Education and Reform in China »

Transformative market reforms in China since the late 1970s have improved living standards dramatically, but have also led to unprecedented economic inequality. During this period, China’s educational system was restructured to support economic development, with educational reforms occurring at a startling pace. Today, the educational system has diversified in structure, finance, and content; it has become more market-oriented; and it is serving an increasingly diverse student population. These changes carry significant consequences for China’s social mobility and inequality, and future economic prospects.

In Education and Reform in China, leading scholars in the fields of education, sociology, demography, and economics investigate the evolution of educational access and attainment, educational quality, and the economic consequences of being educated. Education and Reform in China shows that economic advancement is increasingly tied to education in China, even as educational services are increasingly marketized. The volume investigates the varying impact of change for different social, ethnic, economic and geographic groups. Offering interdisciplinary views on the changing role of education in Chinese society, and on China’s educational achievements and policy challenges, this book will be an important resource for those interested in education, public policy, and development issues in China.

List of illustrations     xiii
Notes on contributors     xvii
Preface     xxi
Acknowledgments     xxii
Introduction: market reforms and educational opportunity in China   Emily Hannum   Albert Park   Kai-Ming Cheng     1
Finance and access under market reforms     25
School equity in rural China   Wen Li   Albert Park   Sangui Wang     27
Emergence of private schools in China: context, characteristics, and implications   Jing Lin     44
Educational access for China's post-Cultural Revolution generation: enrollment patterns in 1990   Rachel Connelly   Zhenzhen Zheng     64
Enrollment and graduation patterns as China's reforms deepen, 1990-2000   Rachel Connelly   Zhenzhen Zheng     81
School access in rural Tibet   Gerard A. Postiglione     93
Educational attainment of migrant children: the forgotten story of China's urbanization   Yiu Por Chen   Zai Liang     117
Educational quality     133
The growth and determinants of literacy in China   Donald Treiman     135
Academic achievement and engagement in rural China   Emily Hannum   Albert Park     154
Supporting China's teachers: challenges in reforming professional development   Lynn Paine   Yanping Fang     173
Incentives and the quality of teachers and schools   Weili Ding   Steven Lehrer     191
Marketization and the economic impact of education     205
Returns to education in rural China   Alan De Brauw   Scott Rozelle     207
Returns to education in urban China's transitional economy: reassessment and reconceptualization   Wei Zhao   Xueguang Zhou     224
Rising returns to schooling in urban China   Junsen Zhang   Yaohui Zhao     248
In books one finds a house of gold: education and labor market outcomes in urban China   Margaret Maurer-Fazio     260
Index     277