We released a new report today, School Closures and Student Achievement: An Analysis of Ohio’s Urban District and Charter Schools, that could change the way we think about school closure. The study reveals that children displaced by closure make significant academic gains on state math and reading exams after their school closes.
The study examined 198 school closures that occurred between 2006 and 2012 in the Ohio ‘Big Eight’ urban areas (Akron, Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo, and Youngstown). The research included 120 closed district-run schools and 78 closed charter schools. Taken together, these closures directly affected 22,722 students—disproportionately low-income, low-achieving, and minority students—who were in grades 3-8 at the point of closure.
Three years after closure, the research found that displaced students made the following cumulative gains:
- Students who had attended a closed district school gained forty-nine additional days of learning in reading and thirty-four additional days in math and;
- Students who had attended a closed charter school gained forty-six additional days in math.
Further, the study reveals that students who attended a higher-quality school after closure made even greater progress. Three years after closure, displaced students who transferred to a higher-quality school made the following cumulative gains:
- Students who had attended a closed district school gained sixty-nine additional days of learning in reading and sixty-three additional days in math and;
- Students who had attended a closed charter school gained fifty-eight additional days of learning in reading and eighty-eight additional days in math.
The estimated gains are based upon a 180-day school year and are benchmarked against the gains displaced students would have likely made, had they attended their closed school.
Figure 1: Learning gains for students displaced into higher quality schools, district and charter
[[{"fid":"114302","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default"},"type":"media","link_text":null,"attributes":{"class":"media-element file-default"}}]]
Dr. Deven Carlson of the University of Oklahoma and Dr. Stéphane Lavertu of the Ohio State University conducted the research and authored the report. They used data provided by the Ohio Department of Education and applied empirical methods to gauge the impact of closure on students’ academic achievement.
Please click here to download the full report and click here to read the press release.
