Once considered a way to help integrate racially divided districts, magnet schools today have been forced to evolve, given increasing pressure to provide more public school choices and legal barriers against using race to determine school enrollment. In a post-desegregation era, many large districts like Chicago, Los Angeles, and Baltimore County…

Integrating our schools is a goal that many of us share. But some seem to have given up on the idea, as plans to boost racial diversity have come under attack, and as the fixation on test scores has narrowed some people's concept of a good education. There is, however, new hope: integration by socioeconomic status. It's a cost-effective, legally…

From her first encounter with stereoscopic 3D technology designed for classroom instruction, Megan Timme, principal at Hamilton Park Pacesetter Magnet School in Dallas, sensed it could be transformative. Last spring, when she began pilot-testing 3D content in her third-, fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms, Timme wasn't disappointed. Students…

The present study examined the cognitive factors that influence children's physical science learning from a multimedia instruction. Using a causally coherent text and visual models, we taught 4th- and 7th-grade children about the observable and molecular properties of the three states of water. We manipulated whether the text was read by a tutor…

This qualitative research project highlights the experience of ten Latina/o students in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). The youth interviewed attended a range of types of high schools; including schools categorized as general education high schools, college preparatory schools, magnet schools and one alternative school. The author conducted life…

This article is the story of Drummond Montessori Magnet School. From the sidewalk, Drummond Montessori Magnet School, a 117-year-old hulking mass of a building in Chicago, Illinois, appeared to be just another prosaic part of any American cityscape. This past May, the author witnessed a schoolyard scene that has probably unfolded numerous times in…

Late in 2006, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) released the first report in this series, "Building Minds, Minding Buildings: Turning Crumbling Schools into Environments for Learning." This second report, which covers the green schools movement is a natural follow-up; it highlights the work of AFT members and affiliates involved…

School choice reforms have been proposed as ways to enhance efficiency, equity, and effectiveness in education. This study examines the consequences of participating in public high school choice in Chicago, a city with a wide variety of choice programs, including career academies, charter schools, magnet schools, and selective test-based college…

This case study researched how two Joliet, Illinois, Corsini 4R (C4R) magnet schools function for the purpose of measuring their effectiveness as an alternative learning paradigm to public school education. In C4R schools, students learn the four R's: Responsibility, Respect, Reasourcefulness and Responsiveness. Data generated from classroom…

Reviews the development of magnet schools as an alternative to the politics that accompany other desegregation tactics, and discusses arguments for and against magnets. Focuses on the successful magnet schools of Kankakee, Illinois, a city with a small but socioeconomically diverse population, where desegregation was voluntary and parental…

This document contains the following papers: "Cognitive Abilities of Oak Harbor High School Agricultural Education Students" (Mark F. Starkey, Jamie Cano); "Development and Evaluation of Hands-on Learning Activities in Indiana High School Animal Science Classes" (Kendra Koster, Mark A. Balschweid); "Teaching Biology Using…

This publication provides descriptive information about the 100 largest school districts in the United States. Almost one in every four public school students in this nation is served by one of these large districts. They are distinguished from the average district by characteristics, in addition to sheer size, such as pupil-teacher ratios, high…