Effects of urban school closures on students

Few studies focus on urban school closure and the effects on students. In these studies, the research suggests that student well-being is negatively impacted by school closure. Kirshner and Pozzoboni (2011) found that student perceptions of their school closing included feeling that the decision to close their school was imposed on them for reasons that they did not agree with. They also found that students appreciated and missed certain features of their closed school that contributed to their well-being, such as trusting relationship with adults and their sense of belonging (Kirshner and Pozzoboni, 2011). In a follow up article, Kirshner, Gaertner and Pozzooboni’s (2010) suggest that students face additional stressors when dealing with school closure. In a popular article found in the Hard Kennedy School Review, Chan (2012) explains that following the announcement of school closings both the students that will be displaced and the students and staff in the receiving school become anxious which serves as a stressor.

Student learning is also negatively impacted by school closure. Displaced student achievement is likely decline in both the year of the announcement of the school closing and year following their school closing, especially if the school that receives them is also failing school (Kirshner, Gaertner and Pozzoboni, 2014, Sherrod and Dawkins-Law, 2013).  Studies have found that following a school district restructuring during which schools were closed, although student test scores declined, they rebounded the year following suggesting a sort of resiliency in the displaced students and their ability to overcome loss (Brummet, 2012; Ozek, Hansen, Gonzalez, 2012). However, one of these studies occurred in the context of mass school closure during one school year that subsequently ended as the school district continued to restructure itself in a city that has undergone substantial gentrification (Ozek, Hansen, Gonzalez, 2012). This is quite different from the context in Newark. The other study found that any gains in displaced students’ achievement are countered by declines in the indigenous student populations’ achievement at the receiving school as a result of the disruption created with the entrance of a large group of new students (Brummet, 2012).  Thus student achievement in a receiving school can also be negatively influenced as a result of school closure.

            A sense of belonging in school is at the core of positive learning and well-being outcomes in students (McMahon, Parnes, Keys and Viola, 2008).  They describe school belonging as mediator between school resources and stressor and academic self-efficacy, school satisfaction, anxiety and depression, suggesting that strong belonging can insulate students from a lack of resources and other school generated stressors and a lack of belonging leaves students open to the negative influences of these stressors. Juvenen (2006) examined the connected between sense of belonging, social bonds, and student achievement finding a direct correlation between feelings of sense of belonging and student achievement.

Loss of sense of belonging and supportive social ties leads to stress which in turn dampens brain function necessary for learning, personality expression, social behavior and decision making and memory (McEwen, 2008). McEwen (2008) argues that stress affects brain function which in turns affects other systems such as the immune system. Over time chronic stress stimulates negative effects on the brain and the body. In addition, when a person gets “stressed out” behaviors that exacerbate health outcomes, such as poor sleeping and eating habits follow compounding the effects of high stress or allostatic load on individuals (McEwen, 2008). These habits can further influence learning. For instance, sleep plays a role in learning and memory consolidation.