Exploring Diversified High School Admission Paths: Loudi, Hunan Pilots Direct Promotion from Primary to High School

The exploration of secondary school entrance examination reform continues. Previously, the Shengsi Islands in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province completely abolished the selection function of the high school entrance examination (zhongkao), implementing a \"full direct promotion\" policy for general high schools. Now, Loudi City in Hunan Province has piloted a program where students entering first grade of primary school can, after completing nine years of compulsory education, be exempted from the zhongkao and directly enter general high school, achieving a continuous cultivation model from primary through high school.

Loudi, Hunan: Exempt from Zhongkao After Nine-Year Compulsory Education, Direct Entry to General High School

According to the \"Loudi City Twelve-Year Consistent Cultivation Pilot Implementation Plan\" recently issued by the Loudi Municipal Education Bureau, starting from the fall semester of 2026, two schools — Loudi No. 4 Middle School (including Jinxing School) and Lianyuan No. 2 Middle School — will launch a \"twelve-year consistent\" cultivation pilot. Students enrolled in first grade of primary school at the pilot schools can, after completing nine years of compulsory education, be exempted from the zhongkao and directly enter general high school, achieving continuous cultivation from primary through high school. Loudi has become the first region in Hunan Province to launch such a pilot.

According to an introduction from the Hunan Daily WeChat public account, twelve-year consistent cultivation means breaking down the barriers between primary, junior high, and senior high school stages, implementing continuous, connected, and systematic quality education for students through an integrated curriculum system, cultivation model, and promotion mechanism. Students enter first grade of primary school and, after nine years of compulsory education, are exempted from the zhongkao and directly enter general high school for study.

The Loudi Plan clearly states in its overall requirements that the pilot work should follow the philosophy of \"education-oriented, consistent cultivation, curriculum-focused, diversified evaluation,\" with the main goals of \"returning to the essential requirements of education, responding to educational livelihood demands, and empowering innovative talent cultivation.\" It aims to explore a connected and consistent cultivation mechanism between primary and secondary schools, integrate quality educational resources, and build a vertically connected and horizontally integrated early talent cultivation model.

According to the arrangement, pilot schools will use general high schools as the leading force and jointly form consistent cultivation education groups with surrounding compulsory education schools. Specifically, Loudi No. 4 Middle School will form an education group with Loudi Jinxing School; Lianyuan No. 2 Middle School will form an education group with Lianyuan Furong School. Lianyuan No. 2 Middle School joined the Changjun Education Group in April 2025, and Lianyuan Furong School is supported by Changsha Mingde Middle School, authorized as \"Changsha Mingde Education Group Lianyuan Experimental School.\"

Notably, the pilot also establishes an exit mechanism: students who wish to withdraw must apply before the end of the second semester of eighth grade, and after evaluation and approval, may transfer to regular classes. Meanwhile, the number of students in consistent cultivation classes \"only decreases, not increases,\" no transfer students are accepted, and after entering general high school, students cannot transfer to other high schools in the city, ensuring class stability and policy seriousness.

In fact, starting from the fall semester of 2025, some schools in Chengdu and other places launched pilot explorations of a \"primary-junior high-senior high\" twelve-year consistent school model, where zhongkao scores are no longer the sole basis for entering high school. Policy interpretations on the Chengdu Municipal Education Bureau website show that consistent cultivation does not mean abolishing the zhongkao for all; rather, while keeping the current academic system unchanged, it explores consistent talent cultivation models in pilot schools.

However, in this Loudi pilot, it is clearly stated that \"students in consistent cultivation classes who enter first grade of primary school can, after completing nine years of compulsory education, be exempted from the zhongkao and directly enter general high school.\"

Shengsi, Zhejiang: Abolishing the General High School Admission Score Threshold

On January 22, 2026, an article published on the official website of the Shengsi County Government, Zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province, titled \"Shengsi County Abolishes Zhongkao Selection Function to Achieve 'Full Direct Promotion' to General High Schools,\" introduced that starting from the fall semester of 2025, the county completely abolished the general high school admission score threshold. All 266 junior high graduates who applied for general high school were admitted, achieving \"enrollment for all who wish to study.\"

The article sparked widespread discussion, with many interpreting it as a signal of \"abolishing the zhongkao.\"

However, according to a report by China News Weekly, Qiu Xiaojiong, head of the Education Section of the Shengsi County Education Bureau, explained that the local area has not abolished the zhongkao. Students still need to take the provincial junior high school academic level examination; it's just that zhongkao scores are no longer used as the threshold for general high school admission. She explained that Shengsi County has only about 300 junior high graduates annually, and the existing supply of school places can basically cover all students.

