Magnet school - Definition and Overview

In the U.S. system of education, a magnet school is a public school that draws talented students, in academics or the arts, from the surrounding region (typically a school district or a county).

Many 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. Magnet schools were originally started in the hope that their geographically open admissions would end racial segregation in "good" schools, and 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.

While public, magnet schools are typically designed to cater to more intellectually adept or "gifted" students, who score well on tests and receive good grades. This has led critics to charge that magnet schools harm their public school systems by drawing away the best students, as well as the increased funding and attention from parents, media, and the general public which typically accompany these students. Critics of magnet schools charge that their academic elitism (sometimes derisively called "skimming off the cream" of the student population) allows neighboring "ordinary" public schools to languish out of the spotlight and blame their failures on their "mediocre" students.

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. The largest magnet district in the US is the Miami-Dade County Public Schools system.

See also: charter school -- public education -- school reform

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

• Dr. Michael M. Krop High School

External links

• Magnet Schools (http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-928/magnet.htm)
• Improving Urban Education with Magnet Schools (http://www.ericdigests.org/1992-4/magnet.htm)
• Choice in the Public Schools (http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-925/choice.htm)
• Law Magnet Programs (http://www.ericdigests.org/1998-1/law.htm)