Lei Wang

• Wang, Xingxing & Wang, Lei (2026). Educational Equity for Migrant Children: A Policy Comparison of Shenzhen and Hong Kong. Social Inclusion. 14. doi: 10.17645/si.10995. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This study examined how two contrasting governance systems—Shenzhen and Hong Kong—address educational equity for migrant and immigrant children within the context of China’s Greater Bay Area. While both cities have expanded access to compulsory education, their institutional logics diverge sharply. Shenzhen operates a contribution‐based model, linking school access to parental contribution to the city. In contrast, Hong Kong guarantees near‐universal access under a rights‐based regime grounded in legal entitlements. These differences raise fundamental questions about how equity is defined, prioritized, and implemented across jurisdictions. Drawing on Rawlsian principles of justice and Edgar’s five‐dimensional equity framework, a comparative policy analysis was conducted, using over 40 official documents, including legislative texts, admission guidelines, and statistical reports. Coding was used to trace how each system frames and operationalizes equity across access, input, process, output, and outcome dimensions. The findings show that, while both systems emphasize transparency and capacity expansion, they differ in how they identify target groups, allocate resources, and balance merit with need. Shenzhen’s points‐based system creates strong incentives for formalized urban integration, but disadvantages low‐income migrants structurally. Hong Kong’s legal universalism offers broader entitlement but struggles with linguistic exclusion and digital barriers. By linking normative theory with empirical analysis, this study offers a multidimensional understanding of how education systems interpret fairness in contexts of mobility and inequality. It also contributes to broader debates on policy transfer, urban governance, and the role of ethics in educational inclusion.

• Wang, Lei; Melby-Lervåg, Monica; Lekhal, Ratib & Wang, Mari Vaage (2025). How are Difficulty Types Related to the Allocation of Special Needs Assistance in Early Childhood Education and Care. Early Childhood Research Quarterly. ISSN 0885-2006. 74, p. 211–220. doi: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.10.002. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Early intervention for children with difficulties is crucial for their academic and life outcomes. However, we know little about how special needs assistance (SNA) is allocated to early childhood education and care (ECEC). This study is based on the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) and examines whether children’s difficulty types predict SNA allocation and its hours, with ECEC and demographic variables controlled. We used the maternal questionnaire when children were 5 years old (n = 41,452; 2,340 received SNA). The outcomes were whether the children received SNA and its weekly hours. Children’s difficulties were measured through single questions and rating scales; ECEC factors included a parental satisfaction scale and the caretakers–children ratio. Demographic variables included children’s sex and age, and parental education. We used a zero-inflated Poisson regression for the data analysis. Among the children receiving SNA, 35% had language difficulties, but they received few assisted hours. These children had more severe difficulties compared to those with language difficulties but without SNA. Children with comorbid language and developmental difficulties were most likely to receive SNA (89%) and had the highest number of hours. Children with behavioral problems were least likely to receive SNA. Higher ECEC satisfaction predicted more hours. A higher caretakers–children ratio predicted an increased likelihood of receiving SNA and more hours. In conclusion, children with language difficulties constitute the largest SNA group, yet they receive few hours. ECEC factors are related to detecting and supporting children in need.

• Wang, Louie Lei; Wang, Mari Vaage; Sandsør, Astrid Marie Jorde; Lekhal, Ratib & Melby-Lervåg, Monica (2025). Parental and child factors in children with special education. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research. ISSN 0031-3831. doi: 10.1080/00313831.2025.2550278. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Around 10% of school children receive special education (SE), however, we know little about what characterizes these children. This study examined the relationships between parental and child factors in children with SE. It is based on the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). The sample included 1,424 SE children and 35,161 typically developing 8-year-old children. A network analysis was constructed for SE children and non-SE children. Compared to non-SE children, the SE group exhibited lower communication skills, higher language difficulties and more ADHD symptoms. Communication skills and ADHD symptoms were the two most related factors in the SE network. Language abilities in SE children were less influenced by their behavioral and parental factors. Language skills were related to ADHD symptoms in both groups. The selection of assigning children to SE is not biased by gender. SE assessment and instruction should address children’s difficulties in multiple domains.

