This research brief outlines six major studies of magnet school student outcomes. Magnet schools are programs with special themes or emphases designed to attract families from a variety of different backgrounds. They were originally established to promote voluntary racial integration in urban districts. The studies are located within a much broader body of research that documents the benefits of attending racially and socioeconomically diverse schools. Some of what is known from the literature on the benefits of racial diversity indicates that students of all races who attend diverse schools have higher levels of critical thinking, an ability to adopt multiple perspectives; diminished likelihood for acceptance of stereotypes, higher academic achievement, more cross-racial friendships, willingness to attend diverse colleges and live in diverse neighborhoods, access to more privileged social networks, higher feelings of civic and communal responsibility, higher college-going rates, more prestigious jobs. The research discussed in this brief is relatively recent, but older studies suggest that magnet schools are associated with increased student achievement, higher levels of student motivation and satisfaction with school, higher levels of teacher motivation and morale, and higher levels of parent satisfaction with the school.

The Wiley Handbook of School Choice presents a comprehensive collection of original essays addressing the wide range of alternatives to traditional public schools available in contemporary US society. A comprehensive collection of the latest research findings on school choices in the US, including charter schools, magnet schools, school vouchers, home schooling, private schools, and virtual schools Viewpoints of both advocates and opponents of each school choice provide balanced examinations and opinions Perspectives drawn from both established researchers and practicing professionals in the U.S. and abroad and from across the educational spectrum gives a holistic outlook Includes thorough coverage of the history of traditional education in the US, its current state, and predictions for the future of each alternative school choice

Magnet schools are one of the largest sectors of choice schools in the United States. In this study, we explored whether there is heterogeneity in magnet school effects on student achievement by examining the effectiveness of 24 recently funded magnet schools in 5 school districts across 4 states. We used a two-step analysis: First, separate magnet school effects were estimated using a propensity score matched regression approach to address selection bias. Second, the magnet effects were synthesized across schools using a multi-level random-effects meta-analytic framework. Results indicated that there is significant variation in magnet school effects on student outcomes, with some magnet schools showing positive effects, and others showing negative effects. This variation can be explained by program implementation and magnet support. Demographic Statistics for Matched Samples by District is appended.

Magnet Schools Public Schools of Choice in a Changing Educational Landscape 2022 Edition Magnet Schools are one of the largest systems of public schools choice in the USA. This comprehensive magnet book delves into the history, research, and day-to-day work of this exciting form of education, and its impact on education today. In magnet schools, children of all races and economic levels learn and work together, integrating basic education with their interests and talents, through theme-based education, e.g., the arts, sciences, engineering, mathematics, social sciences, and unique methods of teaching. With descriptions of these exemplary schools as incubators of innovation, you experience magnet school effectiveness in student achievement. Magnet school successes are listed in the Top 100 High Schools, U.S. DOE's Blue Ribbon Schools, and other noted merit listings. Through voices of successful magnet school alumni, you see how strong integrated magnet schools have positively affected their lives. This book concludes by looking into the future of magnet schools in school choice. Edited by: Robert G. Brooks, Ph.D and Gladys Pack, Ph.D.

I estimate the impact of attending a magnet school on student achievement in mathematics in a moderately large Southern district. Admission to magnet schools is through lotteries. Actual attendance by lottery winners is of course voluntary. I use lottery outcomes as instruments to control for bias due to self-selection of enrollees. Because lottery winners would have attended zoned schools of varying quality in the absence of magnet schools, the response to treatment is necessarily heterogeneous. Even so, these instruments are capable of identifying the effect of treatment on the treated for all students who enter magnets through the lottery. I also exploit lottery outcomes to estimate the effect of peers on student achievement. Conditional on attendance zone, a magnet lottery determines whether a student is assigned to a school with the characteristics of the magnet school or one with the characteristics of their neighborhood school. Thus, within this group, there is randomized assignment with respect to the entire set of school characteristics, including peers. This furnishes a way of identifying peer effects free of bias caused by endogenous choice of peers. Results indicate that race and income of peers have a substantial impact on achievement: the estimated difference between a school where students are 75 percent black and one in which students are 25 percent black is more than half a year's normal growth in mathematics. Further analysis indicates that these peer characteristics are not proxies for other determinants of achievement, such as teacher quality or heterogeneity in the response to treatment. (Contains 9 tables and 8 notes.).

In recent decades, magnet schools have become a way for districts to provide school choice. Magnet schools are one of the many options provided to parents so that they can select a school to meet their children's educational needs and interests. After a short gap in federal grants for magnet school implementation, Congress established the current Magnet School Assistance Program (MSAP) in 1984. This study examined 21 MSAP-supported elementary schools from around the nation to see how their student body composition and academic achievement changed over time. The group of schools contained 17 that converted to become what might be called "traditional" magnet schools and another 4 that converted to become "destination" magnet schools. This study relied on administrative data collected directly from the districts. This study found that schools were more diverse after conversion but the evidence that this was related to conversion was limited (only significant for the concentration of minority students in traditional magnet schools). Achievement was higher after conversion in traditional magnet schools. The comparative interrupted times series (CITS) analysis suggests that this rise in achievement may have been due to other factors such as the changing student population rather than the magnet program or new peers as this analysis did not find evidence that magnet conversion itself was associated with a change in neighborhood student achievement gains. However, there was a significant amount of variation across individual district results which suggests that converting magnet schools or their contexts may be so different that an average look across them (even separately by traditional versus destination) may be less meaningful, or at least that it would be important to study a larger number of these schools in the future. Tables and figures are appended. [For the full study, "What Happens When Schools Become Magnet Schools? A Longitudinal Study of Diversity and Achievement," see ED556800.].