We then proceed to the main body of the report. We present empirical evidence about demographics and geography and investigate ethnic disparities in poverty rates, income and employment, educational access and attainment, health care, and access to social programs. We close with a summary of main findings and their implications for development activities in minority areas and for further policy research on ethnic stratification.

Drawing on comparative and China-specific literature on gender and exclusion, we investigate several questions. First, do gender gaps favoring boys exist in enrollment, children's educational aspirations, and parental expectations? Second, are gender gaps in enrollment, aspirations, and parental expectations worse among the poorest children and families? Third, are girls' educational outcomes more sensitive to prior performance? Fourth, do characteristics of early homeroom teachers and early classroom experiences have different effects on outcomes for girls and boys? Our findings suggest that girls do not face substantially greater access barriers to basic education than do boys in much of rural Gansu.

In 2000, most mothers expressed egalitarian views about girls' and boys' rights and abilities, in the abstract. However, the vast majority of mothers still expected to rely on sons for old-age support, and nearly one in five mothers interviewed agreed with the traditional saying, "Sending girls to school is useless since they will get married and leave home." Compared to boys, girls faced somewhat lower (though still very high) maternal educational expectations and a greater likelihood of being called on for household chores than boys. However, there was little evidence of a gender gap in economic investments in education. Girls rivaled or outperformed boys in academic performance and engagement. Seven years later, boys had attained just about a third of a year more schooling than girls — a quite modest advantage that could not be fully explained by early parental attitudes and investments, or student performance or engagement. Fieldwork confirmed that parents of sons and daughters tended to have high aspirations for their children. Parents sometimes viewed boys as having greater aptitude, but tended to view girls as having more dedication — an attribute parents perceived as being critical for educational success. Findings suggest that at least in Gansu, rural parental educational attitudes and practices toward boys and girls are more complicated and less uniformly negative for girls than commonly portrayed.

Analyzing a survey of children in 100 rural villages, we find that parental illness is experienced disproportionately by the most economically vulnerable children. Moreover, parental illness can be linked to children’s educational access and experience in several ways. Children with an ill father are less likely to be enrolled than others; prior parental ill health is associated with lower household educational spending; and ill parents are more likely to report borrowing for their children’s education. Children with ill mothers are more likely to be absent and to work longer in the household. Children with ill mothers perform more poorly in math, and those with ill mothers and ill fathers are more likely to work for wages, on average, but these effects are accounted for by the deeper impoverishment of households with ill parents, compared to other households.

Results suggest that ill health may have a ‘spillover’ effect on the long-term educational (and thus economic) prospects of the next generation. A change in this situation depends heavily on the success of new government initiatives to reduce health care and education cost burdens on the poor.

In part one of the paper, we provide a descriptive overview of the material, human, and cultural resources available in sampled primary and middle schools. Where possible, we note changes between 2000 and 2004. We describe the following types of resources: (1) basic facilities; (2) financial arrangements; (3) teachers, including their background, qualifications, working lives, professional development activities, satisfaction with work, and attitudes about school management and culture; and (4) classroom environments, as reported by teachers and by students. In this descriptive section of the paper, we highlight basic infrastructure issues, the complexity of financial arrangements at the time of the surveys, problems of teacher wage arrears and teacher morale, and the pedagogies and learning environments in classrooms, as reported by teachers and students.

In part two of the paper, we investigate reasons for school leaving reported by village leaders, families, and children themselves, and analyze contributors to subsequent enrollment, change in attainment, and attainment of nine years of compulsory education. Our models of family, teacher, and school effects on outcomes show that higher socio-economic status children are more likely to show grade attainment, continued enrollment, and attainment of nine years of basic education. In contrast, the gender story is mixed: girls are less likely to be enrolled, but have not gained less grades, nor are they less likely to achieve nine years of education. This finding suggests that boys may start later or repeat more. It is possible that boys are more likely to be encouraged to repeat a grade to complete it successfully or to increase high school exam scores.

One significant finding is that the introduction of school and teacher effects, by and large, does not explain away the advantages of children in better off families. School and teacher effects do not consistently matter across the three outcomes. Some interesting findings include that teacher absenteeism in 2000 is associated with less attainment between 2000 and 2004; children with better-paid home room teachers are more likely to attain nine years of school; and children in schools with minban teachers are less likely to attain nine years. However, there is not a consistent story of school characteristics that help or hinder childrenʹs persistence. Reports by village-leaders, fathers, mothers, and children themselves indicate that, along with socioeconomic status, children's performance and engagement are significant factors in school continuation decisions in Gansu's rural villages. Multivariate analyses indicate that childrenʹs early aspirations and performance matter for later outcomes.

We close by discussing the most significant strengths and weaknesses identified among the school resources discussed in part one, and the most significant supports and hindrances to favorable educational outcomes considered in part two.