很少有研究探讨农村学区的概念。本研究对农村地区的定义进行了概念和实证检验。结果表明，对农村的共同、单一的定义是难以捉摸的，并且人们普遍认为农村“不是城市”。无论农村地区的运作如何，城市和农村地区在规模、复杂性、人口构成、隔离、教育资源、经济结构、经济和社会背景以及学术和公平相关成果方面都存在统计上的显着差异。讨论了影响。