The School Implementation Of The Elective Examination Policy Under The Background Of The New College Entrance Examination Reform

The elective examination is one of the key points of new college entrance examination reform,which encountered many obstacles in many years of its implementation process.The policy texts over the years demonstrate that the rules for the elective examination have gradually stabilized.The existing studies have analyzed the difficulties in the implementation of the elective examination in detail and proposed solutions,but have not yet analyzed the implementation process at the school level.On this basis,this study takes City A of Zhejiang Province as an example,collecting and analyzing interviews and physical materials on the implementation of school elective examination.With the help of education policy implementation theory and Neoinstitutional theory,this study aims to answer three research questions: What is the implementation process of the elective examination reform policy at the school level?During the implementation of the elective examination policy,what are the perceptions,demands,and discourse rights of different agents? How do these agents interact to stabilize the school implementation of elective examination?The findings of this study are as follows: firstly,the measures taken by the school to implement the elective examination policy have gone through the process of institutionalization,which can be divided into three stages,from the initial stage of implementation,during which all participants were at a loss,to the stage of exploration and formation,with many attempts to find out feasible solutions,and finally to form fixed measures in the stage of stabilization.The school’s measures include five aspects,such as subject selection,class selection,career plan,solving implementation difficulties and coping with policy changes,and family measures.The institutionalization of elective examinations involves the continuation of the old system and the exploration of a new system,with both innovation and gradual changes,reflecting two mechanisms: institutionalization based on increasing returns and institutionalization as increasing objectification of shared beliefs.Secondly,this study believes that the stabilization of the implementation of the elective examination is the process of establishing a negotiated order among all participants.The agents involved include the personnel of the Education Bureau,senior high school administrators,teachers,and students.Under the influence of the institution,they have formed different opinions on the elective examination,expressed their appeals according to their discursive power,and strived for interests.Thirdly,the negotiated order of elective examination is the result of the game between the agents in the organization field.The agents have established multi-level consultation relations,and constructed a stable implementation order through continuous consultation activities.This stable order is manifested in the fixed measures implemented by the school and the strategies adopted during implementation,including selectively and hierarchically implementing the elective examination policy,formulating implementation plans based on the school’s conditions,flexibly responding to specific situations,and increasing the adaptability of the system.Based on the above findings,the recommendations of this study are as follows.Firstly,schools should more respect students’ autonomy and provide as many subject selection combinations as possible.Secondly,schools need to improve career planning initiatives and provide more practical opportunities.Thirdly,students can use information technology to guide the selection of exams,combining teacher experience.Fourth,exploiting the educational functions of the elective examination process.