ARTICLE I: SCHOOL CHOICE, MAGNET SCHOOLS, AND THE LIBERATION MODEL: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

ARTICLE IIARE MAGNET SCHOOLS THE ANSWER TO INTERGRATING SCHOOL?

ARTICLE IIIUSE OF RACE A CONCERN FOR MAGNET SCHOOLS

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POSTED BY THE AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION

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Magnet schools, are the most widely accepted public school choice in the United States.

Magnet schools offer, “programmatic specializations that parents can choose as an alternative to children’s regular assigned schools.”

Promotes voluntary integration by offering parents a choice of where to send their children.

Magnet schools are mostly located in urban/largely populated districts, offering relief to overcrowded schools.

A popular debate concerning magnet schools is that some believe they offer a choice for otherwise low-income students stuck in poor schools, while others believe voluntary segregation is not achieved because the majority tends to gravitate together.

Elementary schools make up the majority of magnet schools

SCHOOL CHOICE THEORY

Known as the ‘liberation model’

This model assumes that poor students are more likely to be shut into inferior schools than well off students.

Presumes that the option for school choice can reduce economic segregation in public schools by means of access to schools outside the neighborhoods of lower income communities without having to pay as you would with private schools.

Studies have shown that test scores for students in magnet schools are better than test scores in other public schools.

I agree with many aspects of this article: Magnet schools are a great addition

because they are still apart of the public school corporation.

Parents as well as children are given the option to select an alternative choice if they feel the schools in their area are not adequate.

Magnet schools also benefit lower income families because they are apart of the public school system, meaning no additional cost apply like they would in a private school.

Since magnet schools are more specialized in teaching, I feel that the teachers and other administrators will also be held to a higher standard, making that school the best choice possible for students.

PUBLISHED BY:DIVERSE ISSUES IN HIGHER EDUCATION

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Segregation still remains in public schools and often directly represents the surrounding community.

“Nationally, students in largely minority communities often suffer the consequences of attending failing inner-city schools.”

Brown vs. Board of Education started the process of desegregating schools. However, desegregation was met with strong resistance in many areas. Magnet schools were created as

an attempt in voluntary segregation. By offering a specialized school, resistant parents would hopefully be more likely to enroll their children in schools were other races of people were present.

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND NCLB is an effort to have

all the nation’s school provide, “a free and appropriate public education”

NCLB gives parents the right to withdraw children from failing schools and place them in higher performing schools such as magnet schools.

NCLB also puts higher expectations on teacher requiring them to be extremely knowledgeable in certain content areas as well as meeting regular teaching requirements.

Magnet schools are public schools with focused courses in areas such as math, science, and the arts. Focused content

area helps students desiring to specialize in a subject.

Before magnet schools are instituted in an area, surveys are taken from surrounding neighborhoods to get a feel for the type of magnet programs that school should offer.

I think that magnet schools help to emphasize the positive aspects of NCLB. Magnet schools give students

an option to be taken out of failing schools and placed in more adequate ones.

Magnet schools can promote healthy competition. If public schools do not want students leaving their schools, they will work harder to improve their own schools to keep students.

In today’s society it is harder to standout to colleges and employers. Magnet schools can give students the edge they need to obtain the jobs and further education they desire.

Daviana Covington (me)

POSTED BY : EDUCATION WEEK the U.S. Supreme Court issued a

major decision on whether school districts may consider race when assigning students to school. a 5-4 majority, struck down race-

conscious assignment policies The ruling stated that districting should

not be based on race. This ruling frightens advocates for magnet schools because they believe it will be harder to encourage the even distribution of students from different backgrounds

U.S. Department of Education's Magnet Schools Assistance Program provides about $106 million a year.

An estimated 4,000 magnet programs exist in the United States.

Magnet schools work with NCLB for, "the elimination, reduction, or prevention of minority group isolation in schools with substantial proportions of minority students.“ Proportion is anything of 50% of

enrollment

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Factors other than race should be looked at when admitting students into magnet schools such as socioeconomic status (called race neutral factors).

Even schools that are not experiencing segregation or high failure rates have applied for funding for magnet schools because they offer more advanced/concentrated courses such as: Math Science Technology Engineering Performing arts International Baccalaureate Program Foreign Language

Mr. Bogin notes, "People involved with school desegregation for many years pretty much universally roll our eyes at the prospect of reducing racial segregation or minority group isolation without taking race into account,"

This article addressed a very important point because once you start to admit students into a school only based on race, you are re-segregating the school.

This article has also shown that magnet schools are inspiring public schools to offer more specialized courses for schools. Hopefully, this will eliminate the need for magnet schools, making all public schools higher in performance.

MAGNET SCHOOLS: Were first established as a

method of voluntary segregation

Allow parents to remove students from failing schools and place them in high performing schools

Should be race neutral, which is sometimes difficult because magnet schools try to desegregate schools

Are a form of public schools, operating under state and government guidelines such as the No Child Left Behind Act

Were originally located in urban areas with high population but are now branching out into suburban areas

Offer specialized courses for students