Understanding the rural - urban reading gap - November 2002

Appendix A: Tables

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Table A1a
Newfoundland and Labrador
Characteristics of students in rural and urban schools

	Rural schools		Urban schools		Provincial Average
	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)
Individual characteristics
Reading achievement	501	3.3	538	5.0	517	2.8
Mathematics achievement	500	3.3	522	5.2	509	3.0
Science achievement	504	4.0	534	5.5	516	3.4
Student cultural activities	-0.28	0.03	0.06	0.05	-0.14	0.02
Reading enjoyment	-0.15	0.03	0.04	0.05	-0.07	0.03
Homework - students doing 4 or more hours per week (%)	41.0	1.7	45.0	2.3	43.0	1.4
Career expectations	60.2	0.6	64.6	0.9	62.0	0.6
Percentage of students who expect to get postsecondary education (%)	90.0	1.1	93.0	1.1	91.0	0.7
Percentage of students who expect to get university rather than college (%)	76.0	1.3	86.0	1.6	81.0	1.0
Percentage of student with 30 minutes or more transportation time (%)	7.0	0.8	7.0	1.1	7.0	0.6
Students participating in school extracurricular activities (%)	61.0	1.5	49.0	2.2	56.0	1.3
Students participating in non-school extracurricular activities (%)	57.0	1.6	62.0	1.9	59.0	1.1
Using computer at school at least several times per month (%)	63.0	1.6	55.0	2.4	60.0	1.3
Using internet at school at least several times per month (%)	58.0	1.7	54.0	2.4	56.0	1.4
Family characteristics
Family socio-economic status	43.6	0.4	53.1	0.7	47.6	0.4
Highest parent educational attainment	5.2	0.0	5.6	0.0	5.4	0.0
Students with 100 or more books at home (%)	78.0	1.1	84.0	1.7	81.0	0.9
Parental academic interest	-0.16	0.03	0.08	0.04	-0.06	0.02
Parental social interest	-0.04	0.03	-0.03	0.04	-0.04	0.03
Home cultural possessions	-0.16	0.03	0.15	0.05	-0.03	0.03
Home educational resources	0.12	0.03	0.27	0.03	0.18	0.02
Computer at home (%)	69.9	1.1	85.2	1.7	76.2	1.0
Internet access at home (%)	46.7	1.5	67.1	2.1	55.1	1.3
Student's school experience
Disciplinary climate	0.15	0.03	0.12	0.04	0.14	0.02
Teacher-student relations	0.41	0.04	0.52	0.04	0.45	0.03
Teacher support	0.42	0.04	0.45	0.04	0.43	0.03
Note: (s.e.) is the standard error of the average. Items in bold indicate significant differences in average values of variables for urban and rural schools.

Table A1b
Newfoundland and Labrador
Characteristics of rural and urban schools and communities

	Rural schools		Urban schools		Provincial Average
	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)
School characteristics
Schools offering extracurricular activities (%)	93.04	(0.73)	95.87	(0.97)	93.81	(0.61)
Number of 15-year-olds	78.34	(5.70)	157.75	(12.37)	100.00	(6.40)
K to 12 schools (%)	21.16	(4.85)	0.00	(0.00)	15.39	(3.64)
Negative teacher behaviours	-0.14	(0.09)	-0.32	(0.17)	-0.19	(0.08)
Negative student behaviours	0.38	(0.09)	0.25	(0.12)	0.35	(0.07)
Teacher morale	-0.01	(0.12)	0.08	(0.23)	0.01	(0.10)
Student-teacher ratio	14.96	(0.34)	16.94	(0.45)	15.57	(0.29)
Inadequacy of instructional resources	0.55	(0.11)	0.17	(0.17)	0.45	(0.09)
Shortage of teachers	0.58	(0.12)	0.64	(0.22)	0.59	(0.11)
Professional development (%)	50.96	(5.03)	68.75	(7.36)	55.71	(4.24)
Inadequacy of material resources	0.00	(0.12)	-0.39	(0.15)	-0.11	(0.10)
Computer availability	6.14	(0.26)	6.77	(0.46)	6.33	(0.23)
Teacher specialization (%)	70.99	(2.65)	87.82	(3.62)	75.48	(2.29)
School autonomy	-0.55	(0.08)	-0.31	(0.10)	-0.48	(0.06)
Teacher participation to decision making	-0.05	(0.13)	-0.19	(0.17)	-0.09	(0.10)
Community characteristics
Population density	97.89	(12.01)	368.82	(77.99)	171.78	(25.78)
Adult unemployment rate	29.77	(1.28)	12.54	(0.51)	25.07	(1.22)
Adult employment rate	35.79	(1.13)	52.98	(1.00)	40.48	(1.16)
White collar employment	33.23	(1.32)	49.13	(1.42)	37.57	(1.26)
Post-secondary enrollment	61.10	(1.91)	66.69	(1.37)	62.62	(1.45)
Post-secondary education	38.93	(1.08)	55.45	(1.03)	43.43	(1.11)
University education	14.13	(0.58)	26.88	(1.33)	17.61	(0.80)
Average income ($)	16,727	(542)	22,904	(496)	18,412	(500)
Average family income ($)	36,365	(1,204)	50,785	(965)	40,298	(1,119)
Note: (s.e.) is the standard error of the average. Items in bold indicate significant differences in average values of variables for urban and rural schools.

Table A2a
Prince Edward Island
Characteristics of students in rural and urban schools

	Rural schools		Urban schools		Provincial Average
	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)
Individual characteristics
Reading achievement	504	3.8	526	3.2	517	2.4
Mathematics achievement	508	4.6	514	4.4	512	3.7
Science achievement	497	5.0	515	4.0	508	2.7
Student cultural activities	-0.29	0.03	0.09	0.03	-0.06	0.02
Reading enjoyment	-0.11	0.05	-0.04	0.04	-0.07	0.03
Homework - students doing 4 or more hours per week (%)	21.0	1.5	24.0	1.4	23.0	1.0
Career expectations	58.7	0.8	62.8	0.6	61.2	0.5
Percentage of students who expect to get postsecondary education (%)	87.0	1.4	92.0	1.0	90.0	0.8
Percentage of students who expect to get university rather than college (%)	83.0	1.7	88.0	1.2	86.0	1.0
Percentage of student with 30 minutes or more transportation time (%)	42.0	1.7	26.0	1.3	32.0	1.0
Students participating in school extracurricular activities (%)	60.0	1.9	64.0	1.6	63.0	1.2
Students participating in non-school extracurricular activities (%)	65.0	1.9	71.0	1.6	69.0	1.2
Using computer at school at least several times per month (%)	61.0	2.0	42.0	1.7	50.0	1.3
Using internet at school at least several times per month (%)	54.0	1.9	37.0	1.6	44.0	1.3
Family characteristics
Family socio-economic status	45.4	0.7	52.2	0.6	49.5	0.5
Highest parent educational attainment	5.3	0.0	5.6	0.0	5.5	0.0
Students with 100 or more books at home (%)	74.0	1.6	78.0	1.3	77.0	1.0
Parental academic interest	-0.19	0.04	-0.05	0.03	-0.11	0.02
Parental social interest	-0.39	0.04	-0.24	0.03	-0.30	0.02
Home cultural possessions	-0.46	0.04	-0.23	0.03	-0.32	0.03
Home educational resources	-0.20	0.05	-0.11	0.04	-0.14	0.03
Computer at home (%)	75.9	1.8	84.9	1.3	81.4	1.1
Internet access at home (%)	52.2	2.4	63.4	1.5	59.1	1.4
Student's school experience
Disciplinary climate	0.18	0.03	0.15	0.03	0.16	0.02
Teacher-student relations	0.26	0.04	0.32	0.04	0.29	0.02
Teacher support	0.41	0.04	0.32	0.03	0.35	0.02
Note: (s.e.) is the standard error of the average. Items in bold indicate significant differences in average values of variables for urban and rural schools.

