An Empirical Study on the Influence of School Choice on Junior Middle School Students’ Academic Performance

Abstract

Using data from 17,424 junior middle school student responses in the Chinese Education Panel Survey 2014 (CEPS 2014), this study analyzes the influence of school choice on the academic performance of primary to junior students. The results show that students whose families have a higher socioeconomic status and urban students are more likely to choose their school, and that the student’s choice of school does not make an impact on their Chinese, mathematics, foreign language or total academic scores. This indicates that choosing schools does not improve students’ academic performance. School choice increases the unequal distribution of high-quality education opportunities and reduces the efficiency of educational resources. Therefore, the government should take measures to allocate quality resources more equitably, to increase the supply of quality education resources and to guide parents and students to choose schools rationally.