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In the U.S. system of education, a magnet school is a public school that draws students interested in specific subjects such as academics or the arts, from the surrounding region (typically a school district or a county or region-wide group of school districts).

Enrollment

Some magnet schools have a competitive entrance process, requiring students to take an exam or submit an application in order to enter so admission requires a desire to enter the school. Some simply require an application to enter a lottery system. Magnet schools were originally started in the hope that their geographically open admissions would end racial segregation in "good" schools, and decrease de facto segregation of schools in poorer areas by offering a more enticing educational program. This continues to some extent today. Most magnet schools concentrate on a particular discipline or area of study, such as science and engineering, the humanities, or the fine arts or performing arts.

Purpose

In some communities, past racial segregation issues resulted in court-ordered attendance plans and forced busing of children far from their homes and closer schools to achieve the required balance. Within a few years, in locations such as Richmond, Virginia additional magnet school programs for children of many different special talents were developed at facilities in locations which parents would have otherwise found undesirable. This effort to both attract voluntary enrollment and achieve the desired racial balance met with considerable success, and helped improve acceptance of the longer rides, hardships with transportation for extra-curricular activities, and the separation of siblings which may result when schools other than strictly neighborhood school plans are utilized. Even as districts such as Richmond were released from desegregation court-orders, the parental selection of magnet school programs has continued to contribute to more racially balanced schools than would have otherwise occurred. With a wide range of magnet school types, a suitable program could be found for many more children than only for the exceptionally bright ones for whom the earliest efforts were directed.

There are magnet schools at the elementary school, middle school, and high school levels, and they occasionally combine grades in certain classes. Some magnet programs are within comprehensive schools, as is the case with several "schools within a school" found in Virginia Beach, VA.

See also

Further readings

  • Bailey, Jerry D. RESEARCH NEEDED TO ASSESS THE PERFORMANCE OF MAGNET SCHOOLS. Washington, D.C.: Office of Educational Research and Improvement, 1987. ED 284 952.

  • Blank, Rolf K. "Comparative Analysis of Local Planning and Development of Magnet Schools." In Rolf K. Blank and Paul R. Messier, (Eds.), PLANNING AND DEVELOPING MAGNET SCHOOLS: EXPERIENCES AND OBSERVATIONS. Washington, D.C.: Office of Educational Research and Improvement, 1987. ED 284 946 (individual paper, ED 284 954).

  • Clinchy, Evans. "Let Magnet Schools Guide the Way to Education Reform--And Diversity." AMERICAN SCHOOL BOARD JOURNAL 172 (1985): 43.

  • Doyle, Denis P., and Marsha Levine. "Magnet Schools: Choice and Quality in Public Education." PHI DELTA KAPPAN 66 (1984): 265-70.

  • Tsapatsaris, George. "How We Magnetized a City School System. A Special Report on Magnet Schools." PRINCIPAL 64 (1985): 8-10.

  • Turner, Benjamin F. MAGNET SCHOOLS: A PLANNING GUIDE FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. Kent, OH: Ohio Center for Educational Development and Strategic Services, Kent State University, June 1984. ED 244 043.

Examples of magnet schools

Note: A more detailed list can be found through the Magnet_schools.

External links

Magnet schools | Public education in the United States | School types

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Magnet school".

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