Schools Never Die: Toward a Dynamic Systems Theory of School Closure

November 2025

Educational researchers and policymakers typically treat school closures as discrete administrative decisions with clear endpoints. This paper challenges that assumption by applying Dynamic Systems Theory to school closure policy and research. We argue that schools function as adaptive ecosystems embedded within broader networks of relations that span social, cultural, political, and economic dimensions. When districts close schools, many underlying systems—relational networks, cultural practices, institutional memories, and financial governance—persist and adapt rather than disappear, rendering true “closure” illusory. This contradiction—between dynamic systems and discrete closure—explains why closure effects often confound policymakers' predictions, why communities mount fierce resistance even to seemingly justified closures, and why impacts can reverberate through communities for years. We argue that adopting a perspective that “schools never die” can improve school closure policy and research by grounding school closures in the reality that schools are embedded within and comprised of systems that shift and reconfigure over time. We conclude by outlining specific recommendations for how DST principles can reshape researchers' analytical approaches to the study of school closure.

Keywords

School Closures, Dynamics System Theory, Declining Enrollment, District Reforms

Education level

K-12 Education

Topics

Policy, Politics, and Governance