Much educational effectiveness research has been conducted over the past 40 years in developed countries, whereas few studies have focused on developing or newly industrialized countries such as the People's Republic of China. The case studies discussed in this article are part of a larger multiple-case, mixed-methods study that investigated 6 pairs of more and less effective Chinese schools. The research described here focused on differentially effective rural schools and revealed several important differences and similarities between those schools. The study also found differences between Chinese urban and rural schools and contrasts between the processes of educational effectiveness in China and those described in the international literature. Suggestions for improving educational effectiveness in rural China are presented. (Contains 3 tables and 8 footnotes.)