Table A2b
Prince Edward Island
Characteristics of rural and urban schools and communities

	Rural schools		Urban schools		Provincial Average
	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)
School characteristics
Schools offering extracurricular activities (%)	94.04	(3.08)	97.64	(0.59)	95.91	(1.52)
Number of 15-year-olds	117.64	(19.05)	188.07	(22.02)	154.16	(15.94)
K to 12 schools (%)	4.89	(6.23)	2.73	(4.52)	3.77	(3.73)
Negative teacher behaviours	-0.14	(0.15)	0.32	(0.24)	0.10	(0.15)
Negative student behaviours	0.75	(0.30)	0.66	(0.24)	0.70	(0.19)
Teacher morale	1.06	(0.21)	0.57	(0.15)	0.80	(0.13)
Student-teacher ratio	18.14	(0.51)	18.61	(0.50)	18.34	(0.35)
Inadequacy of instructional resources	0.45	(0.22)	-0.15	(0.26)	0.13	(0.18)
Shortage of teachers	1.69	(0.35)	0.55	(0.15)	1.09	(0.21)
Professional development (%)	97.41	(3.35)	63.88	(10.59)	78.99	(6.80)
Inadequacy of material resources	0.05	(0.21)	-0.60	(0.15)	-0.29	(0.14)
Computer availability	5.42	(1.07)	8.55	(0.75)	6.80	(0.76)
Teacher specialization (%)	61.70	(5.99)	59.19	(5.59)	60.20	(4.04)
School autonomy	-0.64	(0.11)	-0.37	(0.09)	-0.50	(0.07)
Teacher participation to decision making	-0.46	(0.21)	-0.13	(0.12)	-0.29	(0.12)
Community characteristics
Population density	219.50	(79.47)	553.40	(78.70)	392.63	(63.87)
Adult unemployment rate	15.01	(1.10)	10.37	(0.30)	12.60	(0.71)
Adult employment rate	56.82	(1.70)	59.41	(0.54)	58.16	(0.88)
White collar employment	28.22	(2.71)	43.70	(1.08)	36.25	(2.06)
Post-secondary enrollment	52.23	(3.28)	61.30	(1.64)	56.93	(1.97)
Post-secondary education	40.12	(2.08)	55.48	(1.43)	48.09	(1.94)
University education	16.16	(1.01)	28.63	(1.52)	22.62	(1.52)
Average income ($)	18,191	(331)	21,442	(206)	19,876	(370)
Average family income ($)	42,749	(1,115)	48,610	(464)	45,788	(814)
Note: (s.e.) is the standard error of the average. Items in bold indicate significant differences in average values of variables for urban and rural schools.

Table A3a
Nova Scotia
Characteristics of students in rural and urban schools

	Rural schools		Urban schools		Provincial Average
	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)
Individual characteristics
Reading achievement	519	3.3	522	3.5	521	2.3
Mathematics achievement	512	3.7	513	4.3	513	2.8
Science achievement	514	5.0	517	4.0	516	3.0
Student cultural activities	0.04	0.04	0.18	0.03	0.13	0.02
Reading enjoyment	0.11	0.04	0.02	0.04	0.06	0.03
Homework - students doing 4 or more hours per week(%)	28.0	1.6	26.0	1.4	27.0	0.9
Career expectations	60.2	0.6	64.0	0.6	62.6	0.4
Percentage of students who expect to get postsecondary education (%)	90.0	1.0	93.0	0.8	92.0	0.6
Percentage of students who expect to get university rather than college (%)	79.0	1.6	88.0	1.0	85.0	0.8
Percentage of student with 30 minutes or more transportation time (%)	25.0	1.4	12.0	1.0	17.0	0.8
Students participating in school extracurricular activities (%)	60.0	1.8	60.0	1.9	60.0	1.2
Students participating in non-school extracurricular activities (%)	66.0	1.5	67.0	1.6	67.0	1.1
Using computer at school at least several times per month (%)	49.0	1.6	46.0	1.5	48.0	1.1
Using internet at school at least several times per month (%)	47.0	1.5	44.0	1.4	45.0	1.0
Family characteristics
Family socio-economic status	49.1	0.5	53.3	0.6	51.7	0.4
Highest parent educational attainment	5.3	0.0	5.5	0.0	5.4	0.0
Students with 100 or more books at home (%)	84.0	1.1	82.0	1.2	83.0	0.8
Parental academic interest	0.04	0.03	0.14	0.03	0.10	0.02
Parental social interest	-0.29	0.04	-0.15	0.03	-0.21	0.02
Home cultural possessions	-0.16	0.03	-0.06	0.03	-0.10	0.02
Home educational resources	-0.03	0.04	0.02	0.03	0.00	0.02
Computer at home (%)	81.7	1.2	85.3	1.3	83.9	0.9
Internet access at home (%)	65.4	1.6	69.1	1.2	67.6	1.0
Student's school experience
Disciplinary climate	0.17	0.03	0.23	0.04	0.21	0.03
Teacher-student relations	0.40	0.03	0.38	0.03	0.39	0.02
Teacher support	0.37	0.03	0.39	0.04	0.39	0.02
Note: (s.e.) is the standard error of the average. Items in bold indicate significant differences in average values of variables for urban and rural schools

Table A3b
Nova Scotia
Characteristics of rural and urban schools and communities

	Rural schools		Urban schools		Provincial Average
	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)
School characteristics
Schools offering extracurricular activities (%)	94.76	(1.03)	95.19	(0.70)	94.98	(0.62)
Number of 15-year-olds	118.60	(9.51)	170.72	(10.25)	144.89	(7.40)
K to 12 schools (%)	6.00	(3.24)	0.59	(1.03)	3.26	(1.70)
Negative teacher behaviours	-0.17	(0.14)	-0.05	(0.10)	-0.11	(0.08)
Negative student behaviours	0.39	(0.11)	0.38	(0.09)	0.38	(0.07)
Teacher morale	-0.20	(0.14)	0.03	(0.13)	-0.09	(0.10)
Student-teacher ratio	16.62	(0.30)	16.61	(0.46)	16.61	(0.28)
Inadequacy of instructional resources	0.69	(0.13)	0.44	(0.10)	0.57	(0.08)
Shortage of teachers	0.87	(0.16)	0.68	(0.13)	0.77	(0.10)
Professional development (%)	82.69	(3.98)	86.10	(3.30)	84.37	(2.58)
Inadequacy of material resources	0.36	(0.14)	0.09	(0.10)	0.23	(0.09)
Computer availability	5.98	(0.46)	6.36	(0.44)	6.18	(0.32)
Teacher specialization (%)	72.05	(3.40)	70.50	(3.41)	71.28	(2.40)
School autonomy	-0.19	(0.08)	-0.19	(0.09)	-0.19	(0.06)
Teacher participation to decision making	-0.26	(0.11)	-0.11	(0.10)	-0.19	(0.07)
Community characteristics
Population density	260.31	(42.30)	485.16	(72.18)	373.75	(43.18)
Adult unemployment rate	13.13	(0.83)	9.74	(0.65)	11.42	(0.55)
Adult employment rate	48.85	(0.84)	56.26	(1.37)	52.59	(0.88)
White collar employment	37.12	(1.18)	46.23	(1.01)	41.71	(0.89)
Post-secondary enrollment	62.48	(1.19)	64.54	(0.53)	63.52	(0.65)
Post-secondary education	48.53	(1.43)	56.18	(1.19)	52.39	(0.99)
University education	20.80	(1.66)	28.59	(1.31)	24.73	(1.11)
Average income ($)	19,936	(307)	23,383	(515)	21,675	(342)
Average family income ($)	42,661	(768)	50,293	(1,161)	46,512	(785)
Note: (s.e.) is the standard error of the average. Items in bold indicate significant differences in average values of variables for urban and rural schools.

