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A report by the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago concludes that the practice of shutting down failing schools in the Chicago public school system has resulted in little or no improvement for most students. The researchers looked at 18 elementary schools that were closed between 2001 and 2006. Those schools enrolled 5,445 students at the time they closed.

[E]ight in 10 Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students displaced by school closings transferred to schools ranking in the bottom half of system schools on standardized tests….[B]ecause most displaced students transferred from one low-performing school to another, the move did not, on average, significantly affect student achievement.

Do you think requiring academically failing schools to close is an effective way to bring about better schools?

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