Abstract:

Through sorting out the policy evolution of weak schools since the reform and opening up, it is found that in order to meet the people’s growing urgent demand for high-quality compulsory education, the development of weak schools has experienced a policy evolution from abolishing key schools, to promoting balanced development, and to optimizing school conditions. Based on reviewing, summarizing, and reflecting on the policy evolution of weak schools in China since the reform and opening up, this research proposes an optimization path for the development of weak schools in the new era, that is, taking the transformation of government functions and releasing the space for self-hosted schools as a starting point, the improving the internal governance system of weak schools as focus, the stimulating the vitality of weak schools as the foothold, so as to strive to improve the quality of school running in weak schools based on achieving good governance, good order, and vitality, and then accelerate the high-quality and balanced development of compulsory education.

Key words: weak school, policy evolution, school running vitality