Table A4a
New Brunswick
Characteristics of students in rural and urban schools

	Rural schools		Urban schools		Provincial Average
	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)
Individual characteristics
Reading achievement	491	2.5	510	2.6	501	1.8
Mathematics achievement	503	3.2	509	3.0	506	2.2
Science achievement	489	3.2	504	3.1	497	2.3
Student cultural activities	-0.11	0.03	0.04	0.03	-0.03	0.02
Reading enjoyment	-0.02	0.03	0.05	0.03	0.02	0.02
Homework - students doing 4 or more hours per week (%)	24.0	1.0	29.0	1.4	27.0	0.9
Career expectations	58.5	0.5	63.2	0.5	60.9	0.4
Percentage of students who expect to get postsecondary education (%)	87.0	1.0	90.0	0.8	89.0	0.6
Percentage of students who expect to get university rather than college (%)	77.0	1.1	84.0	1.0	81.0	0.8
Percentage of student with 30 minutes or more transportation time (%)	25.0	1.1	20.0	1.2	22.0	0.8
Students participating in school extracurricular activities (%)	52.0	1.2	54.0	1.2	53.0	0.8
Students participating in non-school extracurricular activities (%)	57.0	1.3	65.0	1.4	61.0	1.0
Using computer at school at least several times per month (%)	45.0	1.2	31.0	1.4	37.0	1.0
Using internet at school at least several times per month (%)	41.0	1.3	28.0	1.4	34.0	1.0
Family characteristics
Family socio-economic status	46.3	0.4	53.2	0.5	50.0	0.4
Highest parent educational attainment	5.2	0.0	5.5	0.0	5.4	0.0
Students with 100 or more books at home (%)	73.0	1.2	78.0	1.2	75.0	0.8
Parental academic interest	-0.08	0.02	-0.07	0.03	-0.07	0.02
Parental social interest	-0.32	0.03	-0.29	0.03	-0.31	0.02
Home cultural possessions	-0.47	0.03	-0.24	0.03	-0.35	0.02
Home educational resources	-0.22	0.03	-0.07	0.03	-0.14	0.02
Computer at home (%)	71.3	1.3	82.6	1.1	77.3	0.8
Internet access at home (%)	53.9	1.4	68.8	1.2	61.7	0.9
Student's school experience
Disciplinary climate	0.18	0.02	0.19	0.03	0.18	0.02
Teacher-student relations	0.22	0.03	0.14	0.03	0.18	0.02
Teacher support	0.25	0.03	0.17	0.03	0.21	0.02
Note: (s.e.) is the standard error of the average. Items in bold indicate significant differences in average values of variables for urban and rural schools

Table A4b
New Brunswick
Characteristics of rural and urban schools and communities

	Rural schools		Urban schools		Provincial Average
	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)
School characteristics
Schools offering extracurricular activities (%)	89.23	(1.00)	92.52	(0.95)	90.36	(0.76)
Number of 15-year-olds	143.63	(10.81)	286.27	(22.58)	192.60	(13.34)
K to 12 schools (%)	9.24	(4.42)	1.72	(2.77)	6.66	(3.07)
Negative teacher behaviours	0.30	(0.14)	0.18	(0.13)	0.26	(0.10)
Negative student behaviours	0.52	(0.08)	0.82	(0.11)	0.62	(0.07)
Teacher morale	-0.10	(0.18)	-0.05	(0.19)	-0.09	(0.13)
Student-teacher ratio	16.99	(0.26)	18.30	(0.28)	17.46	(0.21)
Inadequacy of instructional resources	0.14	(0.10)	-0.06	(0.23)	0.07	(0.10)
Shortage of teachers	0.52	(0.14)	0.63	(0.19)	0.56	(0.11)
Professional development (%)	59.53	(5.63)	76.05	(6.45)	65.36	(4.38)
Inadequacy of material resources	-0.20	(0.13)	-0.29	(0.20)	-0.23	(0.11)
Computer availability	5.97	(0.39)	6.83	(0.66)	6.27	(0.35)
Teacher specialization (%)	65.15	(4.09)	74.16	(5.44)	68.25	(3.29)
School autonomy	-0.77	(0.12)	-0.58	(0.13)	-0.71	(0.09)
Teacher participation to decision making	-0.18	(0.13)	-0.59	(0.14)	-0.32	(0.10)
Community characteristics
Population density	222.23	(26.00)	263.10	(29.36)	236.26	(19.84)
Adult unemployment rate	14.61	(1.21)	8.89	(0.69)	12.65	(0.89)
Adult employment rate	50.84	(1.21)	57.11	(1.20)	52.99	(0.97)
White collar employment	39.02	(1.30)	48.49	(2.13)	42.27	(1.24)
Post-secondary enrollment	58.50	(1.50)	62.63	(2.15)	59.92	(1.24)
Post-secondary education	43.85	(1.22)	53.27	(2.25)	47.09	(1.23)
University education	19.18	(1.02)	28.34	(2.56)	22.32	(1.22)
Average income ($)	20,129	(423)	24,780	(1,785)	21,726	(718)
Average family income ($)	43,647	(976)	52,880	(3,211)	46,817	(1,371)
Note: (s.e.) is the standard error of the average. Items in bold indicate significant differences in average values of variables for urban and rural schools.

Table A5a
Quebec
Characteristics of students in rural and urban schools

	Rural schools		Urban schools		Provincial Average
	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)
Individual characteristics
Reading achievement	527	4.6	538	3.6	536	3.0
Mathematics achievement	543	5.6	552	3.3	550	2.7
Science achievement	533	5.3	543	4.1	541	3.4
Student cultural activities	-0.15	0.04	0.00	0.03	-0.03	0.02
Reading enjoyment	-0.12	0.07	-0.06	0.02	-0.07	0.02
Homework - students doing 4 or more hours per week (%)	28.0	3.6	30.0	1.3	30.0	1.1
Career expectations	54.8	0.9	60.4	0.5	59.3	0.4
Percentage of students who expect to get postsecondary education (%)	91.0	1.0	95.0	0.6	94.0	0.5
Percentage of students who expect to get university rather than college (%)	50.0	2.4	64.0	1.4	61.0	1.3
Percentage of student with 30 minutes or more transportation time (%)	24.0	2.7	20.0	1.3	21.0	1.2
Students participating in school extracurricular activities (%)	50.0	2.9	47.0	1.2	48.0	0.9
Students participating in non-school extracurricular activities (%)	49.0	1.6	55.0	1.1	54.0	0.9
Using computer at school at least several times per month (%)	45.0	2.9	37.0	1.5	39.0	1.3
Using internet at school at least several times per month (%)	41.0	3.2	34.0	1.4	35.0	1.2
Family characteristics
Family socio-economic status	47.5	0.8	52.5	0.4	51.5	0.4
Highest parent educational attainment	5.2	0.1	5.4	0.0	5.4	0.0
Students with 100 or more books at home (%)	59.0	1.8	65.0	1.0	64.0	0.9
Parental academic interest	0.00	0.05	0.14	0.02	0.12	0.02
Parental social interest	-0.23	0.05	-0.22	0.02	-0.22	0.02
Home cultural possessions	-0.61	0.03	-0.35	0.03	-0.40	0.02
Home educational resources	-0.18	0.04	-0.02	0.02	-0.05	0.02
Computer at home (%)	71.6	2.4	81.6	1.0	79.6	0.9
Internet access at home (%)	48.5	2.7	61.9	1.0	59.3	1.0
Student's school experience
Disciplinary climate	-0.03	0.06	0.10	0.03	0.08	0.03
Teacher-student relations	0.27	0.07	0.28	0.03	0.28	0.02
Teacher support	0.33	0.06	0.33	0.02	0.33	0.02
Note: (s.e.) is the standard error of the average. Items in bold indicate significant differences in average values of variables for urban and rural schools.

