Who Closes and Why? School and Communal Factors That Predict School Closures

• In Event: Longitudinal Studies of Social and Academic Processes

Abstract

While public schools are closed as a form of accountability, charter schools are also opened because they are touted for being accountable and will effectively close if they are not meeting the needs of students and parents. This study strives to provide an examination of the consistency between asserted reasons schools should close, are closed and the actual observed, empirical evidence of their closures. Using over six years of data, this longitudinal study will be the first to: (1) explore both public and charter school closures, (2) examine both the school and communal factors that lead to the closure of these two types of schools and (3) examine these factors and schools across multiple contexts and regions.

Authors

• Gwendolyn Baxley, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Prashant De, University of Oxford