Advantages of magnet schools
Why would students want to attend a magnet school? The reason may be because magnet schools offer a variety of specialized programs that students can choose from. Programs such as visual and performing arts, mathematics, sciences, and many others are available for students to choose from. Similar to having a major in college, students at magnet schools have their own specialized area that they can take classes in, in addition to basic academic classes. They are encouraged to be creative and to hone their skills in their area of interest.
Another reason magnet schools may be so popular could be due, in part, to the different teaching styles that some of the schools have adopted. For example, University of Hartford Magnet School, a magnet elementary school in West Hartford, Connecticut, has begun teaching through a style developed by psychologist Howard Gardner. Gardner’s theory on intelligence’s are emphasized in this school, so as to get students to “appreciate all their intelligences, learn their own strengths, and develop those strengths in conjunction with other intelligences” (Delisio, p9).
As opposed to regular, neighborhood high schools, magnet schools allow students from different districts to attend. Students may be bused in from over 30 miles away to attend a magnet school, while “some magnet schools have boarding facilities to allow students from out of state to attend” (Boland). In addition, magnet schools are an outlet for students from low-income, urban areas. “By the early 1980s, there were approximately 1,100 magnet schools in 140 urban school districts nationwide” (baeo.org, p2).
Disadvantages of magnet schools
Yet, there are some drawbacks to magnet schools. As prev...
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... in an Elementary Magnet School: A Longitudinal Study. Journal of Computing in Teacher Education. Retrieved on April 19, 2004 from http://www.iste.org/jcte/PDFs/te18119wri.pdf
This website summarizes a longitudinal study done on a technology magnet school. The information provided includes how the school was started, what the school obtained through government grants, and how the technology in the school was benefiting students and teachers.
Steel, L. & Levine, R. (1994) Educational Innovation in Multiracial Contexts: The Growth of Magnet Schools in American Education. Palo Alto, California: American Institutes for Research.
This book gives information on the benefits of magnet schools, the types of funding magnet schools receive, and information on the types of students enrolled in magnet schools. Studies on magnet schools are also provided in this book.
America’s public school system started off very rough, but through the dedication of many hard-working Americans, it was starting to shape into a system that allowed all children, regardless of race, gender, religion, or nation of origin, to have an education.
As a teenager growing up in New York City a major part of your life is the high school that you attend. New York City is filled with high schools, public, private, and parochial. Within the public school system in addition to "regular" public schools there are also special admission and magnet schools. Although these schools are all technically part of the same system, there are very great differences and disparities between them.
Hallinan, Maureen T.. "Sociological Perspectives on Black-White Inequalities in American Schooling." Handbook of the sociology of education. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2000. 50-70. Print.
Published in American Educational Research Journal, this paper gives insight into how racial diversity stretches beyond educational engagement and social composition. The significant difference made by diversity-related efforts, such as hybridized racial interactions and policies is fully explored. The findings of the study presented can be generalized to the argument of institutional racism as this piece presents rationale against it. The limitations of paper is the insufficient detail regarding educational context needed to illustrate the steps institutions can take to apply diversity.
educational quality through thematic teaching of uniform curriculum (www.magnet.edu). Partially funded by the federal government through grants and assistance programs, magnet schools essentially provide choice to parents and students across America to gain a more specialized education.
