U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Successful Magnet 

High Schools

Innovat i o n s i n Educat i o n 

Prepared by WestEd

For

U.S. Department of Education

Office of Innovation and Improvement

2008

Successful Magnet 

High Schools

Innovat i o n s i n Educat i o n 
This report was produced under U.S. Department of Education Contract No. ED-01-CO-0012, Task 

Order D010, with WestEd. Sharon Kinney Horn served as the contracting officer’s representative. The 

content of this report does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of 

Education, nor does the mention of trade names, commercial products, curricula and curricula materials 

and approaches, or organizations imply endorsements by the U.S. government. This publication also 

contains Internet Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) for information created and maintained by private organizations. This information is provided for the reader’s convenience. The U.S. Department 

of Education is not responsible for controlling or guaranteeing the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or 

completeness of the outside information mentioned in this report. Further, the inclusion of information 

or a URL does not reflect the importance of the organization, nor is it intended to endorse any views 

expressed, or products or services offered.

U.S. Department of Education

Margaret Spellings

Secretary

Office of Innovation and Improvement

Douglas B. Mesecar

Assistant Deputy Secretary

Office of Parental Options and Information

Dean Kern

Director

September 2008

This report is in the public domain. Authorization to reproduce it in whole or in part is granted. While 

permission to reprint this publication is not necessary, the citation should be: U.S. Department of Education, 

Office of Innovation and Improvement, Successful Magnet High Schools, Washington, D.C., 2008.

Cover photo credit: Christian Holden.

To order copies of the report Successful Magnet High Schools (order number ED004444P),

write to: ED Pubs, Education Publications Center, U.S. Department of Education, P.O. Box 1398, 

Jessup, MD 20794-1398;

or fax your request to: 301-470-1244;

or e-mail your request to: edpubs@inet.ed.gov;

or call in your request toll-free: 1-877-433-7827 (1-877-4-ED-PUBS). Those who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a teletypewriter (TTY), should call 1-877-576-7734. If 877 service is 

not yet available in your area, call 1-800-872-5327 (1-800-USA-LEARN; TTY: 1-800-437-0833);

or order online at: http://www.edpubs.ed.gov. 

This report is also available on the Department’s Web site at: 

http://www.ed.gov/admins/comm/choice/magnet-hs.

On request, this publication is available in alternate formats, such as Braille, large print, or computer 

diskette. For more information, please contact the Department’s Alternate Format Center at 202-260-0852 

or 202-260-0818.
iii

Contents

List of Illustrations v

Foreword vi

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction 1

Evolving Goals and Changing Communities (1)

The Schools Profiled in This Guide (2)

Part I: Successful Magnet High Schools: Common Themes 7

Common Elements and Strategies in the Profiled 

Magnet High Schools (7)

Innovating for Excellence (7)

Promoting Equity (12)

Forging Community Partnerships (15)

Designing Rigorous Academic Programs (16)

Building a Culture of High-quality Teaching (22)

Conclusion (26)

Part II: Profiles of Magnet Schools Highlighted in Part I 27

Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School (29)

G.W. Carver Magnet High School for Engineering, 

Applied Technology, and the Arts (33)

Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences (37)

Design and Architecture Senior High School (41)

Galileo Magnet High School (45)

Metropolitan Learning Center (49)

Northeast Magnet High School (53)

Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and 

Visual Arts (57)

Appendix A: Research Methodology 61

Appendix B: Resources 65

Notes 67
iv

Illustrations 

FIGURES

1. Magnet Strands of Study at Galileo Magnet High School, School Brochure (Excerpt) 8

2. The Magnet School Strands in Aldine Independent School District, Houston (Excerpt) 10

3. Sample Chairs Designed By Students in the Industrial Design Program at Design and Architecture 

Senior High School (Miami) 11

4. Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School (Los Angeles), Parent Evaluation of 

Bridge Achievement Academy (Excerpt) 14

5. Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (Dallas) List of Cultural 

Community Collaborations and Guest Artists 17

6. Design and Architecture Senior High School (Miami) Career Design Portfolio Flyer 18

7. Metropolitan Learning Center (Bloomfield, Conn.) Graduation Requirements 20

8. Examples of Careers Related to Magnet Strands at G.W. Carver Magnet High School (Houston) 21

9. Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences 2008 Senior Project Overview 22

10. Mapping Connections for MLC Students Between Learning and the Real World 24

11. Northeast Magnet High School (Wichita, Kans.) Science Professional Learning Community Notes 

From Weekly Meeting (Excerpt) 25

TABLES

1. Selected Variables of Profiled Magnet High School Sites 4

2. Percentages of 10th- and 11th-Grade Students Scoring Proficient and Advanced on 2007 California 

Standards Test in Reading and Mathematics at Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet as Compared to 

Los Angeles Unified School District and the State 32

3. Percentages of 11th-Grade Students Who Passed the 2007 Texas Assessment of Knowledge and 

Skills Test in Reading and Mathematics at G.W. Carver Magnet High School as Compared to the 

