Lights Off: Practice and Impact of Closing Low-Performing Schools

This research report from Stanford’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) analyzes a multistate, longitudinal dataset to determine the precursors to and impacts of closure of low-performing public schools in both the charter and traditional public school sectors. The investigation covered four broad areas: a description of the national picture of school closures, an examination of whether equivalently performing schools faced comparable treatment across the country, the schooling trajectory of students who were enrolled in closing schools in the final years of operation, and the impact of school closure on the academic progress of closure students.

The study finds that closure is primarily an urban and an elementary school phenomenon; that closed schools exhibit signs of weakness for years prior to closure; closures disproportionately impact charter schools and schools serving Black and Latino students; and that just under half of students attending schools that close land in higher performing schools and show improved academic performance following closure. The authors discuss implications of these findings, including the need for policies that minimize negative impact and maximize educational equity for students in low performing schools at risk of closure.