Mayors and reformers would have us believe that school closures, like the 54 recently announced in Chicago, will save districts money while improving outcomes for students who are moved out of “failing” schools. The problem is, districts have been closing schools for many years — in Chicago, for over a decade — and it’s clear that they won’t accomplish these goals. In fact, the opposite has happened.
According to the Consortium for Chicago School Research, a leading research authority on education in Chicago, Arne Duncan’s closure of dozens of schools as part of Renaissance 2010 provided no benefit to students, since the vast majority were simply transferred from one low-performing school to another. A recent brief on closures from CReATE notes actual damage - transferred students, who felt stigmatized, had lower test scores and higher risks of dropping out. The Consortium did find improved outcomes for the six percent who landed in academically strong schools and found supportive teachers, but that doesn’t help the 94 percent who stagnated or lost ground, nor make up for the disruption to those children and families. It does not compensate for the spikes in violence when established gang routes were disrupted, nor for the inability of other schools to cope with repeated influxes of new, struggling students (some moved four times in just three years)...