“State of the Research” on School Closure: A Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference
“State of the Research”: School Closings
Mid-Atlantic Regional Symposium
Friday, June 19, 2015
8:30a – 6:00p
University of Pennsylvania
philadelphia, pa
Registration is NOW CLOSED
– There will be audio recordings of the sessions, and follow the conversation on Twitter: #SchoolClosures @CritEduPolicy
$15 suggested donation collected at the door
No one turned away for lack of funds. Limited travel scholarships available.
Breakfast, Lunch, + Reception Included
Symposium agenda (draft)
In recent years, public school districts across the country have turned to closing schools, arguing that declining enrollments, decreased public funding, and persistently low academic achievement require the consolidation of resources. These closures have inspired a range of empirical research investigating the veracity of school district claims about cost-savings and academic improvements; the short- and long-term impacts on students, families and stakeholders; and the relationships to broader patterns of segregation and opportunity. This convening aims to bring together researchers who are working across this range of inquiry in the mid-Atlantic region. The goal is to share findings and approaches, articulate commonalities and divergences across place, and set an agenda for ongoing research and engagement with this and other issues of urban and educational equity.
The core of this symposium will be organized around a sequence of three roundtable sessions exploring different dimensions of school closures and school closure processes:
Roundtable 1: What motivates school closures?
– Demographic change across cities
– Academic achievement, education reform, charter schools
– School facilities
– State and local finance
Roundtable 2: How are school closures managed?
– Closure decision-making processes inside districts
– Protests of closure
– Participatory planning and closure processes
Roundtable 3: What happens after schools are closed?
– Student psycho-social and/or academic achievement impacts
– Missing students, lost in the transition
– Neighborhood change
– Sales, redevelopment/reuse of buildings
– Citywide/metropolitan “geographies of opportunity”
– Evaluations of district finances, school facilities, etc.
Roundtables will be followed by structured discussion on intersections between research and advocacy and methods for making research relevant and available to local communities. We seek participants for the roundtables, who will provide brief remarks about their research on school closures in the mid-Atlantic, culminating with a set of questions or challenges to frame discussion. Please submit a 200-word abstract for 7-10 minute remarks and discussion. Your abstract should include your research questions, methods, and findings, as well as a reflection on the challenges you face in your work (substantively, methodologically, or politically).
Sponsors:
Bread and Roses Community Fund
The Department of Educational Studies at Colgate University
Rutgers University Center for Urban Research and Education
Swarthmore College
University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education
University of Pennsylvania Netter Center for Community Partnerships, University of Pennsylvania Urban Studies Program
To Register for the Symposium: http://tinyurl.com/schoolclosingsymposium
For questions, contact Ariel Bierbaum arielb@berkeley.edu
Follow the conversation on twitter: @CritEduPolicy #SchoolClosures