Table A5b
Quebec
Characteristics of rural and urban schools and communities

	Rural schools		Urban schools		Provincial Average
	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)
School characteristics
Schools offering extracurricular activities (%)	90.77	(1.62)	88.43	(0.91)	88.87	(0.80)
Number of 15-year-olds	659.80	(31.29)	637.60	(18.11)	641.77	(15.81)
K to 12 schools (%)	0.00	(0.00)	0.00	(0.00)	0.00	(0.00)
Negative teacher behaviours	0.22	(0.17)	0.28	(0.07)	0.27	(0.07)
Negative student behaviours	0.40	(0.16)	0.14	(0.08)	0.19	(0.08)
Teacher morale	0.09	(0.13)	-0.08	(0.08)	-0.05	(0.07)
Student-teacher ratio	17.15	(0.74)	17.32	(0.29)	17.28	(0.28)
Inadequacy of instructional resources	-0.52	(0.16)	-0.67	(0.08)	-0.65	(0.07)
Shortage of teachers	0.04	(0.18)	-0.16	(0.08)	-0.12	(0.08)
Professional development (%)	41.98	(6.61)	43.50	(3.16)	43.21	(2.84)
Inadequacy of material resources	-0.67	(0.10)	-0.59	(0.06)	-0.61	(0.05)
Computer availability	8.16	(0.39)	10.60	(0.78)	10.11	(0.63)
Teacher specialization (%)	81.17	(3.72)	86.27	(1.83)	85.22	(1.64)
School autonomy	-0.24	(0.15)	-0.21	(0.06)	-0.22	(0.06)
Teacher participation to decision making	0.21	(0.15)	-0.01	(0.09)	0.03	(0.07)
Community characteristics
Population density	231.75	(63.38)	1,939.63	(168.27)	1,618.76	(1,46.63)
Adult unemployment rate	10.28	(1.03)	10.22	(0.27)	10.23	(0.29)
Adult employment rate	53.90	(1.10)	54.82	(0.54)	54.64	(0.49)
White collar employment	36.73	(1.20)	48.86	(0.65)	46.58	(0.68)
Post-secondary enrollment	65.00	(2.25)	70.32	(0.61)	69.32	(0.67)
Post-secondary education	38.30	(1.25)	49.40	(0.81)	47.31	(0.78)
University education	11.98	(0.69)	22.22	(0.90)	20.30	(0.80)
Average income ($)	21,573	(485)	23,705	(464)	23,304	(393)
Average family income ($)	46,020	(1,004)	50,672	(1,190)	49,798	(994)
Note: (s.e.) is the standard error of the average. Items in bold indicate significant differences in average values of variables for urban and rural schools.

Table A6a
Ontario
Characteristics of students in rural and urban schools

	Rural schools		Urban schools		Provincial Average
	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)
Individual characteristics
Reading achievement	520	4.7	535	3.7	533	3.3
Mathematics achievement	519	3.7	525	3.4	524	2.9
Science achievement	518	6.5	523	3.9	522	3.4
Student cultural activities	0.11	0.03	0.21	0.03	0.20	0.03
Reading enjoyment	0.00	0.06	0.05	0.03	0.04	0.02
Homework - students doing 4 or more hours per week(%)	30.0	2.5	42.0	1.4	41.0	1.3
Career expectations	57.8	0.8	63.9	0.4	63.1	0.4
Percentage of students who expect to get postsecondary education (%)	91.0	1.6	95.0	0.5	94.0	0.5
Percentage of students who expect to get university rather than college (%)	68.0	2.8	80.0	1.3	78.0	1.3
Percentage of student with 30 minutes or more transportation time (%)	27.0	2.7	15.0	0.9	16.0	0.9
Students participating in school extracurricular activities (%)	62.0	2.6	60.0	1.4	61.0	1.2
Students participating in non-school extracurricular activities (%)	65.0	2.3	65.0	1.2	65.0	1.1
Using computer at school at least several times per month (%)	58.0	2.9	53.0	1.6	54.0	1.3
Using internet at school at least several times per month (%)	50.0	3.9	46.0	1.7	47.0	1.5
Family characteristics
Family socio-economic status	48.5	1.1	55.1	0.5	54.2	0.5
Highest parent educational attainment	5.5	0.1	5.6	0.0	5.6	0.0
Students with 100 or more books at home (%)	83.0	2.0	79.0	1.0	79.0	0.9
Parental academic interest	-0.02	0.04	0.10	0.02	0.09	0.02
Parental social interest	-0.20	0.04	-0.19	0.02	-0.19	0.02
Home cultural possessions	-0.08	0.05	0.04	0.03	0.02	0.03
Home educational resources	-0.14	0.04	0.08	0.03	0.05	0.02
Computer at home (%)	90.0	1.6	93.5	0.6	93.0	0.6
Internet access at home (%)	73.3	2.3	78.0	1.0	77.3	0.9
Student's school experience
Disciplinary climate	0.19	0.06	0.15	0.03	0.16	0.02
Teacher-student relations	0.23	0.05	0.24	0.03	0.24	0.03
Teacher support	0.31	0.05	0.31	0.03	0.31	0.03
Note: (s.e.) is the standard error of the average. Items in bold indicate significant differences in average values of variables for urban and rural schools.

Table A6b
Ontario
Characteristics of rural and urban schools and communities

	Rural schools		Urban schools		Provincial Average
	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)
School characteristics
Schools offering extracurricular activities (%)	94.20	(0.99)	91.61	(1.14)	92.08	(0.95)
Number of 15-year-olds	849.03	(44.83)	928.91	(20.67)	914.42	(18.86)
K to 12 schools (%)	0.00	(0.00)	0.92	(0.80)	0.75	(0.65)
Negative teacher behaviours	-0.34	(0.15)	-0.38	(0.07)	-0.37	(0.07)
Negative student behaviours	0.47	(0.12)	0.27	(0.07)	0.31	(0.06)
Teacher morale	-0.06	(0.15)	-0.01	(0.08)	-0.01	(0.07)
Student-teacher ratio	15.39	(0.45)	16.19	(0.24)	16.04	(0.21)
Inadequacy of instructional resources	0.07	(0.16)	-0.20	(0.09)	-0.15	(0.08)
Shortage of teachers	0.16	(0.19)	-0.13	(0.08)	-0.07	(0.08)
Professional development (%)	48.66	(6.34)	50.04	(3.08)	49.78	(2.76)
Inadequacy of material resources	-0.51	(0.11)	-0.36	(0.08)	-0.39	(0.07)
Computer availability	3.94	(0.16)	5.96	(0.26)	5.56	(0.22)
Teacher specialization (%)	76.09	(3.24)	85.47	(1.35)	83.66	(1.28)
School autonomy	0.55	(0.16)	0.55	(0.08)	0.55	(0.07)
Teacher participation to decision making	0.11	(0.16)	-0.04	(0.08)	-0.01	(0.07)
Community characteristics
Population density	579.67	(68.31)	1,590.90	(1,20.57)	1,407.54	(103.54)
Adult unemployment rate	7.19	(0.51)	7.32	(0.16)	7.30	(0.16)
Adult employment rate	54.89	(1.24)	61.43	(0.50)	60.25	(0.50)
White collar employment	37.48	(0.95)	48.43	(0.61)	46.44	(0.62)
Post-secondary enrollment	60.33	(1.51)	69.25	(0.40)	67.63	(0.50)
Post-secondary education	41.71	(0.58)	54.02	(0.55)	51.79	(0.58)
University education	12.76	(0.42)	25.75	(0.70)	23.39	(0.68)
Average income ($)	22,519	(496)	28,401	(318)	27,335	(323)
Average family income ($)	49,204	(1,189)	62,487	(822)	60,078	(801)
Note: (s.e.) is the standard error of the average. Items in bold indicate significant differences in average values of variables for urban and rural schools.

