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School Closings Rolling In As D.C. Region Digs Out From Snowzilla
1/24/16 | WAMU

Behind the Headline
In Defense of Snow Days
Summer 2015 | Education Next

Schools will be closed on Monday in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, and many other areas on the east coast after a blizzard dumped 1 to 3 feet of snow over the weekend.

A study by Joshua Goodman that was published in Education Next found that the number of snow days in a given year do not have an impact on student test scores. However, when schools remain open on snowy days and many students are absent, this does have a negative effect on student achievement, especially in math.

Goodman writes

It appears that teachers and schools are well prepared to deal with coordinated disruptions of instructional time like snow days but not with absences of different students at different times. In short, individual absences and not school closings are responsible for the achievement impacts of bad weather.

The study, “In Defense of Snow Days: Students who stay home when school is in session are a much larger problem,” appears in the Summer 2015 issue of Education Next.

– Education Next