Three magnet middle schools which were established as part of a voluntary desegregation plan in a school system in a large, American city are described in this report. The schools are examined as organizations that differed in their innovative educational approaches to bring about desegregation. One school offered a system of open education, in which students planned their own daily programs of activities in consultation with their teachers, and implemented these programs individually. The second school provided Individually Guided Instruction (IGE), which involved breaking the school population down into units, each with a common group of teachers, to create smaller social contexts within the whole school environment. The third school emphasized education for the gifted and talented, and was distinctive more for the character of its students than for any special teaching approach. The report focuses on the historical and political context within which the schools developed; the educational patterns that each school employed; organizational processes (such as leadership styles, school history, student composition, and interpersonal relationships) through which each school developed a distinctive character; and the effects that the schools had on interpersonal/interracial relationships and on attitudes toward school. Concluding observations about organizational processes in schools in general and in magnet schools in particular are presented. (Author/MJL)