District and the State 36

4. Percentages of Ninth- through 12th-Grade Students Who Scored Proficient and Advanced on 2007 State 

Assessments in Reading and Mathematics at Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences as 

Compared to Hamilton County and the State 40

5. Percentages of 10th-Grade Students Scoring Proficient and Above on 2007 State Assessments at 

Design and Architecture Senior High (DASH) as Compared to the District and the State 44

6. Percentages of Students Scoring Proficient in Reading, Writing, and Mathematics Subjects on 2007 

State Assessments at Galileo Magnet High School as Compared to Danville Public Schools and the State 48

7. Percentages of 10th-Grade Students Scoring Proficient and Above on 2007 State Assessments at 

Metropolitan Learning Center as Compared to the Capitol Region Education Council (CREC) and 

The State 52

8. Percentages of 11th-Grade Students Meeting or Exceeding Standards on 2007 State Assessments at 

Northeast Magnet High School as Compared to the District and the State 56

9. Percentages of 10th- and 11th-Grade Students Who Scored Proficient and Above on 2007 State 

Assessments at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts as Compared to the 

District and the State 60
v

Foreword

Schools influence our lives in many ways. Families may buy their homes based on proximity to highperforming school systems. Businesses locate in areas where schools have produced a knowledgeable and skilled workforce. As a result, great schools help to create more employment opportunities, 

higher incomes, and an improved quality of life for everyone around them. For far too long, many 

low-income and minority families in this country did not have access to these schools or the option to 

send their children elsewhere. Since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, families have 

more freedom than ever before to make decisions about how and where their children are educated. 

Magnet schools represent one of the many public school choice options available to families today.

Magnet schools were first created nearly 40 years ago to achieve racial integration and resolve educational inequities. These schools still serve as tools to provide traditionally underserved students with 

better educational options, but they also are hubs for unique and innovative instructional practices 

and programs. 

We know that a lack of relevant course work is one of the top reasons why high school students drop 

out, and studies have shown that low-income and minority students are less likely to be enrolled in 

college preparatory curricula than their more affluent peers. In today’s world, it’s critical to make sure 

that all students have access to a rigorous, high-quality education that will equip them with the skills 

they need to succeed in the 21st century. 

Magnet high schools like the ones featured in this guide serve populations from diverse socioeconomic and racial backgrounds and use themed instruction in such subjects as biotechnology, the arts, 

engineering, and medicine to attract students. When students are empowered to choose a school 

based on their interests, they often are more engaged in learning, which can translate into improved 

academic achievement. 

The profiled schools demonstrate that students—regardless of race, background, or economic status—

can meet and exceed the academic standards set for them. As a matter of fact, each school’s requirements for graduation are more challenging than those of the local district.

In the following pages, you will learn how these magnet high schools have sustained success through 

a focus on five common strategies. Each school innovates for excellence; provides rigorous course 

work; promotes equity by holding high expectations for all students; builds a culture of high-quality 

teaching where educators feel connected through an integrated curriculum; and forges partnerships 

with families, communities, universities, and businesses.

This guide is one in a series of Innovations in Education publications produced by the U.S. Department of Education and complements an earlier guide on creating and sustaining K–8 magnet schools. 

I hope that policy-makers, district and school staff, and parents will find the examples highlighted here 

as inspiring as I do. These schools have had a powerful impact on the families and communities they 

serve, and are models for preparing students for successful futures.

Margaret Spellings, Secretary

U.S. Department of Education

Acknowledgments

The guide was developed under the auspices 

of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office 

of Innovation and Improvement. Sharon Horn 

was project director.

An external advisory group provided feedback 

to refine the study scope, define the selection criteria, and clarify the text. The advisory 

group members and the position they held at 

the time the meeting was conducted included: 

Mary Ellen Elia, Superintendent, Hillsborough 

County Public Schools; Caroline Massengill, 

President of Magnet Schools of America; 

Mary H. Metz, Professor Emeritus, School of 

Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison; 

Becky Smerdon, Senior Associate, Education 

Policy Center, The Urban Institute; and Karen 

Steele, Principal, Carver Center for Arts and 

Technology.

Staff in the Department of Education who 

provided input and reviewed drafts include 

Sue Betka, Steve Brockhouse, Tom Corwin, 

Kate Devine, Lorenzo Esters, Richard Foster, 

Margaret Guenther, Ellen Kendrick, Holly 

Kuzmich, Meghan Lerch, Greg March, Richard 

Smith, Tiffany Taber, Linda Wilson, and James 

Woodsome. 

Representatives of the eight schools participating in the development of this guide and the 

case studies on which it is based were generous 

with both their time and attention to this project. We would like to thank those who were 

instrumental in coordinating and participating 

in the site visits. 

Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School

1200 N. Cornwell Street 

Los Angeles, CA 90033

http://bravoweb.lausd.k12.ca.us

Maria Torres Flores, Principal

G.W. Carver Magnet High School

2100 South Victory Street

Houston, TX 77088-7699

http://schools.aldine.k12.tx.us/webs/002

Thomas Colwell, Principal

Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences

865 East Third Street

Chattanooga, TN 37403

http://www.hcschools.org/csas/index2.html

Steve Ball, Principal

Design and Architecture Senior High School

4001 NE 2nd Avenue

Miami, FL 33137

http://www.dashschool.org

Dr. Stacey Mancuso, Principal

Galileo Magnet High School

230 South Ridge Street

Danville, VA 24541

http://web.dps.k12.va.us/galileo/home.html

April Goff, Principal

Metropolitan Learning Center

1551 Blue Hills Avenue

Bloomfield, CT 06002

http://www.crec.org/magnetschools/schools/

met/index.php

Anne McKernan, Principal

Northeast Magnet High School

1847 N. Chautauqua

Wichita, KS 67214

http://northeast.usd259.org

Joel Hudson, Principal

Booker T. Washington High School for the 

Performing and Visual Arts

2501 Flora Street 

Dallas, TX 75201

http://www.dallasisd.org/btw

Tracie Fralie, Principal

vii

Introduction

Since the 1960s, many school districts have promoted magnet schools as a vehicle for reducing 

minority-group isolation and increasing school choice for parents, students, and teachers. By definition, magnet schools are public schools that are able to attract students of diverse racial and socioeconomic backgrounds by offering a special curricular theme or pedagogical approach. In contrast 

to conventional zone schools, where students are assigned by geographic location, magnet schools 

usually enroll students on a voluntary basis, drawing from areas beyond the traditional neighborhood locale. The underlying premise is simple: A magnet’s specialized focus is compelling enough to 

draw a diverse range of families to attend a school outside their immediate zone, even if this requires 

travel to a different, or even distant, neighborhood. 

Magnet schools originally emerged as a response 

to involuntary busing to achieve racial integration of schools and the growing demand for 

variation in traditional public education. Experiments with “alternative schools,” “street academies,” and “open classrooms” provided models 

for magnet schools and gained prominence after 

federal court rulings in the 1970s that accepted 

magnet programs as a strategy for voluntary 

desegregation.1

 Between 1982 and 1991, the 

number of magnet schools doubled, from 1,019 

to 2,433, with magnet school enrollment nearly 

tripling from 441,000 to 1.2 million students.2

Funding from the federal government—with the 

Emergency School Aid Act from 1972–81—and 

the Magnet Schools Assistance program (MSAP) 

from 1985 until present—also encouraged the 

growth of magnet programs. By 2001–02, more 

than 3,100 magnet schools were operating 

in 230 districts.3 Today in 2008, according to 

Magnet Schools of America (MSA), a nonprofit education association, there are more than 

5,000 magnet schools serving approximately 

2.5 million children.4

Evolving Goals and Changing 

Communities

As the movement for magnet schools gained 

momentum, districts also expanded their goals 

to focus on achievement-oriented outcomes as 

well as to address issues of the changing community context and demographics. New purposes for magnet schools include modeling innovative educational methods and leveraging the 

element of choice to increase student learning 

and parent satisfaction. In some districts, magnet schools have dramatically improved student 

achievement levels, renewing interest in these 

schools as a promising strategy for improving 

student learning. As part of a strategy for increasing school choice and the dissemination of 

innovative education practices, magnet schools 

also can serve as effective vehicles for providing low-income and minority students with better options for education. As MSA founder Donald Waldrip says, “Magnet schools are based on 

the premise that all students do not learn in the 

same ways, that if we find a unifying theme 

1
2

Successful Magnet High Schools

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

or a different organizational structure for students of similar interest, those students will learn 

more in all areas.”5 The MSAP evaluation of its 

1998 grantees found that teachers in the magnet schools funded by the program emphasized 

higher-order thinking skills and used more varied 

assessment practices than teachers in traditional 

schools. As a magnet school principal explains, 

“A primary benefit of launching a theme concept 

is that it motivates staff members to implement 

innovative strategies in the classroom ... brings 

cohesiveness to a school’s staff, and offers new 

opportunities for leadership.”6

Choice is a powerful element that can help create the conditions for successful magnet schools. 

Students are more engaged in the classroom, 

parents and community members become more 

actively involved with school life, and staff members feel connected by the curricular coherence 

and shared culture in schools of choice. 

There is an ongoing challenge to prepare secondary students to demonstrate academic achievement at high levels. Magnet high schools are 

producing positive results, as the schools profiled in this guide illustrate. Part of the secret of 

their success has to do with the opportunity to 

experience innovative learning and the level of 

rigor they provide in their programs and instruction. At these schools, academic excellence and 

innovation go hand in hand, preparing students 

for college and for success in careers beyond.

This guide is written for policy-makers, district 

and school staff, as well as educators and parents 

interested in understanding what successful magnet schools offer and how the strategies they use 

to implement innovative programs can increase 

equity and achievement levels for their students. 

