Mass school closures initiated by the Chicago Board of Education in 2013 led to declines in student math performance, according to research published last month. Now, following the expiration of a five-year moratorium on further closures, the district is preparing to shut down several high schools — and locals wonder whether authorities have learned the lessons of one of the most tumultuous episodes in the city’s recent history.
Overall, students from 49 shuttered elementary schools and one high school fell roughly two months behind in math compared with their counterparts in other schools, a setback that hasn’t been rectified in the years since. Students and staff struggled to find their footing in new situations, while the leaders of the receiving schools complained that they didn’t have the time or resources to manage an orderly consolidation process, the authors found...