Multidimensional Impacts of the ‘Double Reduction’ Policy: Burden Reduction Effectiveness, Parental Responses, and New Challenges to Educational Equity

In recent years, China's "Double Reduction" policy implemented in compulsory education aims to effectively reduce excessive homework burdens and off-campus tutoring loads for primary and secondary school students, responding to widespread social concerns.Since the policy's implementation, academia has conducted systematic research on its direct effects, parental psychological and behavioral responses, educational equity impacts, school education compensation, and future development directions.Based on a review and analysis of 20 existing empirical and policy research papers, this study finds that the policy has achieved significant results in "burden reduction" and "cost reduction": student participation rates in off-campus tutoring and household education expenditures have declined substantially, and improvements have been observed in students' time allocation and physical and mental health.However, parental educational anxiety has not been fundamentally alleviated; instead, it has manifested in more covert and diversified forms, while educational investment behaviors have shown patterns of "downgrading" and "redirection."Regarding educational equity, the policy has provided new starting-point equality for disadvantaged groups, but risks of new educational differentiation due to differences in family capital persist.School education, as the main battleground, faces significant challenges in after-school services and classroom teaching reform.Future research needs to focus on the long-term effects of "Double Reduction," parental behavioral mechanisms, international comparisons, and systematic ecological perspectives.This paper's contribution lies in systematically organizing the multidimensional impacts of the "Double Reduction" policy, providing references for policy optimization and educational governance.