Chapter 11: Supporting the Under-Resourced Rural Schools Through Partnership: A Case Study of Rural-Urban School Partnership Program in China

The disparity between rural and urban education in China has been a longstanding issue for decades. Since 2010, as the demand for equal access to high quality educational resources has increased, central policy-makers and academicians have promoted rural–urban dialogues and the Chinese government has been initiating programs to dissolve rural–urban educational boundaries and reallocate educational. One government-initiated, rural–urban school partnership program is characterized by a contracted one-to-one partnership between 100 well-resourced urban schools and 100 less resourced rural schools. This program, which aims to subsidize rural schools in terms of financial support, teacher and principal mentorship, professional development, and school management with the help of urban partners, has aroused national attention. University professors participate in the roles of professional trainers, consultants, researchers and evaluators. Using survey data from 1078 teachers in 40 schools plus individual interviews with eight instructors, this grassroots investigation analyzed the multi-perspective voices of stakeholders to measure the effectiveness of the program. The chapter includes implications for other regions and countries using a similar partnership model to close educational inequities.