Giving Compass' Take:

• Research from the Manhattan Institute explores when it can be beneficial for failing schools to close. 

• How can funders help to ensure that students in public schools get the best possible education? 

• Learn how collaboration can help failing schools turn around. 

School closure is relatively common in the United States. An analysis by the Urban Institute found that about 2% of public schools, on average, were closed each year between 2003 and 2013, and these closures were found in urban, suburban, and rural communities. A substantial number of public schools have been closed in Michigan, California, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Urban school systems that have closed several schools include New York City, Washington D.C., Chicago, Detroit, and Baltimore.

In many cases, schools are closed in response to declining populations or other factors that led to a substantial decline in available resources. In other cases, school boards and elected officials struggle with the decision of what to do with persistently ineffective schools. Should they supply such schools with additional resources and attention to spur improvements? Or is it better simply to close schools where students consistently underperform and to enroll them in others?

This paper argues that, based on the available research, closing persistently ineffective schools can be a promising strategy for improving the educational outcome of the students who attend them. When considering whether to close a school, policymakers must weigh the interests of that school’s current (and future) students, the students attending the school or schools that will receive the displaced students, and the quality of the schools that displaced students will attend. The paper describes the underlying theory and the empirical evidence related to the effect of school closure on each of these groups, in the short and long run.

It is important for educators and policymakers to continually work to improve existing schools, regardless of their current effectiveness. Even so, the evidence strongly suggests that it is better for school systems to close persistently ineffective schools than to continue providing them with an unending supply of resources.