Readers of this guide will need to select, adapt, 

and implement practices that meet their individual needs and school contexts using the ideas and 

practices from the schools featured in this guide 

as a springboard for their own action research.

The Schools Profiled in This Guide

The guide examines eight exemplary magnet 

high schools, analyzing their common characteristics and profiling them as models of success. 

The site selection process, detailed in Appendix A, involved screening on several levels. As 

a whole, the eight schools demonstrated that 

their students, including those with disabilities 

and those from minority or economically disadvantaged backgrounds, are developing proficiency on their state’s assessments and content 

standards. The selected sites serve students that 

mirror the diversity of their district population 

in terms of race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic 

background, and demonstrate success with reducing or eliminating minority-group isolation. 

Each of these magnet schools made adequate 

yearly progress, or AYP, for at least three years, 

2004–06, and each one has used a magnet focus 

to support high achievement though a rigorous 

curriculum that applies to all students. Each of 

the sites has graduated at least one class of students that started at the school in ninth grade. 

Another achievement criteria for school selection concerned student proficiency rates: Researchers looked for schools that scored at least 

at the 50th percentile in math and reading on 

state standardized tests, with demonstrated evidence of continued improvement over several 

years, or for those that were consistently high 

achieving in the 90th-percentile range annually. 

The schools were selected to represent a range of 

magnet types, including those with selective and 

nonselective admissions criteria; an interdistrict 

model; programs with multiple- and single-focus 

themes; and those with a clear career focus. Selected variables for each school are provided in 
3

and Sciences (Chattanooga, Tenn.) (CSAS) offers 

a Paideia model, a curriculum derived from the 

pedagogic ideas of American Aristotelian philosopher Mortimer J. Adler and combines seminars, 

coaching, and didactic instruction.7

 Several of 

the schools offer in-depth study in career-related fields. For example, Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School (Los Angeles) provides 

internships focusing on careers in the health 

professions, such as physical therapy, nursing, 

and medicine, while both Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual 

Arts (Dallas) and Design and Architecture Senior 

High School (Miami) prepare students for future 

careers in the arts and have admission and audition requirements. Two of the schools, Carver 

and CSAS, are part of districts with a K–12 magnet program that features a continuous theme 

and focus throughout the grade levels. And Metropolitan Learning Center (Bloomfield, Conn.) 

is an interdistrict school whose interdisciplinary 

theme emphasizes global and international studies. These schools have expanded the range of 

school choice for the families and communities 

they serve by offering outstanding educational 

programs that are innovative and rigorous.

Their distinct programs and qualities notwithstanding, these eight schools share five common 

elements and strategies: 

1. Innovating for Excellence: These schools 

are pushing the boundaries of innovation in 

education to create trailblazing programs that 

inspire students and teachers to do their best 

work. Technology and partnerships provide 

cutting-edge resources for students, engaging 

them in state-of-the-art research programs 

and professional-grade projects. 

2. Promoting Equity: These magnet high schools 

serve a diverse group of students and work 

to ensure the success of all of them. All students are held to high academic standards 

table 1 and also in the individual school profiles 

in Part II of this guide. 

To understand the components of their success, 

a case study of each school was developed. An 

external advisory group provided insight for 

creating a research-based conceptual framework for analyzing the schools, as detailed in 

Appendix A. The group made recommendations 

for schools to consider, and determined site selection criteria. A two-day visit was arranged at 

each school to talk with administrators, teachers, 

parents, and students both individually and in 

focus groups. Artifacts and sample tools were 

collected from each site, some of which appear 

in Part I of this guide to illustrate specific strategies implemented at the school level. 

These schools are trailblazers in education. Some 

were launched in response to court-ordered district desegregation of schools. Others were created out of efforts to engage in high school reform 

and innovation. But from their inception, all of 

these schools shared the goals of raising the standard of academic programs offered to students in 

the community and providing those from lowerincome families and diverse ethnic backgrounds 

opportunities for education excellence. 

The schools profiled in this guide demonstrate a 

range of magnet program types. Three schools 

have more than one magnet strand within the 

same school. G.W. Carver Magnet High School 

(Houston) offers students programs in mechanical, electrical, and architectural engineering, applied technology and visual arts. Galileo Magnet 

High School (Danville, Va.) offers the International Baccalaureate Programme, air and space 

technology, biotechnology, and advanced communications and networking. Northeast Magnet 