• Sun, Skylar Yuan-Ke; Chan, Man-Ho; Wang, Di & Wang, Lei (2025). Gender-Specific Cognitive Skills and Moderating Role of Reading Comprehension in Shaping Science Literacy. Research in Science Education. ISSN 0157-244X. 56, p. 1–22. doi: 10.1007/s11165-025-10251-3. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Children with advanced domain-general skills are associated with a better understanding of scientific concepts and articulation of scientific reasoning. However, research has found that not all individuals utilize these skills to respond to science literacy (SL) tasks, indicating the need for further identifying potential resources in early formal science education. Language-reading skills may help to enhance the informative analytic processes triggered by SL tasks, in which gender might be an important factor involved. Therefore, the present study explores the gendered relationships between domain-general skills (working memory, response inhibition) and language-reading skills (vocabulary, word reading (WR), and reading comprehension (RC)) in relation to SL in children. It aims to identify unique indicators of SL for both boys and girls and examines the moderating role of RC. Data from one hundred and ninety-three grade 2 learners (51% boys) show that both domain-general and language-reading skills are associated with boys’ SL, while only language-reading skills were associated with girls’ SL. Furthermore, in boys, response inhibition, WR, and interaction effect of response inhibition and RC can uniquely predict SL after considering vocabulary and RC as the control factors, implying that response inhibition becomes more favoured when coupled with a strong RC of the task-relevant materials. The findings of boys have not been disclosed in previous studies. Conversely, in girls, vocabulary is the only significant predictor. These findings provide insightful implications for tailored SL interventions, especially for enhancing girls’ engagement.

• Liu, Zhongling; Wang, Lei; Wang, Tingting; Chen, Lingyan; Dong, Chuanfei & Zhang, Yuanyuan [Show all 12 contributors for this article] (2024). The developmental dyslexia scale for standard mandarin: A study among early primary students. Research in Developmental Disabilities. ISSN 0891-4222. 154. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2024.104841. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Background Developmental dyslexia (DD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disease that poses challenges in both early intervention and long-term development for children with DD. However, there is a lack of a standardized and comprehensive tool for the diagnosis of DD in Mainland China. Aim To develop a standardized tool (i.e., Developmental Dyslexia Scale for Standard Mandarin [DDSSM]) for the diagnosis of DD in Mainland China and evaluate its reliability and validity. Methods and procedures DDSSM consists of 10 subtests. The initial draft was created after Delphi expert consultation, and the final version was revised to improve discriminability with a pilot study involving 450 children from grades 1–3. The reliability and validity were then confirmed with 53 children from grades 1–2. Outcomes and results The Delphi expert consultation demonstrated that the expert panel had good authority, and that all agreed on the subtest setup. The DDSSM exhibited great internal consistency. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the model aligns with the theoretical structure (P > 0.05, χ2/df < 2.00, root-mean-square error of approximation (RMSEA) < 0.08, comparative fit index (CFI) > 0.90, TLI > 0.90). The Dyslexia Checklist for Chinese Children and children’s academic performance agreed well with the DDSSM. Conclusions and implications The DDSAM is reliable and valid for assessing and diagnosing DD in Standard Mandarin-speaking primary school children from grades 1–2. What this paper adds? Although a number of scales and tools have been proposed for assessing developmental dyslexia (DD) in Chinese, there is still a lack of diagnostic tools for Mandarin Chinese in Mainland China. In this study, we developed one of the most comprehensive diagnostic tools for DD in Mandarin Chinese for lower graders. We included visual-spatial attention (VA) and compounding awareness (CA), two tests that have been recently suggested as reliable measures for identifying DD in the Chinese language. This assessment tool has been verified for robust reliability and validity. This study also provided confirmation of the core deficits of DD in Chinese, which were orthographic awareness (OA). In addition, VA, rapid automatized naming (RAN) and morphological awareness (MA) were found to be the most important cognitive abilities for word reading in Chinese lower graders in this study.

• Liu, Duo; Wang, Lei; Wong, Terry Tin-Yau & Joshi, R. Malatesha (2024). Rapid automatised naming is related to reading and arithmetic for different reasons in Chinese: Evidence from Hong Kong third graders. Journal of Research in Reading. ISSN 0141-0423. doi: 10.1111/1467-9817.12464. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Background Rapid automatised naming (RAN) has been found to predict children's reading and arithmetic abilities. However, the underlying mechanisms for its involvement in the two abilities are not clear. This study examines how RAN shared variances with domain-general and domain-specific abilities in predicting reading and arithmetic in Chinese children. Methods One hundred and sixty-four children (mean age = 8 years 0 months, SD = 4 months) were administered with RAN tasks, word reading and arithmetic tasks and measures of working memory, processing speed, morphological awareness, phonological awareness and number line estimation. Results RAN mainly shared variance with morphological awareness in predicting word reading, while it shared variance with processing speed and number line estimation in predicting arithmetic calculation. Conclusions The findings indicated that RAN was related to reading and arithmetic for different reasons. The RAN–reading relationship partly reflected the semantic facilitation of the orthography–phonology links for both RAN stimuli and Chinese characters, while the RAN–arithmetic relationship partly reflected the shared process of retrieving semantic information from long-term memory embedded in the two tasks.

