The Island Equity Paradox

This study examines how China’s common prosperity reforms reshaped educational equity in two island counties of Zhejiang Province between 2020 and 2025. Addressing the dominance of cross-sectional approaches, it draws on a six-wave longitudinal qualitative study conducted from 2020 to 2025 with a 54-member core cohort of teachers and parents. Using the Island Capability–Equity Paradox Framework (ICEPF), the study traces how reform intentions were interpreted and enacted over time. The findings reveal a dynamic process of fragility, consolidation, and tensioned achievement: Digital infrastructure and staffing improved, yet reforms also intensified teacher workloads, heightened parental comparisons with mainland schools, and raised concerns about sustainability. The study develops the ICEPF to explain why equity-oriented investment may widen educational opportunities while also intensifying implementation pressures and exposing unresolved spatial inequalities.