High School (Wichita, Kans.) houses a law program on the same campus with a visual arts and 

a science strand. Chattanooga School for the Arts 
4

Successful Magnet High Schools

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

4

Table 1. Selected Variables of Profiled Magnet High School Sites

School and Location Year 

Established 

As a Magnet

Theme Grades/

Enrollment

Francisco Bravo Medical 

Magnet High School, 

Los Angeles b

1990 Health and medical professions 9–12

1,723

G.W. Carver Magnet High 

School, Aldine Independent 

School District, Houston c

1995 Engineering, applied technology, and visual arts 9–12

938

Chattanooga School for the 

Arts and Sciences, Hamilton 

County, Tenn. d

1986 Paideia, a curriculum based on the ideas of philosopher 

Mortimer J. Adler, combining seminars, coaching, and 

didactic instruction

K–12

1058

9–12

470

Design and Architecture Senior 

High School, Miamig

1990 Architecture; interior, fashion, and industrial design; 

visual communications; entertainment technology

9–12

479

Galileo Magnet High School, 

Danville, Va.h

2002 International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, air and 

space, biotechnology, advanced communications, and 

networking

9–12

250

Metropolitan Learning Center, 

Bloomfield, Conn.k

1998 Global and international studies 6–12

681

Northeast Magnet High School, 

Wichita, Kans. l

1990 Visual arts, law, science 9–12

538

Booker T. Washington High 

School for the Performing and 

Visual Arts, Dallas m

1976 Performing and visual arts 9–12

696

a Data reported by schools for the 2007–08 school year. b 2006–07 school year, http://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest. c 2006–07 school year campus performance report, Academic Excellence Indicator System, http://www.tea.state.tx.us. d Data reported by school for the 2007–08 school year. e Data reported by school for the 2007–08 school year. f Data reported by school for the 2007–08 school year. g 2006–07 school year, http://www.greatschools.net.
5

Student Population 

Ethnicity

Free & 

ReducedPrice Lunch

Special 

Education

English 

Language 

Learners

Percentage of 2- and 4-year 

College Acceptance 

(Class of 2007)a

66% Hispanic

1.9% African-American

12% Asian American

14% White

5% Filipino

82.8% 1.3% 4.1% 61% 4-year

33% 2-year

94% total

53% African-American

37% Hispanic

7% White

2% Asian American

58% 3% <1% 45% 4-year

25% 2-year

70% total

40% African-American

3% Asian American

56% White

2% Hispanic

23%e 10%f 0 84% 4-year

13% 2-year

97% total

$4.2 million in scholarships 

52% Hispanic

28% White

16% African-American

3% Asian American

36% 4% 

(2005–06)

<1% 87% 4-year

13% 2-year

100% total

$9.6 million scholarships to 

106 seniors, class of 2007

33% African-American

2% Hispanic

60% White

1.5% Asian American

2% Native American

31% 8.4%i 2.4% j 57% 4-year

38% 2-year

5% military

95% total college bound

61.5% African-American

9.8% Hispanic

24.7% White

3.8% Asian American

35% 5.6% .4% 68% 4-year

30% 2-year

98% total 

25.7% African-American

13.2% Hispanic

47.4% White

13.8% Other

44% 4.5% <1% 53% 4-year

47% 2-year

100% total

29% African-American

26% Hispanic

42% White

3% Asian American

1% Native American

27% 3% <1% 93.4% 4-year

6.6% 2-year

97.5% total 

h Virginia Department of Education school level report 2007. i Data reported by school for the 2007–08 school year.

j Data reported by school for the 2007–08 school year. k 2006–07 profile, http://www.csde.state.ct.us/public/der/ssp/sch0607/school.htm. l 2006–07 school year, http://online.ksde.org/rcard/search_database.aspx. m 2006–07 campus performance report, Texas Education Agency Academic Excellence Indicator System, http://www.tea.state.tx.us.
6

Successful Magnet High Schools

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

and have access to rigorous learning opportunities and, when needed, support through 

tutoring and small group workshops. Outreach to parents and families, opportunities 

for research and internships are some other 

strategies that they use to empower students 

from all backgrounds. 

3. Forging Community Partnerships: These 

schools engage support from the community, families, university, and business 

partners with the intent that all students 

achieve academically. External resources 

and supports enable them to offer highquality programs.

4. Designing Rigorous Academic Programs: 

These schools focus on preparing their students for college and successful professional 

careers. Their rigorous graduation requirements exceed those of the host district, with 

the goal of preparing students for admission 

to selective university programs. Several of 

these schools offer Advanced Placement 

courses and dual enrollment programs with 

local universities, setting the expectation that 

college is attainable for all of their students.

5. Building a Culture of High-quality Teaching:

The featured schools have exceptional teachers who encourage creativity through innovative theme-based curricula with meaningful 

learning experiences that connect classroom 

study to real-world applications and experiences. With theme-based programs that are 

atypical of traditional high schools, these 

magnet high schools offer an integrated curriculum that seems to encourage teachers to 

be collaborative. Just as teachers hold high 

expectations for students, the school leadership holds teachers to rigorous standards for 

high-quality instruction.

Part I of this guide explores these common elements and strategies in more depth. Examples 

are provided from the eight schools to highlight 

how they implement these shared features. Sample materials collected from the schools are provided throughout this section to illustrate some 

of the tools and strategies these schools use to 

support their work. 

