Research demonstrates that community-building in schools is an integral aspect of student success. Based on a foundation of research findings related to the importance of implementing community-building into all aspects of a school, community-building activities, including five specific classroom strategies (parent visits class to tell about…

This research brief outlines six major studies of magnet school student outcomes. Magnet schools are programs with special themes or emphases designed to attract families from a variety of different backgrounds. They were originally established to promote voluntary racial integration in urban districts. The studies are located within a much…

In the summer of 1970, the members of the New Orleans Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals understood clearly the realities of race in the South. Houston, Texas, like other Southern cities, had made haste toward racial school desegregation as slowly as the White Southern Federal courts would allow. When the High School of Performing and Visual Arts…

Discusses whether the alternatives to traditional education that were promoted in the past decade have lived up to their promise of creating a school environment that is conducive to learning for all students, focusing on magnet schools, educational vouchers, privatization and charter schools, and home schooling. (SM)

Presents profiles of eight Massachusetts magnet schools: Nathan Hale (Boston); Burncoat Preparatory (Worcester); Rafael Hernandez (Boston); Mill Swan Communications Skill Center (Worcester); Sumner Avenue (Springfield); Arts (Lowell); Graham and Parks Alternative (Cambridge); and City (Lowell). Each profile includes information on school size and…

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)

This monograph describes the magnet school program in Connecticut implemented in five urban areas to solve segregation problems. Each school developed its own emphasis; some use the student centered method developed by Bank Street College of New York City while others center their curriculum around the arts. The origin and emphasis of each magnet…

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…

Funds provided by the Emergency School Aid Act Title VII Magnet Project in 1978-1979 were largely responsible for attainment by the Milwaukee Public Schools of voluntary desegregation through specialty schools designed to meet a variety of student needs and interests. The positive impact of magnet schools on system goals was confirmed by…

The continuing popularity of Buffalo's 12 year old magnet school program proves that the program is successful in the following: 1) providing equity for minority and majority - students; 2) attracting integrated student bodies; 3) offering innovative educational opportunities that meet student needs; and 4) providing parents and teachers a major…

It was in 1968, when Martin Luther King had been assassinated, and American cities were erupting in flames because of King's violent death and the decades-long smoldering resentments from racism, that the nation's first "magnet" school opened in Tacoma, Washington. The following year, 1969, the country's second magnet school opened--this…

Magnet schools are district-wide, open-enrollment institutions that are thematically organized around such subject areas as science and mathematics, the performing arts, or career areas such as engineering. They are largely non-selective; that is, students who apply are evaluated primarily on the basis of their interests and motivation rather than…

This study reviews the state-financed program of racial integration in metropolitan Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Public Schools. The integration program rested on the basic assumption that with enough time, state financial assistance, and new spending, racial integration would significantly improve academic achievement and close the gap between minority…

This report evaluates the success of the magnet school program in the Houston (Texas) Independent School District for the 1987-88 school year. The following sections are included: (1) "Overview of the District"; (2) "History of Desegregation in Houston"; (3) "Development of Houston's Magnet School Program"; (4)…

This report evaluates the success of the magnet school program in the Houston (Texas) Independent School District for the 1988-89 school year. The following sections are included: (1) "Overview of the District"; (2) "History of Desegregation in Houston"; (3) "Development of Houston's Magnet School Program"; (4)…