Describes a policy adopted in 1981 in Cambridge public schools: No child is assigned to school on the basis of residence, and all parents and students are given the opportunity to gain admission to their preferred desegregated school within the city. Such systemwide, controlled open enrollment is working to prevent resegregation. (GC)

Reports on teacher, principal, parent, and student reactions to a desegregation plan implemented in Buffalo, New York, which permits teachers to choose the magnet schools in which they desire to teach and parents to select their children's schools. (GC)

Discusses questions about Massachusetts magnet schools, including (1) reaching parents who do not choose magnets; (2) how the school affects different groups of children; (3) how equity is embodied in life at school; (4) how magnet schools achieve unity; (5) whether parent choice leads to parental empowerment; and (6) why the magnet schools have…

Describes the production of a survey investigating what kinds of magnet schools parents and teachers want. Discusses: (1) the information sought; (2) pre-survey information-gathering and public discussion; (3) the creation of a citywide parent planning council; (4) constructing, conducting, and distributing parent and teacher surveys; and (5)…

Describes the voluntary, interdistrict transfer plan implemented to accomplish desegregation in the public schools in the St. Louis, Missouri, metropolitan area. (GC)

Presents and discusses enrollment statistics for nine Massachusetts school systems undergoing desegregation. Focuses on Boston, Worcester, Springfield, Lowell, and Cambridge. Describes each system as successfully promoting desegregation through magnet schools and parental choice. (KH)

Describes how a Parent Council and school system administrators collaborated to develop a citywide magnet school desegregation plan, which increased parents' choices and introduced competition among public schools for the patronage of parents and students and for achievement of academic excellence. (RDN)

School choice means instant empowerment for those who receive it, and it significantly alters the relation of chooser and chosen. Six distinguishable sets of positive and negative dynamics that the provision of choice in schools seems to set in motion are discussed. (BJV)

Choice offers the best prospect for accomodating parents' diverse educational expectations within public education and can help allay the public education crisis. To prevent educational choice from generating unequal opportunities and segregation, it is important to begin with planning for choices for poor children and low achievers. (RDN)

Applies effective schools research to inner city magnet schools to create effective schools of choice that maximize both educational access and quality. Topics include the following: (1) school environment; (2) instructional leadership; (3) parent participation; and (4) admission processes. (FMW)

An annual student referendum on desired ninth grade assignment in Boston is analyzed, and shows that students who express a first choice are quite likely to have that choice satisfied. The main distinction drawn by the analysis is not between district and citywide schools, but between schools which many students aspire to and schools which few do.…

Discusses history of immigrants and minorities in Fall River (MA), and the town's efforts to provide an equitable education for immigrant children and improve schools system-wide. The improvement plan incorporated the following elements: (1) controlled choice; (2) magnet schools; (3) controlled admissions and transfer policy; and (4) parent…

Choice plans include private schools (voucher plans, tax credits and deductions, and contract services and charter plans) and public schools (intradistrict choice, interdistrict choice, and statewide choice). Issues spanning both areas are those of curricular choice and residential choice. (SLD)

Examines the effects of high school choice on high risk students in four large urban school districts. Finds that with the exception of some magnet school programs, admissions procedures and program consequences usually operate to the detriment of students at risk. (FMW)

Argues that school choice plans should be limited to public schools. A system of controlled choice overcomes many problems associated with school choice. District 4 of the New York City public schools offers an example of how greater choice for parents has reinvigorated innercity schools. (SLD)