Improving education equality and quality: Evidence from a natural experiment in China

Education policies which return both quality and equality are important not only to students but also for the sustainable development of society as a whole. It is important to investigate the efficacy of such policies to build a knowledge base for future research and practice. Framed by prior research and a model of policy optimization, this paper reports on a natural experiment which involved analysis of nine years of panel data. The results indicate that the case study high school quota admission policy can effectively reduce education inequality and improve quality. The paper notes insights and implications for policy and research.