The Influence Of School Size On Students' Academic Performance In Rural Primary And Secondary Schools

Rural education is a local public product and an important issue in the provision of local public goods and the formulation of public policies.From the evaluation of rural education public policies,we not only simply consider the economies of scale of effi ciency in terms of layout adjustment,but also consider the impact of public education policies on the fairness of students in the western region,especially in remote areas.Since 2001,the central government has implemented a rural primary and secondary school layout adjustment policy to improve the quality of rural teaching and coordinate the development of urban and rural education.The goal is to optimize the allocation of educational resources.Although the im plementation of this reform has optimized resource allocation and expanded the economies of scale of education,the "one size fits all" rapid withdrawal of small-scale rural schools and the expansion of county and town schools are considered to be effective in improving rural school efficiency and saving education costs.The promotion of the way in rural areas in the country has led to large-scale "mega-schools" in different levels of county education.Will the expansion of school scale have an impact on student achievement and the quality of rural compulsory education?What kind of impact does it have?The answers to the above questions are undoubtedly of great significance for improving the level of rural human capital as a whole.Based on field research,this paper analyzes the impact of the scale of primary and secondary schools in the three western provinces on students,academic performance.Firstly,the background and significan ce of this paper are summ arized,and the relevant concepts and theories involved in the research as well as the related domestic and foreign literature classifications are elaborated in detail,which lays a theoretical foundation for the follow-up research.Secondly,through the construction of a theoretical analysis framework,the impact mechanism of school scale on students'academic performance is studied and the impact paths are analyzed.Thirdly,on the basis of empirical research design,using the research data of Shaanxi,Qinghai,and Ningxia in the western region,the direct effect of the multi-level linear model on the school scale and academic achievement of primary and middle school students,and the adjustment effect of family socio-economic status on the relationship between the two-conduct empirical research.The study found that the larger scale of the school after the implementation of the rural primary and secondary school layout adjustment policy in the western region is not conducive to the improvement of academic performance of primary and secondary school students.Family socio-economic status has a significant regulatory effect on the relationship between school size and student achievement.That is to say,compared to large-scale schools,small-scale schools are more conducive to the improvement of academic performance of students whose family socio-economic status is unfavorable.Therefore,small-scale schools are more helps achieve educational equity.Finally,the paper proposes corresponding policy recommendations based on the conclusions of the empirical analysis results.For example:Rural education and decision-making needs to weaken economies of scale;Control the scale of rural schools reasonably;Recover some rural small-scale schools and increase the investment in "software" elements of rural compulsory education.