• Luo, Ning; Wang, Lei & Guan, Tao (2024). Ethnic and national identification of minority youth in China: The mediating role of intergroup orientation. PLOS ONE. 19(6). doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0305169. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This study examined the mediating role of intergroup orientation in the relationship between ethnic and national identification. Our participants were 1320 Yi minority youths from a secondary school located in the Yi ethnic autonomous prefecture of southwest China. The participants completed three self-report questionnaires measuring ethnic and national identification, and intergroup orientation, respectively. Structural equation modeling was employed to determine the relationships between ethnic and national identification and intergroup orientation, and to explore the mechanism underlying the association between ethnic and national identification. The results showed that Yi minority youths with a stronger sense of ethnic identity had a stronger sense of national identity. The results further indicated that stronger ethnic identity led to a more positive intergroup orientation, which in turn predicted a stronger national identity. Our findings may facilitate the cultivation of positive attitudes between national subgroups in multiethnic countries and help ethnic minority youth develop a stronger awareness of national identity while retaining their ethnic identity.

• Wei, Ziqian; Wang, Lei; Xu, Zhengye; Luo, Lirong; Zhang, Xinyong & Li, Ning [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2024). The Global and Local Patterns of Reading-Related Cognitive and Ecological Variables in Chinese First-Grade Children: A Cross-Sectional Network Analysis. Journal of Learning Disabilities. ISSN 0022-2194. doi: 10.1177/00222194241283198. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In the current study, we tested a network model of reading difficulty by using state-of-the-art psychological network analysis. Four hundred and fifty-three Chinese first-grade children (about 38% female, mean age = 7.00, SD = 0.41) were divided into good (n = 154), competent (n = 147), and struggling readers (n = 152) based on their scores of Chinese character reading. The Extended Bayesian Information Criterion graphical lasso (EBICglasso) method was applied to estimate cross-sectional networks for the three groups. Each network included four cognitive nodes (homophone awareness, morphological structure awareness, phonological awareness, and vocabulary) and two ecological nodes (family socioeconomic status and the number of books at home). Chronological age and nonverbal intelligence were also included in the estimated networks. The global (i.e., global structure and global connectivity) and local patterns (i.e., the most important edges and nodes) in each network were reported. The network comparison results showed that global connectivity was significantly lower among struggling readers than for good readers, implying that a holistic impairment of bidirectional connections among multiple variables relates to the difficulty in learning to read. The theoretical and empirical implications and the significance of applying the network approach to reading research are discussed.

• Liu, Hailun; Wang, Louie Lei; Wang, Jing; Lao, Guoshuang; Liu, Ming & Deng, Ciping (2024). A Meta-Analysis of the Moderators in the Relationship Between Morphological Awareness and Chinese Reading Accuracy. Scientific Studies of Reading. ISSN 1088-8438. doi: 10.1080/10888438.2024.2419541. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Purpose This study aimed to deepen the understanding of the relationship between morphological awareness and Chinese reading accuracy by exploring the factors that influence this connection through a meta-analysis. Method We conducted a meta-analysis using data from 84 articles, comprising 104 effect sizes and a sample of 14,348 children (mean ages = 3.76 to 13.79 years). The study examined potential moderators such as script type (traditional and simplified script), age, and the type of reading accuracy measure (word and character reading), as well as the interaction between these moderators on the abovementioned relationship. Results The analysis revealed that script type was a significant moderator in the relationship. The correlation between morphological awareness and word/character reading was stronger in traditional script than in simplified script. Age also had a significant moderating effect in the relationship, with the correlation increasing significantly with age. However, neither the type of reading accuracy measure nor the interaction between measure type and script type significantly moderated the relationship between MA and Chinese reading accuracy. Conclusion The moderation by script type suggests that the differences in morpheme orthography between the two scripts can affect the relationship between morphological awareness and reading accuracy. The moderator of age indicates that the influence of morphological awareness on reading accuracy may grow stronger as children get older. The lack of a moderating effect by the type of reading accuracy measure suggests that the correlation between morphological awareness and word/character reading is consistent across these measures.

