Abstract:

This article is based on the empirical investigation in 546 elementary and middle schools from 82 counties 14 provinces, as well as macro data of compulsory education development and case studies of each province from 2010 to 2014, It aims to evaluate the balanced development of compulsory education in China since the implementation of National Medium and Long-term Plan for Education Reform and Development (2010-2020) and presents an analysis of the balanced development of compulsory education since 2010. According to the evaluation, compulsory education in China has made remarkable achievements in terms of balanced development, reaching a new starting point. First, a guarantee mechanism has been established to promote the compulsory education in a strategic way. Second, an investment mechanism has been improved to ensure a growing investment in compulsory education. Third, remarkable achievements have been made in the standardization of school construction. Fourth, some progress has been made in capacity-building of the teaching staff, and the balanced allocation of the teaching staff is under way.
However, the evaluation reveals some problems, such as inadequate funding of compulsory education in central areas, big gaps in education quality between schools, structured short-staffed schools in rural areas, plus the new challenges in urbanization. Therefore, to promote high-quality and balanced development of compulsory education in China, it's essential to adhere to the development concept of innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing, adopting a top-level design and overall planning, and ensuring there is a cushion in place for those in great need. Besides, it's important to build a development network, focusing on the key points to promote balanced and improved quality. First, it's important to renew the development concept and change the traditional ways of balanced development of compulsory education. Second, it's necessary to establish a linking mechanism, strengthen the responsibilities of the government to promote the balanced development and synergetic governance of compulsory education. Third, it's imperative to further improve comprehensive reform, solve the problems one by one, and overcome the major obstacles to the balanced development of compulsory education. Fourth, it's advisable to enhance the guarantee system, and explore a three-dimensional path to balanced development of compulsory education.

Key words: compulsory education, balanced education, third-party evaluation, governance system, comprehensive reform