A quantitative assessment of Chinese county high school policies using the PMC index model

The county high school policies (CHSPs) is crucial for improving the quality of basic education in China’s counties and promoting rural social development. As policy documents are the foundational elements of policy systems, it is crucial to evaluate current policy texts, identify their shortcomings, and provide empirical evidence for future policy development. This study collected 55 policy texts from provincial and municipal governments, utilizing the Policy Modeling Consistency index model to evaluate 14 representative policies. The results indicate that all the assessed policies fall within the“pass”,“good”,or“with distinction” score category, with no substandard policies identified and none achieving a “perfect” score.A detailed analysis identifies critical policy shortcomings, including the prioritization of short-to-medium-term strategies over long-term planning, fragmented enrollment systems, insufficient campus culture development, as well as limited career guidance, mental health support,and policy guidance for home-school-community joint education. Local governments adopt a conservative stance on educational policy evaluation and systemic institutional reforms.To address these issues, this study recommends that local governments integrate the enrollment systems of public and private high schools within their jurisdictions, strengthen the prohibition of on cross-regional enrollment, increase investment in students’ career guidance and mental health education, and launch more programs to encourage parents and communities to participate in school education. Moreover, the central government should urge local authorities to accelerate reforms in the high school education system.