Story URL: http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=144849
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Melissa Tussing/MEDILL
David Ellis (from left), Kelli Greenwood and Frank Jones, students at Harper High School, say the turnaround has improved their academic experience.
Report: School closings had little effect on student performance
by Melissa Tussing
Nov 05, 2009
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6
Percent of displaced students who attended schools with Iowa Test scores in the top quartile
3.5
Average miles the 6 percent of students traveled from their home neighborhood to high-performing schools
40
Percent of displaced students enrolled in schools on probation
42
Percent of displaced students enrolled in receiving schools where the scores on the Iowa Test were in the lowest quartile of the distribution of scores in the system
1.5
Months of learning lost on reading during the year a school closing was announced, as shown by Iowa Test scores
1
Month of learning lost on math during the year a school closing was announced, as shown by scores on the Iowa Test
18
Schools included in the study
5,445
Students whose Iowa Test scores were tracked for three years after their schools' closings for the study
But education advocates and parents say not enough has been done to make a report on the impact of turnaround schools any different.
The report found that only 6 percent of the 5,445 displaced students tracked attended high-performing schools, traveling an average of 3.5 miles.
Cheryl Johnson, whose son graduated from Chicago Public Schools and who lives in Altgeld Gardens, said transportation cost and safety are key issues parents consider when deciding where their child goes to school.
“Parents are looking to send their kids even to a low-performance school if it’s accessible for them,” Johnson said.
Despite the study’s results, Andy Smarick, distinguished visiting fellow at Thomas B. Fordham Institute in Washington, D.C., and the author of the Education Next article “The Turnaround Fallacy,” said Chicago would have been better off sticking with school closures than changing to a turnaround plan.
“Sometimes institutions or organizations are just broken,” Smarick said. “Every other field or industry has a mechanism or a tool to get rid of persistent low performers.”
A Denver analysis on its public schools showed the closure of eight elementary schools in 2007 allowed 2,000 students to improve more in reading, math and writing than they did in the schools they left behind.
Students at Harper High School, which became a turnaround school last year, say they've seen great improvement. Harper freshman Kelli Greenwood said her Englewood turnaround school was known for violence.
Now the violence has quieted, said David Ellis, 14, a Harper freshman. “Students want to come to school,” Ellis said. “The new teachers are here to help us.”
“Renaissance 2010 is just an avenue for our kids to be killed on a regular basis,” Johnson said. “A child from Altegald Garden can’t run home from Fenger.”
“Closures are essential,” Smarick said, “but they have to be part of a bigger strategy. If we close Johnson Middle, do we have enough new schools that are starting, that are close to them and will fit them well?”
“Student are only in school for six to seven hours a day, and then they go back to an environment that could negate potential for improvement academically,” London said.