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• Lervåg, Arne; Wang, Lei & Melby-Lervåg, Monica (2026). Developmental Dynamics between Reading Comprehension, Word Reading and Vocabulary in Norwegian Second to Third Graders. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Purpose — It is well established that language skills, such as vocabulary, are important precursors for word reading and reading comprehension. However, theories about reading development are not very specific about how different components impact reading during various developmental phases. This study examines the developmental relationship between reading comprehension, vocabulary, and word reading skills in an early phase of reading. Models, which separate variation within and between the children, and those that do not, are used. Method — 288 children, recruited 4 months after the start of formal reading instruction, were measured four times over 1.5 years. Different cross-lagged panel models were estimated to test the direction of influence between the development of reading comprehension, vocabulary skills, and word reading skills. Results — Models, separating within-person from between-person variation, clearly showed that changes in word-reading skills were associated with later reading comprehension skills. This was less clear in the models that mix up the within-person and between-person variation. Some, but fewer, dynamic relations were found for vocabulary and reading comprehension, and the ones found were in models that mix up the within-person and between-person variance. Conclusions — The findings provide important information about the developmental dynamics of reading in a relatively early phase of development. Further, the results inform us about the importance of choosing the appropriate model if we are interested in how a child’s reading skills develop over time.

• Wang, Lei; Wang, Mari Vaage & Melby-Lervåg, Monica (2026). The Longitudinal Effect of Early Special Education on Language Skills Depends on Kindergarten Size. doi: https:/eecera.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/EECERA-2026-symposia-sessions-version-27-August-2026.pdf. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This study examines whether the quality of early child education care (ECEC) influences the longitudinal effect of special education (SE) on language ability. Children with language difficulties make up almost half of the children in SE in ECEC (Wang et al., 2026). Previous studies found the negative effect of SE on children’s language and academic outcomes (e.g., Sullivan & Field, 2013). Although the effectiveness of early SE service may depend on the quality of ECEC, no study has examined it. We used the bioecological framework (Bronfenbrenner & Ceci, 1994) , which posits that both distal and proximal factors influence children’s developmental outcomes. Using the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study (MoBa), we followed children aged 5 to 8 (N = 6,468; 295 of them in SE) and examined the effect of SE in ECEC when the children were 5-year-olds on language skills 3 years later. We constructed a propensity-score-weighted sample based on 36 covariates. In addition to SE provision, four ECEC quality variables were included as predictors: curriculum quality, group size, staff quality, and assessment routines. All participants gave informed consent before the study started and were free to withdraw at any time; Participants' names were removed. The main effect of SE on language skills is negative, while the main effects of the four quality factors are positive. The negative effect of SE is reduced when ECECs are larger in scale. The results indicated that SE in ECEC is not effective in improving language skills. More resources should be allocated to ECECs with lower structural quality.

• Wang, Lei; Yang, Junyi; Scherer, Ronny; Melby-Lervåg, Monica & Anmarkrud, Øistein (2026). The Relationship Between Screen Use and Language and Literacy Skills in Childhood: The Roles of Family SES and Children's Prior Ability. doi: https:/www.triplesr.org/sites/default/files/2026-07/detailed_programme%20July%2015%202026.pdf. Full text in Research Archive
• Wang, Lei (2026). The Prediction of Early Special Education Depends on Children’s Difficulties Types. doi: https:/lifehistoryresearchsociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/LHRS2026_abstract_book.pdf. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Background: Special education is the most important way to help children who do not benefit from normal education programs to achieve potential. It is also a costly investment. However, many studies have found the long term effects of special education to be nonsignificant or negative (i.e., children who need help are better off without special education). Methods: This study examines: 1) the effects of special education in early childhood education and care (ECEC) on language and academic performance in primary school; 2) whether the effects are varied in children with different difficulty types. Using the maternal questionnaires in the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study and information from birth registry, we follow a group of Norwegian children aged 5 to 8 (n = 35,024), we constructed a propensity-score weighted sample who did not receive special education but have similar levels of difficulties to children who received it (n = 1,809) based on 36 early covariates. The special education status and children’s difficulties were from the questionnaire when children were 5-year-old. The mutually exclusive difficulty types were behavioral difficulties, language difficulties, developmental difficulties (e.g., autism, motor skill problems), comorbidities between language and behavioral difficulties, and comorbidities 180 between language and developmental difficulties. The outcomes were from the questionnaire when the children were 8-year-old. Reading and arithmetic abilities were performances in national exams, and language ability was a scale on speech and communication skills. Both weighting and regressions were done with 30 imputed datasets and the results were pooled. Findings: 1) special education had negative effects on all outcomes for children with comorbidities in language and developmental difficulties; 2) for reading ability, special education had a positive effect for children with language or developmental difficulties; 3) for arithmetic ability, special education had a nonsignificant effect irrespective of children’s difficulties except the comorbidities mentioned in 1); 4) for language ability, special education had a positive effect for children with behavioral, language, or developmental difficulties; 5) for children without difficulty identified by this study, special education had nonsignificant effects on all the outcomes. Conclusion: These results clarified the long-term effects of special education on children’s development.

