The current study examined the impacts on students' cognitive performance of the key versus ordinary school system in China, using an analytic approach that combines hierarchical linear modeling with propensity score stratification. The results show that students from key schools score significantly higher on a mathematical achievement test than their counterparts in ordinary schools, after controlling for student characteristics and their family background. The specific magnitude of the school effect varies substantially across the geographic locations of the school. The advantages of key schools over ordinary schools are found to be generally greater among urban schools compared with suburban schools. The results are noteworthy as both key and ordinary schools are state-funded and the system was formed directly by policy initiatives and differential resource allocation. As such, they bear important policy implications on systematic-level school management in general.