This study is the first large-scale, mixed methods study of the closing of 47 Chicago elementary schools at the end of the 2012-13 school year. The study used qualitative interviews to understand how students and staff in closed and welcoming schools experienced the closings process, and administrative data to examine the short-and long-term effects of the closings on students' mobility, absences, suspension rates, core GPA, and test scores in both the closed and welcoming schools. This research builds on a prior Consortium study from 2015 that looked at where students from closed schools enrolled and why. In 2013, citing a one-billion-dollar budget deficit, underutilized buildings, and declining enrollment, the Chicago Board of Education voted to close 47 elementary schools and one high school program at an elementary school, and to phase out two more elementary programs the following year. The closings were described as an opportunity to move students to higher-rated schools. Forty-eight schools were named welcoming schools. Fourteen welcoming schools moved into the building of a closed school. On average, students from closed schools made up about 32 percent of the student population in welcoming schools during the year of the merger.
About the Author: MOLLY F. GORDON is a Senior Research Analyst at UChicago Consortium. Previously, she was a Research Associate at the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI) at the University of Minnesota. MARISA DE LA TORRE is an Associate Director at UChicago Consortium. Before joining UChicago Consortium, she worked for the CPS Office of Research, Evaluation, and Accountability. She received a master's degree in Economics from Northwestern University. JENNIFER R. COWHY is a first-year PhD student in the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University. Cowhy is interested in researching how schools can better serve students who have experienced adverse childhood experiences and students with IEPs. Cowhy received her MPP and AM in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago and her AB in sociology from the University of Michigan. PAUL T. MOORE was a Research Analyst at the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. He has substantial experience evaluating the impacts of education policies and is an expert in causal inference with quasi-experimental designs. His research interests include urban school reform, school choice policies and practices, and quasi-experimental design methodologies. LAUREN SARTAIN is a research analyst at the UChicago Consortium. She has a BA from the University of Texas at Austin and a MPP and PhD from the Irving B. Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. DAVID J. KNIGHT is a PhD student in the Department of Political Science and a fellow in the Interdisciplinary Training Program in Education at the University of Chicago. His current research focuses on the political consequences of housing and education policy and the intersections of race, ethnicity, and place in the transition to adulthood in Chicago. The University of Chicago Consortium on School Research (UChicago Consortium) builds the capacity for school reform by conducting research that identifies what matters for student success and school improvement.