• Wang, Lei; Wang, Mari Vaage & Melby-Lervåg, Monica (2026). The Effects of Early Special Education Depends on Children’s Difficulties Types. doi: https:/www.psychologicalscience.org/redesign/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Final-2026-Annual-Poster-Session-Brochure.pdf. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This study examines the effects of special needs assistance (SNA) in early childhood education and care (ECEC) on children’s language and academic performance in primary school. Using the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) and birth registry data, we examined the effects of SNA and children’s difficulty types in ECEC when the children were 5-year-old (n = 35,024; 1809 received SNA) on language, reading, and math outcomes in primary school when they were 8-year-old, using propensity score matching with 36 early covariates. The results showed that the effects of SNA were negative on all outcomes when it was the only predictor. When we added the difficulty types and their interactions with SNA into the regressions, the results showed that: 1. SNA did not predict language and academic outcomes for children with no difficulty; 2. SNA positively predicted language and reading abilities for children with language or developmental difficulty; 3. SNA negatively predicted all the outcomes for children with both language and developmental difficulties.

• Wang, Lei (2025). Flere barn får ikke nødvendig støtte i barnehagen. [Journal]. Vg.no. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Ny studie avslører skjevheter i spesialpedagogisk støtte til barn med vansker.

• Wandem, Fredrik Solli & Wang, Lei (2025). Barnehager fanger opp for få barn med behov for ekstra støtte. Forskning.no. ISSN 1891-635X. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Norske barnehager fanger opp for få barn med behov for ekstra støtte. Forskere bak ny studie mener systemet for tidlig innsats bør styrkes. – Tidlige tiltak vil ikke bare hjelpe barna når de begynner på skolen, men også gjøre at de trives bedre allerede i barnehagen, sier forsker Louie Lei Wang.

• Wang, Lei; Melby-Lervåg, Monica & Wang, Mari Vaage (2025). Children and kindergarten’s factors influence the allocation of special education in kindergarten. doi: https:/www.earli.org/assets/images/earli_program_2025-2.pdf. Full text in Research Archive
• Wang, Lei; Melby-Lervåg, Monica & Wang, Mari Vaage (2025). Special needs assistance to children with language, behavioral, and developmental difficulties in kindergarten: Predictors of how resources are allocated. doi: https:/www.triplesr.org/sites/default/files/2025-09/SSSR%202025%20Programme.pdf. Full text in Research Archive
• Wang, Lei (2025). The effects of special needs assistance in early childhood education and care on children's language and academic performance in primary school: A propensity score weighting analysis. doi: https:/www.gu.se/sites/default/files/2025-06/QRM%202025%20Conference%20Program_v3.pdf. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This study examines the average treatment effect of special needs assistance (SNA) in early childhood education and care (ECEC) on children’s language and academic performance in primary school. Using the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) linked with registry data, we follow children aged 5 to 8 (N = 34,136), we examined the effects of SNA in ECEC when the children were 5-year-old on language, reading, and math outcomes in primary school when they were 8-year-old. We first constructed a propensity-score-weighted sample who did not receive SNA but have similar levels of difficulties to children who received SNA based on 36 covariates before they were 5-year-old, which included biological (e.g., sex, birth weight, parity, birth month, illnesses), behavioral (e.g., motor skills, language skills, behavioral problems, social skills), parental (e.g., education levels, ages when the children were born, emotional well-being, adult ADHD symptoms), and social (e.g., regions, mother’s birth country, birth year). We then compared the children who received SNA in ECEC (n = 1,744) to this propensity-score-weighted sample (effective sample size: n = 1297) who did not receive SNA. Results showed that receiving SNA had statistically significant negative effects on children's language skills, reading, and mathematics when they were 8 years old. These results have important implications for deploying and assessing services aimed at young children facing developmental delays or disabilities.

• Maurer, Michelle Nina; Wang, Lei & Melby-Lervåg, Monica (2024). The relation between early language skills and later listening comprehension: Examining three theories. Full text in Research Archive
• Wang, Lei; Wang, Mari Vaage & Melby-Lervåg, Monica (2024). Exploring the relationships between parental and child factors in Norwegian children with special education in language and reading: A population-based network analysis. Full text in Research Archive

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