Based on the theoretical framework of cultural reproduction theory and ecosystem theory, this paper explores the impact of migrant children's identification with the college entrance examination policy on their educational expectations and the associated underlying mechanisms from the micro, meso, and macro levels. In total, 1,770 questionnaires were collected from students, and 436 people were interviewed, including students, their teachers, and their parents. They are all from China. Through multidimensional analysis, the results indicated that both individual academic achievement and family social capital have positive impacts on migrant children's educational expectations and that social class segregation in school and perceived social discrimination have negative impacts on their educational expectations. Migrant children's identification with the policy has a significant positive impact on these children's educational expectations. Their identification with the policy enhances the positive impact of individual academic achievement and family social capital on their educational expectations and partially weakens the negative impact of social class segregation in school and perceived social discrimination on their educational expectations. The analysis suggests that college matriculation policy for migrant children drives a compensation mechanism that involves the “principle of justice”, a cultural mechanism that involves “promoting learning through examinations”, and an institutional mechanism involving “urban-rural integration” to increase educational expectations. This study enriches and develops the expectation theory of migrant children and provides a policy reference for local governments to improve their policies for college entrance examinations for migrant children and to promote household registration system reform.

This study thoroughly analyzes the impacts of school class segregation on the four dimensions of educational expectations of migrant children, and verifies the moderating effects of migrant children’s identification with the college entrance examination policy on the relationship between the two. A total of 1770 questionnaires were collected for this study. Through multiple regression analysis and moderating effect tests on the data, this study reveals that school class segregation has a significant negative impact on the educational expectations of migrant children; the migrant children’s identification with the college entrance examination policy also partially moderates the impacts of school class segregation on the academic achievement expectations and interpersonal expectations of migrant children. Informed by these results, this study proposes the following three mechanisms that can be used to mitigate the negative impacts of school class segregation on migrant children’s educational expectations: (a) an institutional mechanism involving the “unified urban–rural household registration”; (b) a cultural mechanism involving “promoting learning through examinations”; (c) a compensation mechanism involving the “principle of justice”. This paper provides a Chinese perspective on the issue of school class segregation by offering a policy reference for the improvement of the college entrance examination policy for migrant children and the reform of the household registration system.

China’s urban educational policies have been established to solve the problems of potential discrimination and inequitable access to education, disrupting migrant children who move from rural areas to urban cities and who tend to suffer from a range of mental health issues. However, little is known regarding how China’s urban educational policies affect migrant children’s psychological capital and social integration. This paper aims to explore the effect of urban education policies on improving migrant children’s psychological capital level in China. The second objective of this paper is to examine whether policies can encourage them to integrate into urban society in a positive way. This paper thoroughly analyzes the impact of China’s urban educational policies on three dimensions of social integration of migrant children (identification, acculturation, and psychological integration), and also verifies the mediating effects of psychological capital on the relationships between these variables. The subjects of this study are 1770 migrant children in grades 8–12, who are sourced from seven coastal cities in China. Multiple regression analysis and mediation effect tests are employed to analyze the data. This study reveals that migrant children’s identification with educational policies has a significant positive impact on their psychological capital. Psychological capital has partial mediating effects on the relationship between identification with educational policies and the three dimensions of social integration. In other words, identification with educational policies indirectly affects the process of social integration of migrant children through psychological capital. Based on this, for the purpose of promoting the positive impacts of educational policies of inflow cities on the social integration of migrant children, this study makes the following recommendations: (a) at the micro-level, the psychological capital of individual migrant children should be enhanced; (b) at the meso-level, the partnerships between migrant children and urban children should be taken seriously; and (c) at the macro-level, the urban educational policies related to migrant children should be improved. This paper not only makes policy recommendations for improving the educational policies of inflow cities, but also offers a Chinese perspective on the research related to the tricky issue facing all countries around the world, the social integration of migrant children.