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From Rural Schools to City Factories: Assessing the Quality of Chinese Rural Schools. EdWorkingPaper No. 25-1257

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Bibliographic Details
Title: From Rural Schools to City Factories: Assessing the Quality of Chinese Rural Schools. EdWorkingPaper No. 25-1257
Language: English
Authors: Eric A. Hanushek, Le Kang, Xueying Li, Lei Zhang, Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University
Source: Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. 2025.
Availability: Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. Brown University Box 1985, Providence, RI 02912. Tel: 401-863-7990; Fax: 401-863-1290; e-mail: annenberg@brown.edu; Web site: https://annenberg.brown.edu/
Peer Reviewed: N
Page Count: 51
Publication Date: 2025
Document Type: Reports - Descriptive
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Educational Quality, Rural Schools, Educational Improvement, Geographic Location, Teacher Student Ratio, Expenditure per Student, Migrant Workers, Educational Resources
Geographic Terms: China
Abstract: The changing pattern of quality in China's rural schools across time and province is extracted from the differential labor market earnings of rural migrant workers. Variations in rates of return to years of schooling across migrant workers working in the same urban labor market but having different sites of basic education provide for direct estimation of provincial school quality. Corroborating this approach, these school quality estimates prove to be highly correlated with provincial cognitive skill test scores for the same demographic group. Returns to quality increase with economic development level of destination cities. Importantly, quality appears higher and provincial variation appears lower for younger cohorts, indicating at least partial effectiveness of more recent policies aimed at improving rural school quality across provinces. Surprisingly, however, provincial variations in quality are uncorrelated with teacher-student ratio or per student spending.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2026
Accession Number: ED678181
Database: ERIC
Description
Abstract:The changing pattern of quality in China's rural schools across time and province is extracted from the differential labor market earnings of rural migrant workers. Variations in rates of return to years of schooling across migrant workers working in the same urban labor market but having different sites of basic education provide for direct estimation of provincial school quality. Corroborating this approach, these school quality estimates prove to be highly correlated with provincial cognitive skill test scores for the same demographic group. Returns to quality increase with economic development level of destination cities. Importantly, quality appears higher and provincial variation appears lower for younger cohorts, indicating at least partial effectiveness of more recent policies aimed at improving rural school quality across provinces. Surprisingly, however, provincial variations in quality are uncorrelated with teacher-student ratio or per student spending.