Does private tutoring improve student learning in China? Evidence from the China Education Panel Survey

Abstract

Based on data from the China Education Panel Survey, which covers 28 counties/districts of China, this study applies a difference-in-differences method (combined with propensity score matching in some analyses) to estimate the impacts of private tutoring on students' learning outcomes. Our analyses yield three important findings. First, subject-specific tutoring has a statistically significant and positive effect on Grade 8 students' scores on Chinese and mathematics tests, although the effects are modest in size. Second, private tutoring improves students' academic performance mainly through enhancing their test-taking skills or deepening their understanding of subject-specific knowledge, rather than improving their general cognitive skills. Finally, the effect of private tutoring is heterogenous across different subsamples: it is larger for female students, low-performing students, and students with better-educated and wealthier parents.