Family or school? Understanding the urban–rural achievement gap and its generating mechanisms in China

Abstract This study examines the urban–rural achievement gap among Chinese middle-school students. Engaging with the classical family–school debate, this study sheds lights on the contribution of family and school factors to the achievement gap led by one of the most important institutional factors— hukou status—in China. To decompose the gap and investigate its generating mechanisms, the author uses structural equation modeling. Analyzing two waves of the China Educational Panel Survey, the author finds that family socioeconomic status (SES), as the confounding variable, effectively accounts for the disadvantage of Chinese rural students. After family SES is controlled for, family cultural activity is the major force enlarging the urban–rural gap; while parental educational expectation is the force reducing the urban–rural gap. Mechanisms of school-related variables make almost no statistically significant contribution to the gap.