Table A7a
Manitoba
Characteristics of students in rural and urban schools

	Rural schools		Urban schools		Provincial Average
	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)
Individual characteristics
Reading achievement	527	4.6	531	4.7	529	3.5
Mathematics achievement	536	5.3	532	4.9	533	3.7
Science achievement	526	4.5	527	4.6	527	3.6
Student cultural activities	-0.04	0.04	0.18	0.04	0.11	0.03
Reading enjoyment	-0.07	0.04	-0.05	0.04	-0.06	0.03
Homework - students doing 4 or more hours per week(%)	21.0	2.0	27.0	1.7	25.0	1.3
Career expectations	56.1	0.8	61.1	0.7	59.4	0.5
Percentage of students who expect to get postsecondary education (%)	85.0	1.5	91.0	1.0	89.0	0.9
Percentage of students who expect to get university rather than college (%)	74.0	1.5	85.0	1.2	81.0	1.1
Percentage of student with 30 minutes or more time (%)	26.0	2.0	8.0	0.8	14.0	0.9
Students participating in school extracurricular activities (%)	67.0	2.0	61.0	1.5	63.0	1.4
Students participating in non-school extracurricular activities (%)	67.0	2.2	65.0	1.7	66.0	1.4
Using computer at school at least several times per month (%)	74.0	2.3	57.0	1.6	63.0	1.4
Using internet at school at least several times per month (%)	60.0	3.1	50.0	1.6	53.0	1.8
Family characteristics
Family socio-economic status	46.9	0.7	52.3	0.7	50.4	0.5
Highest parent educational attainment	5.2	0.1	5.4	0.0	5.4	0.0
Students with 100 or more books at home (%)	76.0	1.7	77.0	1.5	77.0	1.1
Parental academic interest	-0.16	0.04	0.00	0.04	-0.06	0.03
Parental social interest	-0.34	0.04	-0.32	0.03	-0.33	0.03
Home cultural possessions	-0.35	0.03	-0.14	0.04	-0.21	0.03
Home educational resources	-0.30	0.04	-0.09	0.04	-0.16	0.03
Computer at home (%)	80.9	1.9	87.1	1.2	85.0	1.0
Internet access at home (%)	50.6	1.9	68.7	1.6	62.5	1.4
Student's school experience
Disciplinary climate	0.26	0.06	0.21	0.04	0.23	0.03
Teacher-student relations	0.12	0.05	0.33	0.03	0.26	0.03
Teacher support	0.30	0.05	0.39	0.03	0.36	0.03
Note: (s.e.) is the standard error of the average. Items in bold indicate significant differences in average values of variables for urban and rural schools.

Table A7b
Manitoba
Characteristics of rural and urban schools and communities

	Rural schools		Urban schools		Provincial Average
	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)
School characteristics
Schools offering extracurricular activities (%)	94.51	(0.78)	95.19	(0.68)	94.87	(0.51)
Number of 15-year-olds	124.45	(8.92)	194.49	(12.04)	161.46	(8.32)
K to 12 schools (%)	30.68	(6.66)	4.07	(2.69)	16.63	(3.67)
Negative teacher behaviours	0.00	(0.11)	0.03	(0.10)	0.02	(0.08)
Negative student behaviours	0.27	(0.10)	0.21	(0.12)	0.24	(0.08)
Teacher morale	0.24	(0.14)	0.09	(0.11)	0.16	(0.09)
Student-teacher ratio	16.06	(0.54)	16.78	(0.34)	16.47	(0.30)
Inadequacy of instructional resources	0.19	(0.12)	0.10	(0.10)	0.14	(0.08)
Shortage of teachers	0.21	(0.14)	0.30	(0.14)	0.26	(0.10)
Professional development (%)	83.29	(4.09)	87.32	(3.42)	85.43	(2.63)
Inadequacy of material resources	-0.31	(0.11)	-0.13	(0.12)	-0.21	(0.08)
Computer availability	4.28	(0.23)	4.60	(0.22)	4.47	(0.16)
Teacher specialization (%)	61.38	(3.28)	79.99	(3.14)	70.80	(2.46)
School autonomy	0.66	(0.11)	0.52	(0.13)	0.59	(0.09)
Teacher participation to decision making	0.37	(0.16)	0.38	(0.13)	0.37	(0.10)
Community characteristics
Population density	385.89	(40.25)	1,189.55	(47.74)	810.47	(50.20)
Adult unemployment rate	4.40	(0.54)	6.65	(0.09)	5.59	(0.28)
Adult employment rate	56.78	(1.23)	61.89	(0.40)	59.48	(0.67)
White collar employment	35.39	(1.12)	46.37	(0.33)	41.19	(0.77)
Post-secondary enrollment	51.26	(1.88)	59.97	(0.39)	55.86	(1.00)
Post-secondary education	37.84	(1.12)	52.60	(0.30)	45.63	(0.90)
University education	15.21	(0.64)	27.42	(0.44)	21.66	(0.70)
Average income ($)	20,250	(494)	24,017	(168)	22,240	(308)
Average family income ($)	44,716	(1,023)	52,991	(337)	49,088	(651)
Note: (s.e.) is the standard error of the average. Items in bold indicate significant differences in average values of variables for urban and rural schools.

Table A8a
Saskatchewan
Characteristics of students in rural and urban schools

	Rural schools		Urban schools		Provincial Average
	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)
Individual characteristics
Reading achievement	523	4.6	533	3.2	529	2.7
Mathematics achievement	525	4.3	524	3.5	525	2.9
Science achievement	520	4.4	523	4.2	522	3.0
Student cultural activities	-0.07	0.04	0.14	0.03	0.05	0.02
Reading enjoyment	-0.12	0.04	-0.16	0.03	-0.14	0.03
Homework - students doing 4 or more hours per week (%)	15.0	1.6	22.0	1.3	19.0	1.1
Career expectations	55.8	0.6	61.2	0.6	58.9	0.5
Percentage of students who expect to get postsecondary education (%)	87.0	1.0	89.0	1.0	88.0	0.7
Percentage of students who expect to get university rather than college (%)	76.0	1.7	85.0	1.6	81.0	1.1
Percentage of student with 30 minutes or more transportation time (%)	23.0	1.6	11.0	1.0	16.0	1.0
Students participating in school extracurricular activities (%)	74.0	1.7	63.0	1.9	68.0	1.4
Students participating in non-school extracurricular activities (%)	71.0	1.6	72.0	1.3	72.0	1.0
Using computer at school at least several times per month (%)	77.0	2.8	49.0	2.2	61.0	1.6
Using internet at school at least several times per month (%)	67.0	3.6	43.0	2.2	53.0	1.9
Family characteristics
Family socio-economic status	47.3	0.5	53.7	0.5	51.0	0.3
Highest parent educational attainment	5.4	0.0	5.5	0.0	5.5	0.0
Students with 100 or more books at home (%)	77.0	1.8	78.0	1.2	78.0	1.0
Parental academic interest	-0.18	0.04	-0.07	0.03	-0.12	0.02
Parental social interest	-0.38	0.03	-0.31	0.03	-0.34	0.02
Home cultural possessions	-0.29	0.04	-0.13	0.03	-0.20	0.02
Home educational resources	-0.27	0.04	-0.14	0.03	-0.19	0.02
Computer at home (%)	84.2	1.4	89.3	0.9	87.1	0.8
Internet access at home (%)	55.6	1.7	69.6	1.5	63.7	1.1
Student's school experience
Disciplinary climate	0.15	0.05	0.12	0.03	0.13	0.03
Teacher-student relations	0.24	0.04	0.30	0.04	0.28	0.03
Teacher support	0.38	0.05	0.41	0.03	0.40	0.03
Note (s.e.) is the standard error of the average. Items in bold indicate significant differences in average values of variables for urban and rural schools.

