Some folks are worried about the efficacy of closing persistently failing schools because of a recent study out of Chicago.
Two quick reminders: First, a study out of Denver showed that closure-displaced students did perform better.
Second, the Chicago and Denver studies, though reaching different top-level conclusions, actually have the same completely intuitive underlying finding.
The quality of the school a student attends after a closure is of the utmost importance. On average, if you send a student to a similarly low-performing school, she will struggle; if she attends a higher performing school, she will do considerably better.
Said simply, in order to work, closures have to be part of a larger strategy that includes new starts and the replication and expansion of successful schools and programs.