The advanced concept of running a school makes the school ride the wind and waves. In the course of more than 20 years' development, senior middle schools have embarked on a characteristic school-running road, established the educational concepts of "all-round development, learning expertise, laying a solid foundation, nurturing ability" and "adult talents", established the school-running direction of "giving priority to cultivating outstanding talents for colleges and universities and giving consideration to cultivating qualified builders for local areas", and comprehensively implemented quality education under the guidance of innovative education and innovative learning. A 24-word teaching policy has been formulated, which respects majors and pays attention to abilities, so that students have been fully developed. Students have won numerous awards in various competitions at all levels. Zheng won the silver prize in the national "Hope Cup" math competition, the first prize in the national hard pen calligraphy competition, the second prize in the national Olympic composition competition for Chen Chunyu and Tao Xiaozhe, and many students won prizes in provincial and municipal competitions, including Cui Shuni (Tsinghua University), Hao Pengcheng (Peking University), Wang Feng (Peking University), (Peking University) and Song Pengcheng (Peking University).
Boldly try research-oriented schools to make them more brilliant. Senior middle schools took the lead in setting up a research room in our county, actively carrying out scientific research activities, scientifically guiding education and teaching practice, paying equal attention to both teaching methods and learning methods, and offering two research topics: learning methods, research-based learning courses, "problem solving" and "hierarchical teaching", which were recognized as provincial key topics during the Ninth Five-Year Plan period and achieved initial results. In 2003, the school became a national experimental base for innovative writing. After strict evaluation, Yilan High School was officially approved as a model (city key) high school in Harbin in 2007.