What are the Actual Effects of Extracurricular Tutoring Governance: Multi-dimensional Evaluation Based on Policy Goals and Target Audiences

The implementation of the "Double Reduction" policy has exceeded four years, and the question of "what are the actual effects of extracurricular tutoring governance" has attracted attention. However, there is no consensus among various sectors on the effectiveness of extracurricular tutoring governance, and a systematic review is urgently needed. Using a systematic literature review, 23 classic studies were analyzed and integrated. An evaluation framework was constructed from two dimensions: policy goal and target audience. This approach can present the effectiveness of burden reduction in a comprehensive way and reveal the causes of perceived bias in policy effectiveness. In terms of policy goal, both explicit goals (regulating training activities, strictly approving training institutions, and strengthening routine supervision) and implicit goals (returning to reasonable school operation, regulating the education market, and reinforcing the leading role of schools in education) were generally achieved. However, in terms of policy target audiences, there were significant differences in the burden reduction and policy perception among groups with different socioeconomic statuses and school stages: urban middle-class families experienced "reverse burden increase," county and town families saw some reduction, and rural families' situations did not change significantly; families of primary school students experienced a significant reduction in burden, families of junior high students saw little relief and increased economic expenditure, and high school students' families were minimally affected by the policy. The complexity of extracurricular tutoring governance suggests that researchers should abandon a black-and-white evaluation mindset, carefully distinguish between explicit and implicit policy goals and their impacts on different policy target audiences, and avoid misjudging the effectiveness of the "Double Reduction" policy based on the perspective of a single group.