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)

Discusses varied roles a qualitative researcher or ethnographer plays in the educational research process. Focuses on ways in which these different roles affect others' behavior in the presence of the ethnographers; how ethnographers interact; and how ethnographers interpret, analyze, and present data. (Author/MJL)

The study was conducted in a major United States city which was under a court order to desegregate its schools. The school district responded by establishing a series of magnet schools. This method was designed to bring whites voluntarily into movement for desegregation. Three middle schools were studied to assess the relationship between teachers…

America's urban schools have come under pressure for their racial segregation and for a rigid traditionalism which alienates many students. Magnet schools have been established in several cities to attack both of these problems with attractive innovative educational programs which are intended to draw students of different races as volunteers.…

Magnet schools strive to draw students voluntarily to racially mixed settings by offering diversified educational opportunities. The impact of magnet schools on the political and organizational processes of a school system are discussed. (DF)

This paper, based loosely on findings presented in the other papers collected with it in a single volume, discusses general issues in designing magnet schools, focusing on three main themes: (1) the interdependence of program design and recruitment issues; (2) school level practices which help to turn racial desegregation into racial integration;…

Explains why desegregation is an important practice that must not be allowed to lapse and discusses some pressures that have often made it less than satisfactory for African American children in local contexts and national patterns. Also discusses magnet schools as a tool that can help or hurt. (SLD)

This paper reports on a study of a desegregated Individually Guided Education (IGE) middle school which drew volunteers from throughout a large, midwestern city. Findings are based on participant observation and interviews by the author. The author concludes that the school failed to incorporate all the features of IGE, which calls for alterations…

A case study of the magnet school program in an anonymous midwestern United States city provides insights on the types of organizational and political changes that result from this form of school desegregation. Organizationally, the normal life of school systems depends upon a delicate balance of two sets of contradictory elements: individual…

In an urban magnet middle school serving mostly minority, poor, and low achieving students, the presence of high levels of interracial interaction and positive student-teacher relationships was attributed to the school's curricular, academic reward, and classroom activity structures, and to a faculty subculture that encouraged teachers to foster…

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…