Education Sec. Arne Duncan has $3 billion in the Education Dept. budget to close “failing” schools across the country — something Duncan did when he headed the Chicago school system. But the New York Times’ Sam Dillon relays a report from the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research that closing schools doesn’t help students. In fact, it causes unnecessary disruption.

In Chicago, school shutdowns have already been replaced by the, in theory, less disruptive “turnaround” approach — students stay at a failing school, but the school district recruits a new staff. Oddly, Duncan is still pushing for these dramatic closings of schools nationally, even though such a plan has already been discredited in Chicago.

Comment RSS - You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.