Table A8b
Saskatchewan
Characteristics of rural and urban schools and communities

	Rural schools		Urban schools		Provincial Average
	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)
School characteristics
Schools offering extracurricular activities (%)	93.71	(0.81)	94.84	(0.73)	94.16	(0.57)
Number of 15-year-olds	96.50	(4.32)	197.22	(10.56)	136.96	(6.74)
K to 12 schools (%)	44.25	(6.04)	3.46	(2.69)	27.66	(4.18)
Negative teacher behaviours	-0.17	(0.11)	-0.19	(0.15)	-0.18	(0.09)
Negative student behaviours	0.23	(0.09)	0.26	(0.12)	0.24	(0.07)
Teacher morale	0.05	(0.11)	0.77	(0.14)	0.34	(0.09)
Student-teacher ratio	16.09	(0.30)	18.59	(0.32)	17.12	(0.25)
Inadequacy of instructional resources	0.12	(0.10)	-0.37	(0.14)	-0.08	(0.09)
Shortage of teachers	0.24	(0.11)	0.28	(0.13)	0.26	(0.08)
Professional development (%)	65.00	(4.11)	76.62	(5.08)	69.67	(3.22)
Inadequacy of material resources	-0.29	(0.10)	-0.31	(0.10)	-0.30	(0.07)
Computer availability	5.43	(0.22)	7.87	(1.15)	6.42	(0.50)
Teacher specialization (%)	52.98	(2.78)	75.46	(3.31)	61.84	(2.36)
School autonomy	-0.04	(0.07)	-0.07	(0.09)	-0.05	(0.06)
Teacher participation to decision making	0.34	(0.12)	0.39	(0.14)	0.36	(0.09)
Community characteristics
Population density	379.86	(26.03)	1,088.23	(75.51)	664.42	(46.79 )
Adult unemployment rate	5.26	(0.75)	5.93	(0.22)	5.53	(0.46)
Adult employment rate	55.78	(1.24)	62.78	(0.72)	58.59	(0.85)
White collar employment	32.70	(1.14)	44.24	(0.94)	37.34	(0.94)
Post-secondary enrollment	55.58	(2.23)	59.11	(0.89)	57.00	(1.39)
Post-secondary education	38.55	(1.12)	51.72	(0.95)	43.84	(0.98)
University education	15.26	(0.73)	25.73	(1.08)	19.46	(0.78)
Average income ($)	19,359	(778)	24,616	(457)	21,471	(553)
Average family income ($)	41,897	(1,711)	53,860	(1,269)	46,702	(1,263)
Note: (s.e.) is the standard error of the average. Items in bold indicate significant differences in average values of variables for urban and rural schools.

Table A9a
Alberta
Characteristics of students in rural and urban schools

	Rural schools		Urban schools		Provincial Average
	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)
Individual characteristics
Reading achievement	536	4.3	557	4.2	550	3.3
Mathematics achievement	541	5.0	550	4.3	547	3.3
Science achievement	532	4.6	553	4.3	546	3.5
Student cultural activities	0.10	0.04	0.22	0.03	0.18	0.02
Reading enjoyment	-0.14	0.05	0.04	0.03	-0.02	0.03
Homework - students doing 4 or more hours per week (%)	26.0	2.0	37.0	1.7	33.0	1.3
Career expectations	56.6	1.0	63.4	0.5	61.3	0.4
Percentage of students who expect to get postsecondary education (%)	89.0	1.1	92.0	0.6	91.0	0.5
Percentage of students who expect to get university rather than college (%)	63.0	2.5	81.0	1.3	76.0	1.2
Percentage of student with 30 minutes or more transportation time (%)	28.0	2.4	23.0	1.7	24.0	1.4
Students participating in school extracurricular activities(%)	61.0	2.1	58.0	1.4	59.0	1.1
Students participating in non-school extracurricular activities (%)	70.0	2.2	67.0	1.4	68.0	1.2
Using computer at school at least several times per month (%)	72.0	2.7	54.0	1.5	60.0	1.3
Using internet at school at least several times per month (%)	67.0	3.0	50.0	1.6	56.0	1.4
Family characteristics
Family socio-economic status	50.5	0.9	55.6	0.6	54.1	0.5
Highest parent educational attainment	5.4	0.0	5.5	0.0	5.5	0.0
Students with 100 or more books at home (%)	77.0	1.7	81.0	1.3	79.0	1.0
Parental academic interest	-0.06	0.04	0.15	0.03	0.09	0.02
Parental social interest	-0.21	0.04	-0.11	0.02	-0.14	0.02
Home cultural possessions	-0.21	0.06	0.08	0.03	-0.01	0.03
Home educational resources	-0.07	0.05	0.15	0.03	0.09	0.03
Computer at home (%)	87.2	1.2	91.3	0.8	90.0	0.7
Internet access at home (%)	61.3	1.7	79.0	1.3	73.5	1.1
Student's school experience
Disciplinary climate	0.23	0.05	0.12	0.03	0.15	0.02
Teacher-student relations	0.19	0.04	0.31	0.03	0.27	0.02
Teacher support	0.19	0.05	0.28	0.03	0.25	0.02
Note: (s.e.) is the standard error of the average. Items in bold indicate significant differences in average values of variables for urban and rural schools.

Table A9b
Alberta
Characteristics of rural and urban schools and communities

	Rural schools		Urban schools		Provincial Average
	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)
School characteristics
Schools offering extracurricular activities (%)	92.17	(1.36)	95.83	(0.69)	94.67	(0.65)
Number of 15-year-olds	352.53	(16.22)	380.63	(13.85)	371.73	(10.79)
K to 12 schools (%)	27.69	(7.50)	2.12	(1.63)	10.19	(2.82)
Negative teacher behaviours	-0.06	(0.12)	-0.19	(0.10)	-0.14	(0.08)
Negative student behaviours	0.28	(0.12)	0.28	(0.08)	0.28	(0.07)
Teacher morale	0.20	(0.14)	0.48	(0.11)	0.39	(0.09)
Student-teacher ratio	18.72	(0.55)	19.60	(0.36)	19.32	(0.30)
Inadequacy of instructional resources	-0.08	(0.14)	-0.19	(0.12)	-0.16	(0.09)
Shortage of teachers	0.40	(0.16)	0.31	(0.13)	0.34	(0.10)
Professional development (%)	74.09	(5.06)	72.28	(4.23)	72.87	(3.29)
Inadequacy of material resources	-0.12	(0.13)	0.05	(0.10)	-0.01	(0.08)
Computer availability	4.93	(0.23)	5.40	(0.25)	5.25	(0.18)
Teacher specialization (%)	58.59	(4.04)	79.34	(2.43)	72.24	(2.31)
School autonomy	0.36	(0.11)	0.26	(0.08)	0.29	(0.07)
Teacher participation to decision making	0.72	(0.15)	0.39	(0.13)	0.50	(0.10)
Community characteristics
Population density	415.20	(40.56)	809.43	(38.89)	684.59	(33.88)
Adult unemployment rate	6.30	(0.55)	6.19	(0.13)	6.23	(0.19)
Adult employment rate	63.93	(1.65)	67.19	(0.45)	66.16	(0.62)
White collar employment	37.55	(0.98)	46.63	(0.51)	43.75	(0.61)
Post-secondary enrollment	52.62	(1.62)	60.95	(0.52)	58.31	(0.72)
Post-secondary education	46.46	(1.19)	57.87	(0.47)	54.25	(0.69)
University education	15.39	(0.62)	26.01	(0.65)	22.65	(0.66)
Average income ($)	24,189	(650)	27,383	(371)	26,372	(353)
Average family income ($)	51,631	(1,372)	59,471	(834)	56,989	(788)
Note: (s.e.) is the standard error of the average. Items in bold indicate significant differences in average values of variables for urban and rural schools.

