This "Equity Tool" provides facts and frequently asked questions about magnet schools and their integration efforts. It is meant to be shared with various education stakeholders, including those directly involved in designing and implementing magnet school policies at the local level as well as those at state and federal levels who are…

This manual was written to help guide education stakeholders--including parents, students, school board members, community activists, administrators, policymakers and attorneys--in their efforts to promote racial diversity and avoid racial isolation in suburban school systems. Critical information on the current legal, political and policy issues…

Since the early 1990s when the nation's first charter school was opened in Minneapolis, the scope and availability of school-based options to parents has steadily expanded. No longer can public education be characterized as a monopoly. Sponsored by the National Center on School Choice (NCSC), this handbook makes readily available the most rigorous…

Explaining that interest in law magnet programs has grown substantially in the 1990s, this bulletin analyzes these programs on the basis of information provided by 24 mostly urban magnet schools. The schools in the sample represent the spectrum of law magnet program sizes, organizational structures, and settings. The report defines a law magnet…

While adhering to state standards for the core curriculum required for graduation, magnet schools offer innovative, specialized instructional approaches to attract students of all socioeconomic, ethnic, and racial backgrounds. While the magnet programs vary in design, scope, and outcome, they share important objectives: (1) to promote educational…

Ordered to desegregate, the Lowell (Massachusetts) Public Schools followed parent wishes and successfully provided a variety of magnet schools to encourage voluntary desegregation. Creation of these schools provided an opportunity for reviewing and improving the educational system as a whole. (PGD)

A Florida county, under a federal court order to desegregate its schools, adopted a plan of controlled school choice approved by the federal court. The county was divided into three zones that roughly reflected the school system's racial composition. A computerized lottery, with provisions for keeping siblings together and attractive programs for…

The City Magnet School in Lowell, Massachusetts, involves parents in policymaking, the principal and teachers in curriculum-setting and budgeting, and the kindergarten to eighth-grade students in defining the design and operation of the simulated "real world" society that forms the context in which the school's educational efforts occur.…

By granting teachers greater empowerment and higher compensation in return for closer involvement with students, Rochester City School District is seeking to make public schools successful for all students. (Author/TE)

A partnership between Mount Holyoke College and a cash-starved school system led to the opening of Holyoke Magnet Middle School for the Arts. Only 20 percent of the school's budget is funded by the district; more than $500,000 is raised from outside public and private sources. Offers fund-raising tips. (MLF)

The author recently had the same conversation about local school reform with two superintendents--one from a large, urban district in the East and the other from a small district in the Midwest. Both superintendents were working with their respective boards to approve, design and fund reading initiatives consistent with the new federal guidelines.…

In recent years, parents have benefited from a significant expansion of educational options for their children. Parents have many more opportunities than just a few years ago to choose from an array of public school options, including charter, virtual, and magnet schools. Expanding educational options for parents is one of the hallmarks of the…

After years of reform and accompanying frustration, public schools of choice have become one of today's most popular school reform strategies. More than 20 states have either passed choice legislation or are considering such action. At the present, plans based on parental influence represent the majority of district choice plans, including magnet…

A program to expand and improve magnet schools in Texas' Austin Independent School District (AISD) was funded by the U.S. Department of Education in 1985-1986. Results of the program were: (1) increased and more stable enrollments in magnet elementary schools; (2) large achievement gains in readings, mathematics and science for students in a high…

A program to expand and improve magnet schools in the Austin Independent School District (AISD) was funded by the U.S. Department of Education in 1985-1986. Results of the program were: (1) increased and more stable enrollments in magnet elementary schools; (2) large achievement gains in reading, mathematics and science for students in a high…