Persistently Low-Performing Schools Should be Shut

The schools have gotten their yearly grades, and the annual caterwauling is underway.

Parents whose children attend high-performing schools that have been rated only a B find such a mark absurd. They should stop to think that their kids weren’t served quite as well — even if only by a bit — as their peers at other top schools.

At the other end of the spectrum, a record 217 dismal schools got C’s for a third straight year, or came in with D’s or F’s. Many could qualify for closure, a term that works too many parents, and the teachers union, into a lather.