Through programs that directly fuel desegregation in schools, our educational systems have become a melting pot of different races, languages, economic status and abilities. Programs have been in place for the past fifty years to bring student that live in school districts that lack quality educational choices, to schools that are capable of providing quality education to all who attend. Typically the trend appears to show that the schools of higher quality are located in suburban areas, leaving children who live in “black” inner-city areas to abandon the failing school systems of their neighborhoods for transportation to these suburban, “white” schools. (Angrist & Lang, 2004)
United States Department of Education (1997). Overview of Charter Schools. Retrieved April 3, 2003 from the World Wide Web: http://uscharterschools.org/pub/uscs_docs/gi/overview.htm
Topics of race and inequality are critical topics we continue to debate everyday in America. My research synthesis paper is about school segregation, and I wanted to identify how and why schools continue to be racially and socioeconomically segregated today. I will use these questions, as well as knowledge gained from scholarly articles, as a platform for my analysis of school segregation and its implications for students and communities. So I wanted to discover if integration still matters, do our schools need to be desegregated, and if not, then how can our schools become diverse and effective. Racial segregation, segregation and systemic oppression doesn’t just start in one place. There is a structure in place that makes all of the discrimination
Unfortunately, in the U.S it is a struggle for all children to receive the same learning experiences. Stewart (2012) and Ripley (2013) advocate for the transformation of the U.S education system. Stewart (2012) discusses in great detail how different countries changed their education system to benefits all children and urges the U.S to do something similar but in the context of the culture of the country. Although, Ripley (2013) does not agree with all the practices of the countries that have high achievement, she does recognize some good strategies the U.S should adopt. Lastly, Schwartz (2014) want all students in the U.S to have the chance to be successful by revamping vocational education. This is important because the option to receive a highly effective vocational education could give all students the chance to learn more about something they are interested in and a possible career. Overall, all of the authors want all students to have access to a high quality education that gives each student the opportunity to be successful (Ripley, 2013; Schwartz (2014); Stewart
As the 21st century neared, the disadvantages of this system began to surface. The number of students that began to fall behind began to increase rapidly with the introduction of personal computers and later the internet. This obviously presented a need for change in the system and shortly afterwards many people began to push for new and improved educational curriculums so that students could keep up with the times so to speak. This marked the genesis of the “school choice” movement. School choice is a term or label given to a wide array of programs offering students and their families alternatives to publicly provided schools, to which students are generally assigned by their family residence.
Education reform in the United States has recently come under scrutiny after many recent failed proposals. President George W. Bush implemented one of the most popular choices of education reform with his “No Child Left Behind” system. However, that policy reform in the past five years has faded to nothing more than a mistake. This mistake has haunted the education systems in America, but it is not the only reform proposal to shake up the school systems across the States. One new proposal that has caught the eye of some current state politicians is the idea of school choice. School choice is giving the option to parents to take their children to different schools, which is different from assigning children to schools based on the location of their houses. Does giving the parents of children an option to choose what school their child goes to create a spirit of competition? That is partly the goal with the school choice reform policy proposal along with many other facets that can completely revitalize the education system in the United States. The stipulations of this proposal involve a variety of suggestions to help strengthen the core of our education system.
Five miles away, a world apart: One city, two schools, and the story of educational opportunity in modern America.
A Magnet school is part of the public school system. Usually students are zoned into their schools based on location. Students mostly go to the school which they are closest to (this may not always be true since boundaries can seem arbitrary). With Magnet schools, the public school system has created schools that exist outside of zoned school boundaries. The point of them is that they usually have something special to offer over a regular school which makes attending them an attractive choice to many students, thereby increasing the diversity of the student population within them (in theory).
Technology is becoming more and more dominant in our society.Everyday upgrades are being made and new innovations are being discovered. Technology is all around us whether we want it to be or not: it is the vehicles we drive, it can be found in our homes, and can even be found in the grocery store.Every place we look there is some type of technology.I believe technology has had a major impact on our school systems and is still impacting it today.There are those who do not agree, though, that technology has impacted our schools.Eric Gormly writes, “In fact, many theorists point out the overall impact of technology on education has been quite small, manifesting little discernible change in the classroom.” [1]Yes, there are some schools that are not as advanced as others, but many of them do have a significant amount of technology in them.I find it fascinating that so much technology has been incorporated into our classrooms, but I believe that, even with all of the positive aspects that are associated with technology, there are some negative and even dangerous aspects that should be taken into account.I will be sharing some of the equipment that has been used in the schools, how both the students and the teachers use the equipment, and also the positive and negative effects that technology has had on our schools.
Meeks, Loretta F., Wendell A Meeks, and Claudia A. Warren. Racial Desegreration: Magnet Schools, Vouchers, Privitization, and Home Schooling. Chicago, University of Illinois. 2000.