This guide for parents and students provides descriptions of the 22 magnet schools and 4 magnet programs which make up the city-wide magnet district of the Boston public schools. The information provided was gathered through interviews with administrators, teachers, parents and students at each of the 26 sites. Principals and headmasters at each…

The purpose of this publication is to present the reader with brief descriptions of selected alternative schools and programs operating in Louisiana in 1976. Descriptions of many of the better-known types of alternative programs are found, including those that deal with college-bound students, alternatives to suspension/expulsion, and…

The program considered here is said to be one of the most comprehensive in the country. Only in its third year, it has 14 different types of alternative schools in 30 different locations. (Author/AM)

Describes the reasoning behind and services provided at the Thomas J. Pappas regional education center in Phoenix, Arizona, a magnet school for homeless students from all over the Phoenix area. Notes that the center provides some stability and extensive support to students. (SR)

Describes the options available to parents and students within the Milwaukee public school system, which includes traditional school programs along with over 40 citywide speciality schools, such as those focusing on the arts, language immersion, math/science education, and computers, and those focusing on career specialties. (DMM)

This guidebook for parents was written by staff members of the City-Wide Educational Coalition, many of whom are parents of children attending magnet schools. When the city-wide district of magnet schools was created in Boston, parents found that they had the option of requesting student assignment at any of the magnet schools. One problem parents…

This annotated bibliography highlights eleven publications on educational vouchers. Issues discussed include several voucher systems, the value of increased parental decision-making, and nonvoucher systems of educational options. The authors included in the bibliography also discuss how vouchers may promote freedom of choice but reduce equality of…

The Zoo School, housed in the Grand Rapids, Michigan, city zoo, provides a challenging one-year program for highly motivated, but not necessarily gifted, sixth graders. Using the zoo as a laboratory, its goal is to teach students about the contemporary world and to develop them as independent learners. (Author/SJL)

The Buffalo Public Schools have developed magnet schools to aid desegregation plans and to provide for different student needs and learning styles. The Academic Challenge Center is designed to meet concerns about declining reading and math scores. The Buffalo Traditional School emphasizes traditional learning styles and puts a high priority on…

Describes programs in four of Milwaukee's specialty schools--a school for the gifted and talented, one for the creative arts, one for foreign languages, and one emphasizing the basics. (IRT)

An alternative schools "explosion" is currently producing a large number of diverse educational choices for parents and students. Alternative schools, or those schools that offer all students a distinctive choice of educational programs, can be classified by philosophy, curriculum, or governance. This report defines, explains, and…

Described in this document are a number of magnet school programs developed and operating in Massachusetts as part of a voluntary school desegregation plan. A historical perspective of magnet school development is provided along with definitions and guidelines of both magnet schools and magnet education programs. These definitions and guidelines…

The objective of the magnet schools concept is to create quality educational programs with distinctive features which can attract or retain pupils of various ethnic types, and thereby contribute to racial balance in the schools. Magnet schools are intended to promote desegregation by permitting parents to make voluntary choices among schools,…

Spurred by the success of a pilot program in arts-centered education developed under the Interdisciplinary Model Programs in the Arts for Children and Teachers (IMPACT) project, the Eugene, Oregon, schools established a Magnet Arts alternative school for 150 elementary students. Sharing space and classified staff with a traditional school, it…

Describes the programs and students of a magnet high school and some of the educational and social considerations influencing the school. (IRT)