Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

National Report on School Closure Misses Opportunity to Illustrate Moral Dimensions of School Closure

  • 10/24/17
East Lansing, Mich.— A report from the Hoover Institution’s Center for Research on Educational Outcomes (CREDO) offered a comprehensive analysis of the impact of closing low-performing schools. The report included data from 1,522 low-performing schools from 26 states. An academic review finds the report to be a valuable addition to the research on school closures.

Matthew Gaertner, SRI International, and Ben Kirshner, University of Colorado Boulder, reviewed the report, Lights Off: Practice and Impact of Closing Low-Performing Schools, for the Think Twice think tank review project. Think Twice, a project of the National Education Policy Center (NEPC), is funded by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice.

Though the report obscures some of its most important findings, Gaertner and Kirshner describe the report as one of the most comprehensive datasets ever assembled for school closure research. The reviewers note that the study was a careful, rigorous study with some missed opportunities for further analysis.

The original report found:

  1. Schools enrolling higher proportions of minority and low-income students were more likely to be closed;
  2. Test scores declined for students who transferred to schools with lower test-score performance and for students who transferred to schools with equivalent test-score performance; and
  3. Slightly less than half of students transferred to higher performing schools after a closure; those who did showed academic improvement relative to their matched peers.

Gaertner and Kirshner add that the report should have better highlighted the disproportionality of the school closures and the inadequate number of higher quality receiving schools. The reviewers were also concerned about the statistical modeling, which threatens the validity of subgroup analyses (specifically as it relates to charter school comparisons).

In their conclusion, the reviewers say that they would have liked to see the report acknowledge the moral dimensions of school closures: “Decisions about school closure and broader questions of reform raise normative political questions about participation and rights – including questions about the voices of students and their parents.”

Find the review on the GLC website at www.greatlakescenter.org

Featured

  • DFW-Area District Opens New Replacement Middle School

    The Eagle Mountain-Saginaw Independent School District near Fort Worth, Texas, recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new replacement middle school campus, according to a news release. The new facility for Wayside Middle School, originally established in 1964, was built on the site of the former district administration building and funded through Bond Proposition A in 2023.

  • blurry image capturing students navigating crowded hallways between classes

    How Human Behavior Data Is Reshaping Campus Facilities Management

    The ebb and flow of students, faculty, and administrators across a campus have a larger impact on maintenance, cleaning, and sustainability than many realize.

  • New Arizona Fine Arts School Reaches Construction Milestone

    Construction of the new Hilltop School for the Arts and Theater in Litchfield Park, Ariz., recently hit a significant milestone, according to a news release. The Agua Fria High School District held a beam-signing ceremony to celebrate the building’s topping out, or the placement of its last structural beam.

  • LSU Breaks Ground on $200M Residential Project

    Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, La., recently broke ground on a new residential complex, according to university news. The South Quad residential project will consist of two buildings and add a total of 1,266 beds for freshmen students. The development comes with a price tag of $200 million, and it’s scheduled to open to students in fall 2027.