My research focuses on education, child and youth welfare, and social inequality,
particularly in China. In China, I have conducted research on gender, ethnic, and
geographic disparities in education and employment, changes in the impact of education on
income and occupational attainment under market reforms, rural teachers and their links
to student outcomes, and children's and adolescents' welfare under market
reforms. Recent publications include "Beyond Cost: Rural Perspectives on Barriers to
Education." (with Jennifer Adams, in Creating Wealth and Poverty in China, edited by
Deborah Davis and Wang Feng, 2008, Stanford University Press) and “Gender-Based
Employment Differences in Urban China: Considering the Contributions of Marriage and
Parenthood.” (with Yuping Zhang and Meiyan Wang, Social Forces, 2008). I co-direct the
Gansu Survey of Children and Families, a collaborative, longitudinal study of
children's welfare in rural northwest China, with Albert Park. I am a co-editor of
the series Research in Sociology of Education and the journal Comparative Education
Review. I work with two foundations that promote education in rural China: the Rural
China Education Foundation (RuralChina.org), and Givology (givology.org).

Child and Adolescent Welfare

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Adolescent Transitions to Adulthood in Reform-Era China (with Jihong Liu), The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries: Selected Studies (2005)
 

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Children’s Social Welfare in China, 1989–1997: Access to Health Insurance and Education (with Jennifer H. Adams), China Quarterly (2005)
 

Educational Provision and Access

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Doing More With Less: Teacher Professional Learning Communities in Resource-Constrained Primary Schools in Rural China (with Tanja C. Sargent), Gansu Survey of Children and Families Papers (2009)
 

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Teaching Quality and Student Outcomes: Academic Achievement and Educational Engagement in Rural Northwest China (with Xuehui An and Tanja Sargent), Gansu Survey of Children and Families Papers (2008)
 

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Education in the Reform Era (with Jere Behrman, Meiyan Wang, and Jihong Liu), China’s Great Economic Transformation (2008)
 

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Urban-Rural Disparities in Access to Primary and Secondary Education Under Market Reform (with Meiyan Wang and Jennifer H. Adams), One Country, Two Societies? Rural-Urban Inequality in Contemporary China (2008)
 

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Educational Resources and Impediments in Rural Gansu, China (with Peggy Kong), Gansu Survey of Children and Families Working Papers (2007)
 

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Gender Stratification

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Family Sources of Educational Gender Inequality in Rural China: A Critical Assessment (with Peggy A. Kong and Yuping Zhang), Gansu Survey of Children and Families Papers (2008)
 

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Girls in Gansu, China: Expectations and aspirations for secondary schooling (with Jennifer Adams), Gansu Survey of Children and Families Papers (2008)
 

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Gender-Based Employment and Income Differences in Urban China: Considering the Contributions of Marriage and Parenthood (with Yuping Zhang and Meiyan Wang), Social Forces (2008)
 

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Do Mothers in Rural China Practice Gender Equality in Educational Aspirations for Their Children? (with Yuping Zhang and Grace Kao), Gansu Survey of Children and Families Papers (2007)
 

Poverty and Educational Outcomes

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Poverty, Parental Ill Health and Children’s Access to Schooling in Rural Gansu, China (with Tanja Sargent and Shengchao Yu), Gansu Survey of Children and Families Papers (2009)
 

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Poverty and Proximate Barriers to Learning: Vision Deficiencies, Vision Correction and Educational Outcomes in Rural Northwest China (with Yuping Zhang), PARC Working Papers (2008)
 

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Beyond Cost: Rural Perspectives on Barriers to Education (with Jennifer H. Adams), Creating Wealth and Poverty in China (2008)
 

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Food for Thought: Poverty, Family Nutritional Environment, and Children's Educational Performance in Rural China (with Shengchao Yu), Gansu Survey of Children and Families Papers (2007)
 

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Poverty, Health and Schooling in China (with Shengchao Yu), Education, Stratification and Social Change in China (2006)