Shengsi County consists of 631 islands and is a typical small island county. The county's permanent resident population is 64,000, with only 148 newborns in 2024, and a natural population growth rate of -6.42‰, which has been negative for 27 consecutive years. Shengsi Middle School is the only general high school in the county. With scattered islands, declining student numbers, and increasingly prominent educational resource allocation issues, Qiu Xiaojiong believes that under these circumstances, the zhongkao selection would abnormally amplify competition among students, exacerbating educational \"involution.\" Abolishing the zhongkao selection function is a necessary measure for the county to cope with its practical difficulties.

Multiple Regions Explore Diversification of High School Admission Methods

In April 2026, an article published by the \"Guangming Society Educator\" WeChat public account introduced that since the restoration of the college entrance examination (gaokao) system in 1977, the exploration of zhongkao system reform in China has never stopped over more than 40 years. To meet the requirements of economic and social development for talent cultivation, the zhongkao evaluation system has shifted from emphasizing knowledge examination to strengthening ability cultivation, and then to focusing on core competency development, gradually returning to the educational essence of promoting students' comprehensive development. In recent years, high school admission methods have gradually shown diversified characteristics.

In February 2026, the Ministry of Education's National Conference on Key Basic Education Work Deployment clearly stated, \"Encourage regions with conditions to actively expand the proportion of quality general high school places allocated to schools, explore diversified admission reforms such as registration-based admission, balanced allocation, and district-based enrollment, and dilute competition for academic advancement.\"

Taking Beijing's recent explorations as an example. In 2024, Beijing formally established the \"0.5+3\" group direct promotion model based on group-based schooling. Subsequently, schools in various districts of Beijing actively carried out pilot work, with some schools' admission quotas increasing year by year. In 2025, Mentougou District took the lead in implementing the \"0.5+3\" model across the entire district.

Beyond group-based connection, some regions have also explored cross-school consistent cultivation models based on local educational development realities. For example, in 2026, the Xing'an League in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region promoted 4 high schools to carry out consistent cultivation pilot work, including Tuquan County No. 1 Middle School, Ulanhot No. 1 Middle School, Ulanhot No. 2 Middle School, and Ulanhot No. 4 Middle School.

Take Tuquan County No. 1 Middle School as an example. In the spring semester of 2026, the school recruited students from 9 junior high schools in the region, using a \"written test + interview\" format to determine the admission list. Tuquan County No. 1 Middle School Principal Liu Hongsong introduced that the written test was based on students' final exam scores in Chinese, Mathematics, English, and Physics from the end of their first semester of ninth grade, while the interview focused on examining students' subject interests and comprehensive qualities. After comprehensive evaluation, the school ultimately admitted 40 students out of 120 who voluntarily applied to enter the consistent cultivation class.

Liu Hongsong said this admission model breaks through the traditional zhongkao \"score-only\" and \"one-size-fits-all\" approach. He observed that during the interview process, when faced with more open-ended questions, students clearly demonstrated genuine passion for their subjects, with some students' depth of answers exceeding people's expectations of the cognitive level of typical junior high school students. Liu Hongsong believes that the traditional zhongkao model requires students to invest a large amount of time in first-round, second-round, and other phased reviews. Students entering consistent cultivation can save this time and invest more energy in diverse衔接 courses between junior and senior high school, as well as expanded curriculum learning, laying a solid foundation for their subsequent academic career and long-term development. He mentioned that the regional consistent cultivation model is still in the exploratory stage, and the Xing'an League is currently planning to promote the model more broadly.