NPR’s ‘Embedded’: Shutting Down A School

With guest host Jane Clayson.

Underperforming public schools across the country are closing. Who does it hurt or Help? The NPR podcast “Embedded” goes inside a high school in its last days.

NPR's podcast "Embedded" takes a story from the news and goes deep. The latest goes inside a public school in Pennsylvania as it closes its doors. There’s been a historic number of school closings across the country. They disproportionately affect poor, black students.  NPR reporters went to Wilkinsburg High School to find out what it’s like when it’s your school. This hour On Point, “Embedded” inside a high school in its last days. — Jane Clayson

Shereen Marisol Meraji, reporter for NPR News and a co-host of the NPR podcast, Code Switch. Reported from Wilkingsburg High School for NPR's Embedded. (@RadioMirage)

Paul Reville, professor of practice of educational policy and administration at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Director of the Education Redesign Lab at Harvard University. Former Massachusetts Secretary of Education. (@PaulReville)

NPR News: The School — "It's happening all across the country, for complicated reasons: Schools are closing. And this is disproportionately affecting poor, black students. Shereen Marisol Meraji and Chris Benderev go to Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania to ask kids, parents, and teachers what it's like when the neighborhood school that's been there for more than a century is about to shut down."

Washington Post: In a disadvantaged district, a parable of contemporary American schooling -- "The high school in this tiny, impoverished Pittsburgh suburb has long been among the worst in Pennsylvania. Now the school board has decided to close it, along with the town’s only middle school."

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Wilkinsburg HS students sentimental as century-old school closes doors — " Wilkinsburg has slipped to become one of the worst-performing high schools in the state in recent years. Enrollment dropped as families moved away or transferred their children to private and charter schools. State data show the number of students at the school dropped from 448 during the 2010-11 school year to 206 this year. The district was forced to drastically cut back on staff, course offerings and extracurricular activities."