Magnet school: Difference between revisions

{{About|magnet schools|theother equivalenttypes inof the Soviet Union|specialized school|the equivalent in the UK|specialistSpecialist school}}

In the United States, the term "magnet school" refers to public schools with enrichment programs that are designed to attract and serve certain targeted subgroups of potential students and their families. There are two major categories of public magnet school structures in the United States, and although there is some overlap, their origins and missions remain largely distinct. The first type of magnet school is fully the fully competitive admissions magnet school. These schools use competitive admissions, usually rely on a standardized assessment score, and are structured to serve and support populations that are 100% gifted and/or talented students. Schools in this group generally rank among the top 100 public high schools in the United States. Examples of this type of school and program include the [[Maine School of Science and Mathematics]], [[Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology]] in Virginia, [[The School Without Walls (Washington, D.C.)|The School Without Walls]] in the District of Columbia, and nine schools that all use competitive admissions and are overseen by the New York City Department of Education (which still uses the older term "[[Specialized high schools in New York City|specialized school]]" instead of "magnet school" to refer to them{{citation needed|date=August 2022|reason=There needs to be a citation for the fact that specialized high schools in New York City are, in fact, magnet schools.}}). Another type of "magnet school" or "magnet program" emerged in the United States in the 1970s<ref>U.S. Department of Education, Office of Innovation and

Improvement, Innovations in Education: Creating Successful Magnet Schools Programs, Washington, D.C., 2004.</ref> as one means of remedying [[racial segregation]] in public schools, and they were written into law in Section 5301 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Authorization.<ref>[http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/pg65.html ed.gov]</ref> Demographic trends following the 1954 ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'' [[US Supreme Court]] decision revealed a pattern later characterized as [[white flight]], the [[hypersegregation]] of blacks and whites, as the latter moved to the [[suburb]]s.<ref>Charles T. Clotfelter. ''After Brown: The Rise and Retreat of School Desegregation.'' Princeton University Press, 2004.</ref><ref>[[Diane Ravitch]]. ''[[The Troubled Crusade: American Education, 1945–1980]]''. Basic Books, 1984. p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=iH6jKXSgoRkC&pg=PA177&vq=white+flight&dq=%22School+desegregation+and+White+Flight.%22&source=gbs_search_r&cad=1_1&sig=ACfU3U1FzJ9tPXFyq9BsrJd2aYER_3UoUQ#PPA179,M1 ''The Troubled Crusade: American Education, 1945-1980''177]. Basic Books, 1984.</ref> The first charter school, McCarver Elementary School, opened in [[Tacoma, Washington]], in 1968.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://magnet.edu/brief-history-of-magnets |title=A Brief History of Magnet Schools |website=magnet.edu |access-date=15 August 2021}}</ref> This second type of magnet can often take the form of "a school within a school," meaning that the school may have no competitive admissions for the majority of the school population, and even the magnet program itself may not have fully competitive admissions. This is consistent with the equity -based objectives of such programs.

Access to free transportation is a key component in facilitating racial diversity in magnet schools. According to a survey distributed at the Magnet Schools of America's (MSA) 2008 annual meeting, in magnet schools with free transportation services, non-white students comprise almost 33% of the student body, which is higher than the 23% found in magnet schools without such services. Moreover, 11.9% of magnet schools that do not provide transportation are largely one-race, while only 6.4% of magnet schools with the provision of transportation are characterized as one-race schools. Such services are integral in ensuring that potential out-of-neighborhood students have access to these schools of choice. Ultimately, the presence of free transportation contributes to more integrated magnet environments.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Orfield |first1=Gary |author-link=Gary Orfield |title=Educational Delusions? : Why Choice Can Deepen Inequality and How to Make Schools Fair|last1=Orfield|first1=Gary |last2=Frankenberg |first2=Erica |publisher=University of California Press |year=2013 |pages=118|jstor=10.1525/j.ctt24hsqs |isbn=978-0-520-27474-7 }}</ref>

Across the country, magnet school application forms assume that its readers are proficient in reading and writing in English, understand the school's curriculum, and recognize what kinds of resources are offered to students at that respective school. In diverse urban contexts especially, these assumptions privilege some families over others. Parents who seek out magnet schools tend to be whiteAsian, educated, middle-class, and English-fluent. Thus, in order to break down the racial disparities these schools were intended to dismantle, magnet school programs have to be intentional in not only their outreach efforts, but also how they create the application text itself.<ref>{{citeCite journal |last1last=André-Bechely |first1first=Lois |date=2004 |title=The Goals of a Voluntary Integration Program and the Problems of Access: A Closer Look at a Magnet School Application Brochure |journal=Equity & Excellence in Education |date=2004 |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=302–315 |doi=10.1080/10665680490500370 |s2cid=144204231 }}</ref>

* [[Specialized school]] in Russiapost-Soviet countries

* [[Gary Orfield|Orfield, Gary]] ([[University of California, Los Angeles]] professor and co-director of the Civil Rights Project) "[https://web.archive.org/web/20150818162227/http://www.debats.cat/en/debates/alternatives-school-segregation-us-case-magnet-schools Alternatives to School Segregation in the US: The Case of Magnet Schools]" ("Alternatives a la segregació escolar als Estats Units: el cas de les magnet schools"/"Alternativas a la segregación escolar en Estados Unidos: el caso de las magnet schools"). ''[[Debats d'Educació]]''. ([https://web.archive.org/web/20150818162227/http://www.debats.cat/en/debates/alternatives-school-segregation-us-case-magnet-schools Archive of profile]) ("Alternatives a la segregació escolar als Estats Units: el cas de les magnet schools"/"Alternativas a la segregación escolar en Estados Unidos: el caso de las magnet schools"). ''[[Debats d'Educació]]''. ([https://web.archive.org/web/20150818162227/http://www.debats.cat/en/debates/alternatives-school-segregation-us-case-magnet-schools Archive of profile]). -- [https://web.archive.org/web/20150818160005/http://www.debats.cat/ca/debats/alternatives-la-segregacio-escolar-als-estats-units-el-cas-de-les-magnet-schools Profile in Catalan], [https://web.archive.org/web/20150923213225/http://www.debats.cat/es/debates/alternativas-la-segregacion-escolar-en-estados-unidos-el-caso-de-las-magnet-schools Profile in Spanish].