We reply to Rieger, Reinsberg, and Wieman's forgoing Comment [Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res., Comment on "Benefits of completing homework for students with different aptitudes in an introductory electricity and magnetism course" 12, 028001 (2016)].

We present a comment on "Benefits of completing homework for students with different aptitudes in an introductory electricity and magnetism course", by F. J. Kontur, K. de La Harpe, and N. B. Terry PRST-PER 11, 010105 (2015). Our data show that the conclusions Kontur and coworkers draw from their data may not be generally applicable.

Using data from a large southwestern school district, Bui, Craig, and Imberman investigated the effects of gifted and talented programming on middle school students' achievement and behavior (attendance and discipline) through two avenues. Using a regression discontinuity design for the first set of analyses, the authors took advantage of a…

Bui, Craig, and Imberman assessed the impact of gifted and talented programs on student achievement using regression discontinuity and random assignment to gifted magnet schools. In both analyses, they found minimal impact of the gifted and talented programs on student achievement. This commentary addresses two concerns associated with the study.…

Beginning in the 1970s, many school US school districts reallocated their already scarce resources from local schools to specially created magnet schools. Many of these magnet schools have some sort of entrance exam, portfolio, or audition requirement that students must pass in order to gain admission. These selective magnet schools are predicated…

This essay is an open letter to despairing magnet school students. In this essay, the author describes how she attended the Kalamazoo Area Mathematics and Science Center (KAMSC) and realized that she was just not into math and science. For her, KAMSC was not part of a continuation along a straight line, but instead marked a sharp right turn away…

The author was born and raised in rural, northern Mississippi. He went to a local school, the North Pontotoc Attendance Center, from first grade on. The author was always interested in math and science, but, then, he was interested in most all subjects. The expected path that his friends and siblings had followed was clear: attend a junior college…

Drawing on data collected during the second year of a longitudinal qualitative study that followed over 10 Latino/a bilingual students, this article foregrounds the experiences of participants during their sixth-grade year. The principle data sources included structured and unstructured interviews with teachers and students, school observations,…

Two science questions are answered: (1) How can someone have one brown eye and one blue eye?, and (2) Why are magnets attracted to some metals, but not all metals? It is very rare that a human will have two irises of different colors. This condition, heterochromia, can be a normal variant or the result of an ocular disease. Heterochromia can…

Historical and practical realities of the desegregation process are outlined from a legal perspective. The court remedies have not enjoyed widespread success. Magnet schools have merit, but the number of Whites attending magnet schools is usually not sufficient for true desegregation. Upgrading all Black schools may provide a solution. (VM)

Defends the exam school concept. Using Boston Tech as an example, argues that clearing the admittance-exam hurdle motivates students. Views the magnet school concept as an idealistic vision that Boston has not accepted. (LHW)

Federal court intervention to make Boston Latin School a magnet school rather than an exam school was beneficial to the life of the school. Academic elitism cannot be reconciled with the imperative to eliminate racial dualism. (LHW)

Houston's High School for the Engineering Professions (HSEP) is a special curriculum, college preparatory school designed for students seeking engineering careers. HSEP is a magnet school intended to promote desegregation by offering academic and vocational programs that attract diverse students from the whole school district. (JOW)

Reports on an elementary school in Tokyo, Japan; an apprenticeship program in Germany; and a magnet school in Evanston, Illinois. Suggests some lessons U.S educators might learn from these nations in the areas of national curriculum, length of school year, tracking, and school-to-work transition. (MLF)

Magnet schools are popular and are spreading, but they are also resisted and resented. These schools challenge the idea that equal educational opportunity requires that the same education be offered to all students. Why magnet schools are under fire is discussed. (MT)