The Determinants of Public School Closures

Abstract

School districts across the country have embraced school closures as an educational reform policy. Unfortunately, school closures disproportionately impact low-income and minority students. This thesis studies the prevalence of school closures amongst disadvantaged communities by analyzing the likelihood of closure given school factors and neighborhood characteristics. The Chicago Public Schools district is utilized as a case study, and school closures are analyzed across three eras of education reform in Chicago. The results of this analysis indicate a positive relationship between school closure and the percentage of black students and Hispanic students. Additionally, the relationship between poverty and school closure was found to be positive.