Magnet schools are a form of school choice that districts offer to students who want to specialize in a certain subject matter or certain area of The Arts. Suposedly, all students are given the opportunity to apply and the seletion process is claimed to be fair. However, I've seen many students not get accepted into a magnet program for no good reason other than they just didn't make it in. Sometimes school and district officials are not obligated to provide a reson for why a student did not make the cut. Most of the time, magnet programs are geared toward the gifted and talented. Average students with potential are left out just as they are in the regular setting. There are programs geared toward high achievers and low achievers, but not many specialized programs for those in the middle.
Test scores at magnet schools are generally higher than the regular schools. It should be no surprise why their scores are better-they have the top students.
Do you think magnet schools should reveal their selection criteria? Should the magnet school officials be obligated to reveal to parents of students who were not selected the reason why their child was left out? Do you feel that magnet schools are a true form of school choice even though some who choose to go there can not get in because of the selection process? Magnet schools offer a great service; however, the selection process for some schools needs to be worked on.
1 comment:
Honestly, it has been my experience that a magnet district, meaning that the entire school district only houses magnet schools, is a great way to close the achievement gap, promote equal quality education, and prepare students to be active entities of society.
Duval County, where I was born and raised, began a magnet program long before the NCLB Act of 2001.
The high school that I attended was specifically for Broadcasting and Communications. Within my school there was a television station and radio station in which students actually broadcasted on a local channel on Sunday afternoons.
Our rival school, a ways down the road, housed a law and legal studies magnet. If you walk through their campus, there is a section that contains their cafeteria on one side, their gym on another and next to that their state of the art courtroom facility, specifically for the students in this program to study and even conduct mock trials.
At another school across town, which happens to be located across the street from one of the local hospitals, there is a medical magnet program. Additionally there are two college prepatory schools within the district that are always in the top 15 of America's best public schools every year; Douglass Anderson School of the Arts Perfomance School, and a host of additional magnet high schools with corresponding feeder middle schools.
Everyone who attends these schools do not participate in the magnet programs, but those who apply are accepted. Additionally, transportation is provided from their home school. The only schools that actually require an acceptance and actually have waiting lists miles long are those college prep schools that only institute the creme de la creme. These schools have proven to be a great asset to the students in the county and have offered them opportunities for advancement well beyond those offered by the traditional education system. I suppose the entire district would have to be run in the manner in order for this idea to work successfully.
Post a Comment