After-school service policy design in China and the United States: a comparative study of policy instruments in Shanghai and New Jersey

Establishing an appropriate after-school service policy system is a prerequisite for advancing the sustainable and sound development of after-school services. To provide implications for after-school service governance, this study establishes a two-dimensional analytical framework encompassing policy instruments and policy content. Based on policy documents issued by Shanghai and New Jersey, a cross-comparative analysis is conducted. The findings indicate issues such as the imbalanced deployment of policy instruments, inadequate emphasis on the systematic development of a quality supervision system in policy content, and weak coherence between policy instruments and content. Accordingly, the study proposes optimizing the proportion and structure of policy instruments, prioritizing quality supervision and assurance mechanisms, and constructing collaborative networks to improve the matching between policy instruments and content, thereby fostering a more effective after-school service policy system.