This study examined how effectively Opportunity to Learn Standards have been implemented, supported, and expanded upon in rural school communities. Opportunity to Learn Standards have been a topic of discussion since the Coleman Report was issued in 1966, but no successful initiative has ever been offered that created a mandate for every state in the country to meet a minimum set of Opportunity to Learn standards for their students. In this study I also examined how effectively these nationally accepted Opportunity to Learn standards were impacting the success and persistence of vulnerable rural students. This study examined the literature surrounding Opportunity to Learn Standards over the last two decades and examined how rural school communities have attempted to ensure that all students, especially vulnerable students, are provided with opportunities to learn that are equitable in comparison to their urban and suburban counterparts. Based on this examination of the literature, this study has made recommendations for rural school leaders, rural school boards, state policy makers, and finally recommendations for future research. The existing research provides an opportunity to make recommendations for rural communities, but it also points to a significant void in the research to date and provides an excellent starting point to discuss opportunities to deepen the research in rural school communities and fine tune the analyses by ensuring that the research questions that drive these analyses are based on verifiable rural needs.
