Major initiatives in New York City and Chicago to close unsuccessful schools and create small schools in their wake are stirring criticism from some community activists, local politicians, and others. Critics charge that the growing scale of the efforts is producing negative ripple effects on other schools in these cities. In Chicago, the chief…

Picked up by immigration authorities, undocumented children who are apprehended without their parents are sent to shelters throughout the United States and educated while they wait out deportation proceedings. At one such shelter in Miami, new students appear almost as rapidly as others leave. The shelter is run by Catholic Charities of Miami…