How Do Disparities in Children’s School Environments Explain China’s Rural-Urban Educational Divide?

• In Event: Student Forum Roundtables Session
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Roundtable 18: Educational Access and Inequality

Abstract

Prior research has conceptualized the rural-urban divide as a defining feature of educational inequality in contemporary China. Despite a wealth of literature on the growing divide, much less is known about the causal mechanisms that account for the substantial disparities in educational achievements between rural children and their urban counterparts. Grounded in ecological systems theory and the transition to adulthood framework, my research project investigates how school environments contribute to the rural-urban educational divide in China. Specifically, this project asks: (1) How do school characteristics differ among the schools attended by urban-native, rural-to-urban migrant, and rural-native children? (2) To what extent are disparities in school quality associated with gaps in children’s academic achievement? (3) How would academic achievement gaps change if a sample of rural-native and rural-to-urban migrant children were counterfactually assigned to school environments equivalent to those of urban-native children? To examine these research questions, I utilize nationally representative survey data from China Education Panel Survey (CEPS) and employ advanced statistical models and causal inference techniques. This project will fill a critical void in the literature regarding how disparities in school processes contribute to China’s rural-urban educational divide. Findings from this project will also inform policy interventions aimed at mitigating the divide and improving the well-being of rural children in China.

Author

• Quanyi Dai, University of Chicago