Racial balance is the primary goal of the regulations presented in this document. For the purpose of expending funds under these regulations, the terms "magnet school facilities" and "magnet educational program" are defined and school eligibility requirements are listed. Program requirements are also listed along with proposals…

This study uses a representative sample of eighteen school districts to determine the effectiveness of magnet school programs as a strategy in school desegregation. An overview of issues concerning magnet school programs is provided. The magnet schools in the eighteen districts and their community contexts are described. The relationship of magnet…

The Dallas Independent School District (DISD) established an alternative education system to comply with a 1976 desegregation court order. This system was composed of vanguards (grades 4-6), academies (grades 7-8), and magnet high schools (grades 9-12). These schools were expected to attract a student population which would reflect the ethnic mix…

In October 1983, the School District of Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission signed a memorandum of understanding that resulted in a Modified Desegregation Plan. The plan itself consisted of three complementary initiatives: (1) an educational improvement component promising systemwide educational reforms, specialized…

Enrollment trends related to desegregation programs in Seattle, Washington were charted, and parents were surveyed in 1978 on their enrollment plans, educational priorities, and opinions of school district policy. Trends in ethnic composition of schools indicated that voluntary or magnet programs have contributed to reductions in racial imbalance,…

Describes a successful plan to reduce the racial isolation of Massachusetts school in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood. Ascribes the school's successful magnet minority enrollment largely to parental involvement. Offers examples of academic improvement among children attending the school. (RDN)

This report is the fifth in a series of studies on 14 elementary magnet schools in the Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland. The focus is over a three-year period from 1983 through the 1985-86 school year. Ten of the elementary schools are from the Montgomery Blair High School area and four are in the Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School area.…

This brief digest reviews research findings on achieving racial integration in desegregated magnet schools. Studies show that resegregation tends to occur in most schools after desegregation as a result of tracking and ability grouping; furthermore, as the numbers of blacks rise in a school, the resegregation in classrooms tends to rise. A number…

This report assesses the relative effectiveness of primarily voluntary and primarily mandatory desegregation plans in a sub-sample of 20 school districts, 9 of which are magnet-voluntary plans and 11 of which are magnet-mandatory plans. The major conclusions of this report are the following: (1) voluntary desegregation plans work; (2) dismantling…

This paper is a summary report of the "Study of the Emergency School Aid Act Magnet School Program" which was undertaken to determine the effectiveness of magnet school programs as a strategy in school desegregation. The representative sample of eighteen schools used in the study and their community contexts are described, and the…

Examines whether controlled choice is a superior desegregation tool for urban schools. A study of 20 school districts with minority populations above 30% revealed controlled choice to be as unpopular as mandatory reassignments, to produce greater white flight than magnet-voluntary plans, and to offer less interracial exposure than do voluntary…

This paper discusses how trends in school racial desegregation suggest a move back toward segregation. Courts are more willing now to attribute these patterns of racial segregation to demographic changes in residential housing markets rather than to past vestiges of the segregated system as they had done in the past. School officials and community…

The Brown v. Board of Education decision upheld a civil rights ideal that was based on the personal interests of the students; it made no requirement for a perfect racial balance in all classrooms throughout the offending school district. Yet the ensuing, forced desegregation plans that involved long-distance busing, and other measures based on…

Ethnographic techniques are employed in this study in order to determine the extent to which curricula developed in magnet schools is distinctly different from curricula in conventional or nonmagnet schools. The variables examined and compared include: (1) subject matter offered; (2) instructional methods; (3) grouping procedures; (4) student and…

The implementation of the elementary magnet school program in Montgomery County (Maryland) from 1983 through 1985 and the racial balance changes experienced in these schools are discussed. Ten elementary schools in Area 1 and four of seven elementary schools in Area 2 operate magnet programs; these 14 schools comprise the study sample. The…