Part II profiles each school to highlight individual and distinctive characteristics including its history, mission, organization, community partnerships, student support, and achievements. These 

narratives are intended to provide a more comprehensive understanding of each school site.

The guide is based on case study research of 

eight magnet high schools and involved a visit 

by researchers to each site, interviews with district and school staff, focus groups with members of the school community, and a review of 

school- and district-related documents. Thus, the 

guide is based, in part, on documented information about a school and its outcomes, in part, 

on researcher observation, and, in part, on the 

perceptions of those interviewed, including staff, 

parents, and students. Because it is not based 

on experimental research that can yield valid 

causal claims about what works, readers should 

judge for themselves the merits of these practices. Also, readers should understand that these 

descriptions do not constitute an endorsement 

of specific practices or products.

Five Common Elements and 

Strategies of the Profiled Schools

•	 Innovating for Excellence

•	 Promoting Equity

•	 Forging Community Partnerships

•	 Designing Rigorous Academic Programs

•	 Building a Culture of High-quality Teaching
7

PAR T I

Successful Magnet 

High Schools: 

Common Themes

Common Elements and Strategies in 

The Profiled Magnet High Schools

The eight schools presented in this guide exemplify successful magnet programs that provide students with opportunities for rigorous 

learning experiences. Working with the district 

and community, each school has developed an 

innovative curriculum designed for a student 

body from diverse socioeconomic, racial, and 

ethnic backgrounds. Students and teachers are 

both held to high expectations for achievement 

and performance. Inspiring curriculum and 

meaningful classroom activities engage and 

motivate students to do their best work. Reaching out to university, business, and community 

partners helps these schools leverage resources 

so they can offer top-notch career and college 

preparatory programs. In their communities, 

they are trailblazers making a positive impact. 

They show what is possible when administrators, teachers, and the community work together to create an outstanding high school.

Innovating for Excellence

How are these magnet programs meeting the 

challenge of high school reform? Each of these 

profiled schools was created as an instrument for change, either as a means to reduce 

minority-group isolation in schools or to answer the call for a more skilled workforce by 

raising the quality of high school education. To 

meet those challenges, these schools have developed a variety of promising strategies and 

responses that may be useful to other schools 

and districts. 

The eight schools profiled in this guide exemplify some of the innovative program strands and 

curricular themes found in magnet schools. The 

schools have attracted students to select these 

demanding, content-rich educational programs 

and bring families from diverse backgrounds 

to the schools. Some themes are designed to 

prepare students for careers, such as the health 

professions and engineering, that have workforce shortages, making the magnet programs 

even more attractive to students and their families. For example, Galileo Magnet High School 

(Danville, Va.) offers study strands in air and 

space technology, biotechnology, advanced 

communications and networking, as well as 

the International Baccalaureate (IB) ­Diploma 

Programme (see fig. 1 on p. 8). Miami’s Design 

and Architecture Senior High School (DASH) 

is another exemplar of a career-focused high 

school program, the first in its district to focus 

on design careers in the arts. DASH combines 

a rigorous academic program with specialized 
8

Successful Magnet High Schools 

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

design training. Other magnets emphasize innovative pedagogic approaches as a way of 

setting high standards for children of all backgrounds. At Chattanooga School for the Arts 

and Sciences (CSAS), founder Jack Murrah 

believed that the principles of democratic liberal arts education, espoused by the philosopher Mortimer Adler in The Paideia Proposal, 

could change how students learn by emphasizing critical thinking, reflection, and active 

participation in seminar classroom settings. Nationally recognized as a Paideia model, CSAS 

offers a college preparatory, liberal arts education that aims to realize the potential of any 

student who comes through its doors. 

Magnet schools can be innovative in the thematic curriculum they provide, but sometimes 

Figure 1. Magnet Strands of Study at Galileo Magnet High School, School 

Brochure (Excerpt)

Source: Galileo Magnet High School. Used with permission.

The U.S. Department of Education does not mandate or prescribe particular curricula or lesson plans. The information in the figure above was provided by the identified site or 

program and is included here as an illustration of only one of many resources that educators may find helpful and use at their option. The Department cannot ensure its accuracy. Furthermore, the inclusion of information in this figure does not reflect the relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this information; nor is it intended to endorse any views, 

approaches, products, or services mentioned in the figure.
9

the Saturn School project, as a means to create cutting-edge teaching and learning models 

throughout the district. A request for proposals 

called on educators and community members 

“to design the school of your dreams.” That led 

to the development of Miami’s Design and Architecture Senior High (DASH), whose program 

focuses on preparing students for careers in 

the visual arts and design. At Northeast Magnet 

High School (NEM) in Wichita, Kans., it was 

district superintendent Stuart Berger who spearheaded the use of magnet programs as a catalyst for high school reform. 

