Abstract: Independent reading—unassigned reading for personal pleasure—has been shown to be an important driver of reading skills and academic success. Children that commonly read for pleasure exhibit higher academic performance. However, little research has been done on independent reading in rural China, where the education system is charged with schooling tens of millions of students. Many rural students fall behind their urban counterparts in school, with potentially troubling implications for China’s ongoing development. This article explores the prevalence of independent reading and its associations with reading ability and academic performance among rural students. Using a mixed methods approach, we analyze quantitative data from a survey of 13,232 students from 134 rural schools and interviews with students, teachers, principals, and caregivers. We find that independent reading is positively and significantly correlated with reading ability as well as standardized math and Chinese tests scores. Despite such correlations, only 17 percent of students report reading for pleasure for an hour a day. Interview findings suggest that inaccessible bookstores, curriculum constraints, unsupportive home environments, low availability of appealing and level-appropriate books, and insufficient school investment in reading resources may explain the low prevalence of independent reading.

We estimate the impact of two early commitment of financial aid (ECFA) programs—one at the start and one near the end of junior high school (seventh and ninth grades, respectively)—on the outcomes of poor, rural junior high students in China. Our results demonstrate that neither of the ECFA programs has a substantive effect. We find that the ninth-grade program had at most only a small (and likely negligible) effect on matriculation to high school. The seventh-grade program had no effect on either dropout rates during junior high school or on educa- tional performance as measured by a standardized math test. The seventh-grade program did increase the plans of students to attend high school by 15%. In examining why ECFA was not able to motivate significant behavioral changes for ninth graders, we argue that the competitiveness of the education system successfully screened out poorer performing students and promoted better performing students. Thus by the ninth grade, the remaining students were already committed to going to high school regardless of ECFA support. In regards to the results of the seventh grade program, we show how seventh graders appear to be engaged in wishful thinking (they appear to change plans without reference to whether their plans are realistic).

The goal of this study is to examine whether promising a conditional cash transfer (conditional on matriculation) at the start of junior high school increases the rate at which disadvantaged students matriculate into high school. Based on a randomised controlled trial (RCT) involving 1418 disadvantaged (economically poor) students in rural China, we find that a CCT voucher has no effect on increasing high school matriculation for the average disadvantaged student. The CCT voucher also has no differential impact on students at any point in the distribution of baseline academic achievement. This result suggests that CCTs, while shown to be effective in many contexts, do not always work.

We respond to Anning Hu's commentary on our report “College is a rich, Han, urban, male club: Research notes from a census survey of four tier one colleges in China.” The topic of assessing disparities in college access in China (and other developing countries undergoing major transitions in their higher education systems) is an important one. We hope that our China Quarterly article, Hu’s commentary and our response will stimulate more research and dialogue on this topic in China and elsewhere.

Junior high dropout rates are up to 25% in poor, rural areas of China. Although existing studies have examined how factors such as high tuition and opportunity costs contribute to dropout, fewer studies have explored the relationship between dropout rates and mental health in rural China. The overall goal of this study is to examine the relationship between dropout and mental health problems in rural Chinese junior high schools. Correlational analysis was conducted among 4,840 students across 38 junior high schools in rural China. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions were used to determine the types of students most at risk for mental health problems and whether mental health problems are correlated with dropout behavior. Our measure for mental health is based on the Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale. Mental health problems are widespread in the sample of rural children, with 74% of students at risk for mental health problems. The student and family characteristics that correlate with dropout (poverty and low achievement) also correlate with mental health problems. More importantly, even after controlling for these background characteristics, mental health problems remain correlated with dropout rates. Mental health problems, especially among low-achieving poor students, may be contributing to the high dropout rates in rural China today. This finding suggests that interventions focusing on mental health in rural areas may also help reduce dropout.