The education of China's migrant children: The missing link in China's education system

Impact of Free Glasses and a Teacher Incentive on Children's Use of Eyeglasses: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial

“…In these communities migrant children mostly attend schools that are private and unregulated, with little support from the government. 15 SAMPLING AND ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: All elementary schools in these cities identified by the local Bureaus of Education as having a primarily migrant population were enumerated and 94 schools were selected at random (66 in Shanghai and 28 in Suzhou/Wuxi). One fifth grade class (children aged 10-12 years) was selected at random in each school, and questionnaires (see below) were administered and visual acuity testing and refraction (see below) carried out.…”

Assimilation Patterns of Migrant Students in China: An Exploration of their Implications for Mathematics Outcomes

“…Other studies have focused on migrant children's mathematics achievement and indicated that migrant children in public schools perform better in academic achievement than migrant students in segregated migrant schools (Lu, 2007;Chen and Feng, 2013;Lai et al, 2014). The point to bear in mind, however, is that the equity differences that emerge here cannot be reduced merely to whether a particular school is segregated or not.…”

“…It is manifestly clear that migrant pupils who attend schools with a greater share of children from higher socioeconomic backgrounds, segregated or not, have been found to perform better academically (Guo, 2011;Lai et al, 2014). In contrast, minority students in segregated schools of lower socioeconomic status, tend to produce students who have lower levels of educational attainment, fewer job opportunities, a reluctance to pursue demographically integrated relationships later in life, and an increased likelihood of holding parochial and prejudiced attitudes (Linn and Welner, 2007).…”

“…Migrant children from educationally disadvantaged places of origin benefit significantly from exposure to 'richer' schooling environments and the longer their length of stay in such environments, the greater the level of improvement in their academic performance. Given increased exposure to this better-resourced academic environment (Lai et al, 2014) that is to say, students tend to perform better than they would in segregated schools of lower socioeconomic background. One reason given why the duration of residency in urban public schools matters for migrant children is due to the fact that the potential for migrant student self-transformation and higher achievement outcomes comes through the opportunity to experience the phenomenon of 'acculturation' into mainstream society and the value it places on educational success, along with the provision of resources which facilitate this outcome.…”

“…Meanwhile, the length of residence needs also to be discussed in terms of the migrant child's particular grade level. Many studies have described a significant and widening school behavior gap for migrant children only in anecdotal ways or have only focused on mathematics achievement at one grade level (Lai et al, 2014). As they progress in urban schools, the psychological wellbeing of migrant students in primary and middle schools, particularly in higher grade levels, suffer an increased sensibility of discrimination (Tao et al, 2004).…”