A distinctive feature of these schools is the 

sophisticated way that they leverage thematic 

curriculum, exposing students to professional 

quality projects with real-life applications. In 

some instances, this teaching strategy connects 

classroom-level work to community-based 

practice; in others, it involves raising the accountability and performance level for final 

products. For example, when Hurricane Wilma 

blew down an observatory tower in the southern part of Everglades National Park in 2005, 

students in the DASH architecture program 

were invited to design a replacement structure. Each student drafted plans, and submitted them to a local architectural firm to select 

one design for the park. At the same school, 

students in the industrial design program created drawings for a chair design contest (see 

fig. 3 on p. 11) sponsored by a local real estate firm and the HSBC bank in Switzerland. 

Students completed 48 chair designs and from 

these, 11 finalists were selected, and five were 

manufactured as prototypes demonstrating the 

students’ professional quality work. 

9

it is the organizational structure in the district or 

the school environment itself that is inventive. 

Forward-thinking districts have implemented 

systemic change by creating feeder systems, 

aligning thematic magnet schools from kindergarten to 12th grade. In Houston, the Aldine 

Independent School District developed thematic curricular vertical strands spanning K–12, 

starting with students at a young age to prepare them for rigorous high school programs 

(see fig. 2 on p. 10). This strategy has been so 

popular in the district that in 2007–08, G. W. 

Carver Magnet High School (Carver) had only 

25 lottery seats open for 300 non-feeder applications, with most of their 845 students coming 

up through the vertical feeder elementary and 

middle schools.

Magnet programs also have been developed as 

part of community solutions to complex challenges. Metropolitan Learning Center (MLC), 

a grade 6–12 magnet, whose interdisciplinary 

theme focuses on global education, grew out 

of a climate of crisis for public schools in the 

Hartford area. Due to the nature of that community’s housing and demographics, an interdistrict model was adopted as a strategy for desegregating public schools there as mandated 

by a 1996 Connecticut Supreme Court case 

settlement.8

 MLC serves students from the 543-

square-mile capitol region of Hartford, with six 

or more towns sending students and contributing funding for them. The Capitol Region Education Council (CREC) manages the cooperative 

partnership among the participating districts 

that send students to MLC. 

Innovation at the district level is one avenue 

for improving high school programs. In the 

late 1980s, Miami-Dade County, Fla., launched 
10

Successful Magnet High Schools 

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

10

Figure 2. The Magnet School Strands in Aldine Independent School District, 

Houston (Excerpt)

The U.S. Department 

of Education does not 

mandate or prescribe 

particular curricula 

or lesson plans. The 

information in the figure 

to the right was provided 

by the identified site or 

program and is included 

here as an illustration 

of only one of many 

resources that educators 

may find helpful and 

use at their option. The 

Department cannot 

ensure its accuracy. 

Furthermore, the inclusion of information in 

this figure does not reflect 

the relevance, timeliness, 

or completeness of this 

information; nor is it 

intended to endorse 

any views, approaches, 

products, or services 

mentioned in the figure.

Source: Magnet Schools of Aldine. Aldine Independent School District. Used with permission.
11

Source: Design and Architecture Senior High School. Used with permission.

The U.S. Department of Education does not mandate or prescribe particular curricula or lesson plans. The information in the figure above was provided by the identified site or 

program and is included here as an illustration of only one of many resources that educators may find helpful and use at their option. The Department cannot ensure its accuracy. Furthermore, the inclusion of information in this figure does not reflect the relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this information; nor is it intended to endorse any views, 

approaches, products, or services mentioned in the figure.

Figure 3. Sample Chairs Designed By Students in the Industrial Design Program 

At Design and Architecture Senior High School (Miami) 
12

Successful Magnet High Schools 

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

Teaching in these schools is often project-based, 

with students experiencing the relevance of 

their rigorous learning. For example, at Galileo 

Magnet High School (Galileo), in an Advanced 

Application of Biotechnology class, students 

work in pairs in a state-of-the-art laboratory. 

Using a special kit with pipettes to detect antibodies in the blood stream, they can determine 

if there has been exposure to a disease, such 

as smallpox. 

Several of these schools have innovative strategies for infusing technology in their environments. At Carver, the principal piloted an internal communication technology system for staff 

so that any teacher can check the status of a 

student’s grades, attendance report, and testing 

data with the click of a mouse. At MLC, teachers 

use interactive whiteboards, and every student 

has a laptop. Instead of a school library with 

books, Galileo has a research center to give students access to cutting-edge science. They can 

download data, reports, and conduct their own 

online research. For students in rural areas, 

small towns, and inner-city neighborhoods that 

are often quite insular, new technology offers 

an expansive array of resources that aims to 

open local viewpoints to global perspectives.

Promoting Equity

All of these magnet high schools show a strong 

commitment to equity, ensuring that a diverse 

group of students have outstanding educational 

opportunities, adhere to high standards, and receive the necessary support for success. 

