Access to Public Schools and the Education of Migrant Children in China

33 Pages Posted: 6 Oct 2012

See all articles by Yuanyuan Chen

Yuanyuan Chen

Shanghai University of Finance and Economics

Shuaizhang Feng

Shanghai University of Finance and Economics - Department of Economics; Princeton University; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Abstract

A significant proportion of migrant children in China are not able to attend public schools for lack of local household registration (HuKou), and turn to privately-operated migrant schools. This paper examines the consequences of such a partially involuntary school choice, using survey data and standardized test scores from field work conducted in Shanghai. We find that migrant students who are unable to enroll in public schools perform significantly worse than their more fortunate counterparts in both Chinese and Mathematics. We also use parental satisfaction and parental assessment of school quality as alternative measures of the educational outcome and find similar results. Our study suggests that access to public schools is the key factor determining the quality of education that migrant children receive.

Keywords: education of migrant children, migrant school, standardized test score

JEL Classification: I28, J15, O15

Suggested Citation

Chen, Yuanyuan and Feng, Shuaizhang, Access to Public Schools and the Education of Migrant Children in China. IZA Discussion Paper No. 6853, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2157995 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2157995

Yuanyuan Chen (Contact Author)

Shanghai University of Finance and Economics ( email )

777 Guoding Road
Shanghai, AK Shanghai 200433
China

Shuaizhang Feng

Shanghai University of Finance and Economics - Department of Economics ( email )

777 Guoding Road
Shanghai, AK Shanghai 200433
China

Princeton University

22 Chambers Street
Princeton, NJ 08544-0708
United States

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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