Chicago has hard decisions to make before closing more schools

The closing of CPS schools has long-lasting effects on students and should lead to hard conversations about the cost of closing and disinvesting in public schools. (Sun-Times file)

I hope the series of articles on the 50 schools that were closed in 2013 leads to hard conversations in Chicago about the costs and benefits of closing and disinvesting in public schools — particularly for Black students, families and communities.

As an educational researcher who has studied similar schools, I want to add policy context for the outcomes reported and also suggest some new directions for CPS.