補習在臺灣由來已久，近來更有日益普遍的趨向，而其影響層面也愈發擴大。本文先整理歷史資料與官方資料，追溯補習在臺灣的起源，也說明補習班在臺灣發展的關鍵時期與變化，並對照一般民眾對補習的看法及其轉變。其次，以臺灣教育長期追蹤資料中的國中生樣本，實證估計補習產生的效能。研究發現，補習對國中生學習成效的增進，確實有明顯的助益。另外，分析結果也顯示，補習在臺灣日漸普及，存於階層之間的差異已不明顯：女生參加補習的機會和男生大致相當；家庭收入對補習機會形成的門檻甚低；父親的職業類型與子女補習機會之間也不見特定的模式。較特別的是，中等收入的家庭或擁有大專學歷的父母，子女們參與補習的機會最高；研究所以上學歷父母的子女們參與補習的情形，則與學歷較低者並沒有明顯的差別。

The author begins by analyzing the development and transition of Taiwan’s cram schools. The institutional and policy changes taking place in cram schools are discussed, as well as new questions about their legitimacy. The author then uses data from the junior high school student sample pool, collected by the Longitudinal Survey of Taiwan Education, in order to investigate the effect of “cram schooling” on students’ analytical and mathematical ability, as well as to test the hypothesis that the opportunity to attend cram schools is highly correlated with gender and family background. The empirical results indicated, first, that cram schooling does matter: attending cram schools has significantly positive effects on a student’s academic performance, in terms of both general analytical ability and mathematical comprehension. Secondly, it was found that cram school participation is sufficiently widespread in Taiwan that it does not reflect specific patterns of social and gender stratification. That is, a boy’s opportunity to attend cram schools is not significantly different from a girl’s opportunity; the effect of family background on students’ cram school participation is also not as critical as used to be thought.