Table A10a
British Columbia
Characteristics of students in rural and urban schools

	Rural schools		Urban schools		Provincial Average
	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)
Individual characteristics
Reading achievement	530	9.4	539	2.9	538	2.9
Mathematics achievement	526	7.1	536	3.0	534	2.8
Science achievement	523	12.1	535	3.1	533	3.2
Student cultural activities	0.06	0.06	0.24	0.03	0.21	0.03
Reading enjoyment	0.02	0.07	0.03	0.03	0.03	0.02
Homework - students doing 4 or more hours per week (%)	33.0	2.6	42.0	1.6	41.0	1.4
Career expectations	59.5	1.4	63.4	0.4	62.8	0.4
Percentage of students who expect to get postsecondary education (%)	90.0	1.5	92.0	0.6	92.0	0.5
Percentage of students who expect to get university rather than college (%)	72.0	2.4	82.0	1.1	81.0	0.9
Percentage of student with 30 minutes or more transportation time (%)	19.0	3.5	8.0	0.9	10.0	1.0
Students participating in school extracurricular activities (%)	62.0	4.4	62.0	1.1	62.0	1.2
Students participating in non-school extracurricular activities (%)	66.0	2.9	69.0	1.0	69.0	0.9
Using computer at school at least several times per month (%)	55.0	3.4	44.0	1.7	46.0	1.6
Using internet at school at least several times per month (%)	48.0	4.4	40.0	2.0	41.0	1.8
Family characteristics
Family socio-economic status	49.7	0.7	54.0	0.6	53.3	0.5
Highest parent educational attainment	5.5	0.0	5.5	0.0	5.5	0.0
Students with 100 or more books at home (%)	85.0	2.1	79.0	1.0	79.0	1.0
Parental academic interest	0.00	0.06	0.16	0.03	0.14	0.02
Parental social interest	-0.21	0.04	-0.20	0.02	-0.20	0.02
Home cultural possessions	-0.08	0.11	0.03	0.03	0.01	0.03
Home educational resources	-0.09	0.06	0.07	0.03	0.04	0.02
Computer at home (%)	88.6	2.1	93.7	0.8	92.9	0.7
Internet access at home (%)	65.8	3.4	78.0	1.3	76.1	1.2
Student's school experience
Disciplinary climate	0.09	0.07	0.12	0.03	0.11	0.03
Teacher-student relations	0.20	0.05	0.16	0.03	0.17	0.03
Teacher support	0.33	0.06	0.21	0.03	0.23	0.03
Note: (s.e.) is the standard error of the average. Items in bold indicate significant differences in average values of variables for urban and rural schools.

Table A10b
British Columbia
Characteristics of rural and urban schools and communities

	Rural schools		Urban schools		Provincial Average
	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)
School characteristics
Schools offering extracurricular activities (%)	94.52	(1.10)	95.42	(0.44)	95.28	(0.41)
Number of 15-year-olds	425.33	(21.66)	396.63	(8.31)	401.07	(7.80)
K to 12 schools (%)	0.56	(1.81)	4.10	(1.95)	3.57	(1.69)
Negative teacher behaviours	-0.33	(0.20)	-0.13	(0.09)	-0.16	(0.08)
Negative student behaviours	0.11	(0.21)	0.20	(0.07)	0.19	(0.07)
Teacher morale	0.76	(0.24)	0.15	(0.10)	0.24	(0.10)
Student-teacher ratio	17.46	(1.01)	17.38	(0.30)	17.39	(0.30)
Inadequacy of instructional resources	-0.28	(0.22)	-0.24	(0.10)	-0.25	(0.09)
Shortage of teachers	-0.18	(0.20)	-0.30	(0.08)	-0.28	(0.07)
Professional development (%)	99.24	(1.70)	80.16	(3.33)	82.76	(2.95)
Inadequacy of material resources	-0.32	(0.23)	-0.34	(0.08)	-0.33	(0.08)
Computer availability	5.73	(0.58)	6.20	(0.29)	6.12	(0.26)
Teacher specialization (%)	73.67	(4.99)	83.13	(1.82)	81.73	(1.74)
School autonomy	0.35	(0.22)	0.36	(0.09)	0.36	(0.08)
Teacher participation to decision making	0.07	(0.29)	0.22	(0.10)	0.20	(0.10)
Community characteristics
Population density	412.30	(90.03)	1,128.72	(132.13)	1,018.05	(114.88)
Adult unemployment rate	8.84	(0.59)	8.08	(0.23)	8.19	(0.22)
Adult employment rate	56.77	(2.03)	61.23	(0.44)	60.54	(0.51)
White collar employment	37.48	(1.47)	45.19	(0.72)	44.00	(0.69)
Post-secondary enrollment	56.08	(1.50)	61.99	(0.70)	61.08	(0.66)
Post-secondary education	50.12	(1.63)	56.17	(0.66)	55.23	(0.64)
University education	17.82	(1.33)	25.77	(0.84)	24.54	(0.78)
Average income ($)	24,808	(874)	27,136	(422)	26,777	(388)
Average family income ($)	51,627	(1,890)	58,810	(1,103)	57,700	(1,002)
Note: (s.e.) is the standard error of the average. Items in bold indicate significant differences in average values of variables for urban and rural schools.

Table A11a
Canada
Characteristics of students in rural and urban schools

	Rural schools		Urban schools		Canada
	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)
Individual characteristics
Reading achievement	523	1.9	538	2.0	534	1.6
Mathematics achievement	527	2.1	535	1.8	533	1.4
Science achievement	521	2.2	532	2.0	529	1.6
Student cultural activities	-0.01	0.02	0.16	0.02	0.12	0.01
Reading enjoyment	-0.06	0.02	0.01	0.01	0.00	0.01
Homework - students doing 4 or more hours per week(%)	28.0	1.1	37.0	0.7	35.0	0.6
Career expectations	57.2	0.4	62.8	0.2	61.6	0.2
Percentage of students who expect to get postsecondary education (%)	90.0	0.6	94.0	0.3	93.0	0.2
Percentage of students who expect to get university than college (%)	66.0	1.0	77.0	0.7	75.0	0.6
Percentage of student with 30 minutes or more time (%)	24.0	0.9	16.0	0.5	17.0	0.5
Students participating in school extracurricular activities (%)	60.0	1.0	57.0	0.7	58.0	0.6
Students participating in non-school extracurricular activities (%)	62.0	0.9	64.0	0.5	63.0	0.4
Using computer at school at least several times per month (%)	59.0	1.2	48.0	0.9	50.0	0.7
Using internet at school at least several times per month (%)	52.0	1.5	43.0	1.0	45.0	0.8
Family characteristics
Family socio-economic status	48.1	0.4	54.1	0.3	52.8	0.2
Highest parent educational attainment	5.3	0.0	5.5	0.0	5.5	0.0
Students with 100 or more books at home (%)	75.0	0.9	76.0	0.6	76.0	0.5
Parental academic interest	-0.05	0.02	0.11	0.01	0.08	0.01
Parental social interest	-0.24	0.02	-0.20	0.01	-0.21	0.01
Home cultural possessions	-0.28	0.02	-0.07	0.02	-0.12	0.01
Home educational resources	-0.14	0.02	0.04	0.01	0.00	0.01
Computer at home (%)	81.8	0.9	89.6	0.4	87.9	0.3
Internet access at home (%)	59.7	1.2	73.1	0.6	70.2	0.5
Student's school experience
Disciplinary climate	0.14	0.02	0.14	0.02	0.14	0.01
Teacher-student relations	0.24	0.02	0.25	0.01	0.25	0.01
Teacher support	0.31	0.02	0.31	0.02	0.31	0.01
Note: (s.e.) is the standard error of the average. Items in bold indicate significant differences in average values of variables for urban and rural schools.

