Will Special-Contracted Teachers Promote the Development of Rural Students?From the Perspective of the New Human Capital Theory

The Special-Contracted Teacher Scheme,a supplement to the traditional mode of teacher supply,has been implemented for 17 years and the teaching quality of those teachers has gained a lot of attention.Using data of teachers and students from the sample counties in four central and western provincial-level administrative units,this paper studies how special-contracted teachers have affected students’academic performance and non-cognitive ability according to the student development framework of the new human capital theory,and how those effects vary among different teacher groups.Results show that while special-contracted teachers have helped improve the academic performance of rural students,their role is limited in improving students’non-cognitive ability.At the same time,female special-contracted teachers and those without a normal major play an obviously bigger role in raising students’academic performance.The conclusion is that special-contracted teachers can to some extent help narrow the urban-rural gap in academic performance,but more research needs to be done to better understand their effects on students’non-cognitive ability.