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Early intervention services to young children with developmental delays in China have experienced significant growth since 1978, the beginning of the period of Reform and Opening. This article described the present situation of early intervention practices in mainland China, framed around the key components and guiding principles of Guralnick's Developmental Systems Approach (DSA). The overarching purpose of this to overview is to develop a nationwide, integrated, and coordinated early intervention system, one that will develop in spite of the diversity inherent in the current practices and the dominant tradition of professionals as authority around the country. Extensive evidence demonstrates that early intervention practices in China have addressed some of the guiding principles of DSA and made significant progress in developing some components of DSA. Nevertheless, there still remains a great deal of work to be done to bring China's practices for the care and intervention of families and children up to the quality standards of the DSA for early intervention. Implications within the Chinese context for incorporating the key elements of DSA with strong connections between research, policy, and practices to further develop and strengthen early intervention system are discussed.

This article describes the background and findings of a research project on school effectiveness and evaluation in one regional education authority in China. The study was the outcome of a China/UK academic link aiming to improve research capacity and the evaluation of educational quality in China, funded by the British Council in Beijing, on behalf of the UK Department for International Development (DFID). With reference to the Chinese context, the paper also provides an overview and critique of relevant school effectiveness and school evaluation research, as well as approaches to assessing pupils' educational outcomes in China. In line with previous research in other country contexts, the findings of the study showed that significant differences in "value added" measures of school effectiveness appear to exist between senior secondary schools in China, and also that some schools are differentially effective (i.e., more effective in one academic subject than another). Recommendations are outlined in terms of how the results could be used to enhance school self-evaluation and the findings are also discussed in relation to the future quality in education research agenda in China. (Contains 3 tables, 2 figures, and 5 notes.)