BECE. Newsletter 

Vol.7, No.2, 2021 1013 

 

 

 

 

The Impact of the New College Entrance Examination 

Reform on Inequality of Educational Opportunities 

By Zhang, W., Ha, W., & Zhu, H. 
Correspondence to: Wei Ha, Deputy Dean, Institute of Economics of Education, 

Peking University, China. Email: wha@pku.edu.cn 

ECENTLy, an empirical study published in Research in Educational 

Development conducted the variance analysis of students’ different so-

cial strata around the new college entrance examination reform based on the 

survey data of 2016-2019 freshmen cohorts in a key state university and also 

explored the compensation effects of career education in senior high schools. 

The research findings are as follows: 

 The early trail of the reform put the background selection much 

more severe, while students from the advantageous social level oc-

cupy the dominant position. The complexity of the reform, such as 

mark-giving methods and college application processes forced stu-

dents to collect adequate and effective information to make the 

proper decisions. However, the disadvantaged students who relative-

ly lack in the family economy, culture, and social capital are very 

likely to face the situation of asymmetric information or even the so-

cial stratum dilemma. 

 The career education in high schools shows a positive effect on the 

participation of parents in college preparation for their children, but 

it has not yet shown significant compensation effects. However, 

school career education has shown signs of narrowing the gap in pa-

rental involvement between classes. 

The study suggests that it may be just because of the exploratory peri-

od of school career education in the reform process and the lag period of its 

effectiveness, which highlights the role and the role played by family capital 

in this competition. This just emphasizes that under the background of the 

new college entrance examination system, continuing to effectively promote 

school career education plays an important regulating role in students’ devel-

opment and the realization of real educational equity 

 

Source: Research in Educational Development, 2020; 40(Z1):57-66. 

 
 

 

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