<p>Some semantic differences in our area regarding " magnet schools".
My impression is that they are a school that attracts other students from outside the neighborhood, with programs that may not be as developed or even offered at other schools, but some are saying that a " magnet" school is one with a stated focus, possibly even requiring an admission process.</p>
<p>I realize that what you call it doesn’t necessarily make any difference- but being that we have some schools that call themselves " alternative" - even though they have little about them that could be considered " alternative" & other schools are " comprehensive" even if they have more " alternative" programs than the * first* school. I am curious to see what other versions of " magnet" there are.</p>
<p>The magnet schools in my county offer very focused areas of study. My daughter’s magnet school offered courses of study such as theater, voice, literary arts and business. Admission is by application and for the performing arts - audition. Other magnet schools offer other areas of concentration.</p>
<p>Here in in Los Angeles, magnet programs are voluntary integration programs that provide transportation and have a special emphasis. Admission is based on a point system with points being given for matriculation from another magnet program, sibling points and points if your home school is either Primarily Black Hispanic Asian or Other and points if it’s overcrowded. Magnet programs have to maintain an ethnic balance – usually 70 minority/30 White. Admission into a gifted or highly gifted magnet program requires meeting certain criteria. Other programs do not have a criteria besides the point system. If there are more applicants with the same amount of points than there are spots, the computer randomly selects students maintaining the required ethnic balance.</p>
<p>Our magnet school was created originally because the neighborhood population wasn’t large enough to fill the school AND to promote integration. The second goal became illegal at some point between S1 and S2. The program became so popular that the neighborhood is now in danger of providing too many kids. A couple of other popular magnet programs have been developed since at other schools which siphon off some of the extra kids. Each magnet school has a different theme. One is humanities and arts, one science and technology and one offers preschool, all day K and a Reggio Emilia approach to the curriculum.</p>
<p>I agree with others – a school or program, usually by application, that accepts students from throughout the district into a school or program with a specialized focus or centered on an educational theme.</p>
<p>In the South, I get the impression that magnets were used by districts as an easy desegregation tool. Here’s a link about Houston’s magnets. There are more than 100!</p>
<p>From the Federal Government’s point of view, the magnet school program was an alternative to busing, and was as Mathmom pointed out, designed to promote school integration. I think (although I may be wrong) that the program was first used by Nixon’s Justice Department as a legal remedy for de jure/de facto school segregation. </p>
<p>Grants for promoting desegregation, using magnet schools, were available from the Department of Education. I took part in numerous reviews of applications for Federal magnet school money during the Clinton years when I was in the Office for Civil Rights in ED. I remember one year we came in on a Saturday to complete the work and the Assistant Secretary, Norma Cantu, bought us all fried chicken. Another year they gave us small cash awards for working on them.</p>
<p>Now remember that I’m old, have done a lot of things, and I can’t always keep them straight. But, I do think there is more truth than not, based on my memory, in the first paragraph.</p>
<p>In Louisville, every high school had at least one “magnet” program. Some of these were actually glorified vocational programs worked into the standard college prep curriculum (which I think is a fine thing, to destigmatize vocational programs and make them popular). For example, there was an aviation magnet, and a public safety magnet, and a pre-law magnet. Others were more what people think of when they think of magnets - math/science/technology, performing arts, foreign languages, IB, etc. There were a few where the magnet was based on pedagogy - the “traditional schools”, which stressed dress codes, patriotism, discipline, and lots of structure and homework, and their opposite, the self-directed magnet, where students set their own curricula in consultation with teachers and there was little formal structure.</p>
<p>Most of these magnets had an admissions process, some more selective than others, and most of the schools also had a regular non-magnet component.</p>
<p>My stepbrother and I both graduated from the same math/science/tech magnet program (there was more than one of those), and my sister graduated from the performing arts magnet, with a concentration in theater.</p>
<p>I thought it was a great system. Good for keeping kids in the public schools, good for giving students a more individualized education, and good for desegregation.</p>