Table A11b
Canada
Characteristics of rural and urban schools and communities

	Rural schools		Urban schools		Canada
	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)	Average	(s.e.)
School characteristics
Schools offering extracurricular activities (%)	92.88	(0.47)	92.16	(0.37)	92.32	(0.31)
Number of 15-year-olds	466.11	(21.20)	648.21	(11.29)	608.66	(10.21)
K to 12 schools (%)	11.31	(2.05)	1.44	(0.41)	3.59	(0.56)
Negative teacher behaviours	-0.09	(0.06)	-0.13	(0.03)	-0.12	(0.03)
Negative student behaviours	0.36	(0.05)	0.24	(0.03)	0.27	(0.02)
Teacher morale	0.11	(0.06)	0.07	(0.03)	0.08	(0.03)
Student-teacher ratio	16.69	(0.22)	17.08	(0.11)	16.99	(0.10)
Inadequacy of instructional resources	-0.03	(0.06)	-0.29	(0.04)	-0.24	(0.03)
Shortage of teachers	0.25	(0.07)	-0.05	(0.03)	0.02	(0.03)
Professional development (%)	61.83	(2.46)	58.66	(1.33)	59.36	(1.17)
Inadequacy of material resources	-0.34	(0.05)	-0.35	(0.03)	-0.35	(0.03)
Computer availability	5.64	(0.16)	7.12	(0.19)	6.79	(0.16)
Teacher specialization (%)	70.21	(1.55)	83.55	(0.67)	80.46	(0.65)
School autonomy	0.11	(0.06)	0.24	(0.03)	0.21	(0.03)
Teacher participation to decision making	0.20	(0.06)	0.06	(0.03)	0.09	(0.03)
Community characteristics
Population density	372.72	(22.37)	1,440.47	(50.79)	1,208.56	(42.16)
Adult unemployment rate	9.59	(0.49)	8.11	(0.10)	8.43	(0.13)
Adult employment rate	54.81	(0.64)	60.11	(0.23)	58.96	(0.24)
White collar employment	36.60	(0.47)	47.65	(0.25)	45.25	(0.26)
Post-secondary enrollment	58.84	(0.79)	66.83	(0.24)	65.10	(0.27)
Post-secondary education	42.37	(0.52)	53.54	(0.26)	51.11	(0.27)
University education	14.73	(0.37)	25.13	(0.30)	22.87	(0.28)
Average income ($)	21,777	(265)	26,490	(162)	25,467	(151)
Average family income ($)	46,873	(570)	57,680	(404)	55,333	(365)
Note: (s.e.) is the standard error of the average. Items in bold indicate significant differences in average values of variables for urban and rural schools.

Table A12
Significant differences in student characteristics for urban and rural schools

	Nfld.Lab.	P.E.I.	N.S.	N.B.	Que.	Ont.	Man.	Sask.	Alta.	B.C.	Canada
Reading achievement	S	S	.	S	.	.	.	.	S	.	S
Mathematics achievement	S	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
Science achievement	S	.	.	S	.	.	.	.	S	.	S
Student cultural activities	S	S	S	S	S	.	S	S	.	S	S
Reading enjoyment	S	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	S	.	S
Homework - students doing 4 or more hours per week (%)	.	.	.	S	.	S	.	S	S	S	S
Career expectations	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	.	S
Percentage of students who expect to get postsecondary education (%)	.	S	.	.	S	.	S	.	.	.	S
Percentage of students who expect to get university rather than college (%)	S	.	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
Percentage of student with 30 minutes or more transportation time (%)	.	S	S	S	.	S	S	S	.	S	S
Students participating in school extracurricular activities (%)	S	.	.	.	.	.	S	S	.	.	.
Students participating in non-school extracurricular activities (%)	.	.	.	S	S	.	.	.	.	.	.
Using computer at school at least several times per month (%)	S	S	.	S	.	.	S	S	S	S	S
Using internet at school at least several times per month (%)	.	S	.	S	.	.	S	S	S	.	S
Family characteristics
Family socio-economic status	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
Highest parent educational attainment	S	S	S	S	S	.	S	S	.	.	S
Students with 100 or more books at home (%)	S	.	.	S	S	.	.	.	.	.	.
Parental academic interest	S	S	.	.	S	.	S	.	S	.	S
Parental social interest	.	S	S	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
Home cultural possessions	S	S	.	S	S	.	S	S	S	.	S
Home educational resources	S	.	.	S	S	S	S	S	S	.	S
Computer at home (%)	S	S	.	S	S	.	S	.	S	.	S
Internet access at home (%)	S	S	.	S	S	.	S	.	S	S	S
Student's school experience
Disciplinary climate	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
Teacher-student relations	.	.	.	.	.	.	S	.	.	.	.
Teacher support	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
Note: S identifies characteristics where the difference between urban and rural schools is statistically significant with a 99% level of confidence.

Table A13
Significant differences in school and community characteristics for urban and rural schools

	Nfld.Lab.	P.E.I.	N.S.	N.B.	Que.	Ont.	Man.	Sask.	Alta.	B.C.	Canada
Schools offering extracurricular activities (%)	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
Number of 15-year-olds	S	.	S	S	.	.	S	S	.	.	S
K to 12 schools (%)	S	.	.	.	.	.	S	S	S	.	S
Negative teacher behaviours	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
Negative student behaviours	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
Teacher morale	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	S	.	.	.
Student-teacher ratio	S	.	.	S	.	.	.	S	.	.	.
Inadequacy of instructional resources	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	S	.	.	S
Shortage of teachers	.	S	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	S
Professional development (%)	.	S	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	S	.
Inadequacy of material resources	.	.	.	.	S	.	.	.	.	.	.
Computer availability	.	.	.	.	.	S	.	.	.	.	S
Teacher specialization (%)	S	.	.	.	.	.	S	S	S	.	S
School autonomy	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
Teacher participation to decision making	.	.	.	.	S	.	.	.	.	.	.
Community characteristics
Population density	S	S	S	.	.	S	S	S	S	S	S
Adult unemployment rate	S	S	S	S	.	.	S	.	.	.	S
Adult employment rate	S	.	S	S	S	S	S	S	.	.	S
White collar employment	S	S	S	S	.	S	S	S	S	S	S
Post-secondary enrollment	.	.	.	.	S	S	S	.	S	S	S
Post-secondary education	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
University education	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	S
Average income ($)	S	S	S	.	S	S	S	S	S	.	S
Average family income ($)	S	S	S	.	.	S	S	S	S	S	S
Note. S identifies characteristics where the difference between urban and rural schools is statistically significant with approximately 99% confidence.

Table B1
Size of rural-urban differences controlling for individual student socio-economic status and a variety of community factors

				Controlling for individual SES and.....
	Actual rural-urban gap in reading achievement	Controlling for individual socio-economic status (SES)	Controlling for individual SES and community factors	... average parental occupational status of school	... average income	... employment rates	... adult university attainment	... average post-secondary attainment	... % of jobs requiring university	... average educational attainment
Newfoundland and Labrador	-37	-27.8	2.1	1	-20	-17.7	-19.1	-11.9	-15.7	-6.2
Prince Edward Island	-21.9	-14.5	6.3	6.7	-10.4	-13	-5.9	0.4	-2.6	6.3
Nova Scotia	-3.3	1.1	14.3	14.1	5.5	5.5	6.5	8.5	8.1	13.7
New Brunswick	-18.1	-11.4	10.3	10	-5.5	-7.7	-5.1	-2.3	-4.2	4
Quebec	-10.5	-5.5	7.4	9.6	-2.8	-5	1.6	5.3	3.8	7.7
Ontario	-14.8	-9.7	5.3	10.7	-2.2	-5.9	-0.7	2.2	-1.3	-5.5
Manitoba	-3.8	1.4	16.6	17.5	6.2	4.4	9.9	15.8	9.8	14
Saskatchewan	-10.1	-4.4	12.9	15.7	2.3	-0.3	2.8	8.4	4.5	5.3
Alberta	-20.9	-16.9	-5.4	-1.1	-12.8	-15	-9.5	-5.7	-9.9	-12.6
British Columbia	-9.2	-6.0	2.2	7.1	-3.0	-3.4	-0.5	-0.2	-0.1	-3.7

Table C1
Expected differences in grade 10 rural student performance through maximising school characteristics

	Original predicted grade 10 average	Teacher support	Disciplinary climate	School activities	Student teacher ratio	Student behaviour	Teacher specialization	Standardized testing	Final model
Alberta	541	9	37	6	4	13	4	0	50
Newfoundland and Labrador	504	8	35	5	10	14	3	0	53
Prince Edward Island	507	8	36	5	5	15	4	0	49
Nova Scotia	530	8	36	4	7	14	3	0	50
New Brunswick	496	9	36	8	6	14	3	2	53
Quebec	546	8	31	7	7	14	2	1	49
Ontario	521	8	36	5	9	14	2	0	53
Manitoba	532	9	38	4	8	13	4	0	52
Saskatchewan	530	8	35	5	8	13	5	0	50
British Columbia	533	8	34	4	7	12	2	0	47

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