Migrant status, school segregation, and students’ academic achievement in urban China

Abstract

This paper examines the role of school segregation in creating disparities in academic achievement between migrant children and their local counterparts in different urban contexts in China. Based on analyses of data from the China Educational Panel Survey (CEPS) in the 2013–2014 academic year, I show that, although migrant children performed significantly worse than local children in municipal cities directly under central government’s jurisdiction, their academic achievements were similar to those of their urban peers in non-municipal cities. The mechanisms by which school segregation influences migrant children’s education differ. In municipal cities, migrant children’s education is worse than that of non-migrant children, regardless of school quality. In non-municipal cities, however, migrant children are better off in the lowest quality schools but still worse off in medium and higher quality schools. Therefore, migrant children are disadvantaged in education, but the form and extent of the disadvantage vary according to specific urban localities, which have different policies of social exclusion and discrimination based on hukou status.

Acknowledgments

The author thank comments from anonymous reviewers, as well as suggestions from the Editor.

Additional information

Funding

The author thank financial support from China National Social Science Fund [grant number 18CSH023].

Notes on contributors

Gaoming Ma

Gaoming Ma, Ph.D., MPhil, is currently working at Center of Social Welfare and Governance, School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University. Ma worked as Director of Social Construction and Social Stability Office Regional Planning and Social Development Division Zhejiang Development and Planning Institution. Ma’s research interests include child development, educational governance, and social policy.