International Journal of Educational Development
Volume 37, 2014, Pages 68-77

The education of China's migrant children: The missing link in China's education system (Article)

Lai F.* , Liu C. , Luo R. , Zhang L. , Ma X. , Bai Y. , Sharbono B. , Rozelle S.
  • a Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States, LICOS (Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance), Katholic University of Leuven, Belgium
  • b Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
  • c Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
  • d Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
  • e University of California, Davis, CA, United States
  • f Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States
  • g Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States
  • h Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States

Abstract

This paper examines the academic performance of migrant students in China and explores determinants of their performance. The paper compares academic performance, student backgrounds and measures of school quality between private schools attended only by migrant children in Beijing (Beijing migrant schools) and rural public schools in Shaanxi province. Furthermore, we employ multivariate regression to examine how individual characteristics and school quality affect migrant student performance and the achievement gap between migrant students and those in rural public schools. We find that although migrant students outperform students in Shaanxi's rural public schools when they initially arrive in Beijing, they gradually lose ground to rural students due to the poorer school resources and teacher quality in their schools. Additional analysis comparing migrant students in migrant schools to migrant students in Beijing public schools demonstrates that given access to better educational resources, migrant students may be able to significantly improve their performance. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Author Keywords

Education China Migration Test scores

Index Keywords

international migration education China rural area Beijing [China] regression analysis student academic performance
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84900542375&doi=10.1016%2fj.ijedudev.2013.11.006&partnerID=40&md5=beeeda5237cb7ec904f7bcf036f1f0e3
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2013.11.006
ISSN: 07380593
Cited by: 59
Original Language: English