The early results from Chicago's school closings are mixed

When Chicago closed 47 schools, it directed kids towards better-performing “welcoming schools"—some with considerably higher ratings, some slightly better. Not all parents took them up on the offer, for a variety of reasons.

When the city decided to go through the difficult and controversial process of closing 47 schools, its stated goal was to get students into better-peforming schools, by the district’s metrics. According to a new report from the University of Chicago’s Consortium on Chicago School Research, it worked, at least on the most basic level—though not as well as the city would have hoped, and raising questions as to whether the shift to better schools was sufficient...