Several of these schools were founded as part 

of desegregation efforts in response to court 

cases, providing families with new choices 

and education options. Established in 1922 as 

the first African-American high school in Dallas, Booker T. Washington High School for the 

Performing and Visual Arts (BTWHSPVA) was 

originally 100 percent African-American, and 

now in 2007–08 has 42 percent white students, 

a contrast with the district’s student population 

that is 5 percent white and 65 percent Hispanic. 

“Magnets are still serving the goal of creating 

balanced diversity,” says Faustina Gallagher, 

Dallas Independent School District’s magnet 

schools program coordinator. 

Many of these magnet high schools engage 

in active outreach throughout their districts to 

ensure continued ethnic and socioeconomic 

student diversity. At DASH, school site magnet 

coordinator Mary Hartley goes to every middle 

school in the county and also to private schools, 

telling teachers that she is “looking for kids 

who want to make art an important part of their 

life, [youths who] might want to design cars or 

clothes or buildings.” At DASH, the result is a 

diverse student body whose families have immigrated from over 37 different countries, including Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Cuba, 

Chile, Morocco, and Pakistan. 

Serving a diverse population, these schools want 

to ensure that every student has outstanding 

educational opportunities. Chattanooga School 

for the Arts and Sciences (CSAS) began with a 

vision for education equity. “What we wanted,” 

says founder Jack Murrah, “was to establish a 

demonstration school that was intentionally 

diverse socially and academically in student 

makeup, but with one uniformly high standard 

of intellectual expectations for every student.”9

At CSAS, there is no tracking, no class ranking, 
13

and no Advanced Placement (AP) classes that 

require minimum test scores or grades for entry. True to the school’s philosophy, the onetrack curriculum is applied equally to all students, based on the assumption that everyone 

is capable of learning and benefiting from a 

heterogeneous environment. 

Teachers support students while simultaneously holding them accountable to high academic 

expectations. As a Galileo teacher says, “We 

expect college for everyone.” Another explains 

that the school staff “does not dumb down 

the curriculum, no matter what. This produces 

great success, and we surpass so many state 

and district standards in the process.” A variety of studies have found that children growing 

up in poverty typically have access to fewer 

resources and less breadth of exposure to intellectual and professional opportunities than 

their peers growing up with two white collar 

professional parents.10 These magnet schools 

seek to provide all their students with opportunities and exposure to the world beyond their 

neighborhoods. At Francisco Bravo Medical 

Magnet High School, students from inner-city 

Los Angeles have chances to do research in 

the professional world of doctors and scientists 

working in neighboring, world-class medical 

centers, such as the Keck School of Medicine 

of the University of Southern California. Students from farm towns and inner-city Hartford 

have opportunities to learn from international 

students who attend MLC and from their own 

experiences traveling overseas. In Dallas, students at BTWHSPVA interact with famous artists 

and professionals, such as actor Sidney Poitier, 

who visit the school to give master classes for 

promising high school performers. 

If setting high academic expectations is onehalf of the equation for increasing student 

learning,11 then the other is providing support 

for student success. Staff at these magnet high 

schools aim to achieve equity through active 

tutoring and resources for students who need 

additional support. 

By engaging students’ families as partners in 

the education process, teachers and families 

can work together to optimize the possibility 

of student success. Many of these magnet high 

schools devote resources that help parents participate in their students’ education. At Bravo, 

parents of incoming freshmen who were failing classes during middle school are invited 

to participate in a six-week Saturday Bridge 

Achievement Academy (see fig. 4 on p. 14). 

Currently, around 150 of Bravo’s 1,726 students 

are enrolled. In its first year, nearly 60 families 

took part, and parents had opportunities to 

work with school counselors in different academically focused workshops with such topics 

as how to read your child’s report card and 

how to use the daily progress report. Other 

Bridge workshops taught skills that could be 

used at home, such as time management and 

how to build a positive learning environment. 

As part of Bravo’s outreach, parents were introduced and encouraged to make use of such 

school resources as the Counseling and Career 

Center. The goal is to empower parents to support their children’s education so that they will 

feel comfortable enough to communicate concerns and requests to their child’s teachers. In 

communities where many of the students will 

be the first in their family to attend college, or 

parents do not speak English, this type of communication between school and home can be 

vital to students’ success.
14

Successful Magnet High Schools 

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

14

Figure 4. Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School (Los Angeles), Parent 

Evaluation of Bridge Achievement Academy (Excerpt)

The U.S. Department 

of Education does not 

mandate or prescribe 

particular curricula 

or lesson plans. The 

information in the figure 

to the right was provided 

by the identified site or 

program and is included 

here as an illustration 

of only one of many 

resources that educators 

may find helpful and 

use at their option. The 

Department cannot 

ensure its accuracy. Furthermore, the inclusion 

of information in this 

figure does not reflect 

the relevance, timeliness, 

or completeness of this 

information; nor is it 

intended to endorse 

any views, approaches, 

products, or services 

mentioned in the figure. Source: Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School. Used with permission.

Bridge Achievement Academy/Academia de Éxito

Session/Sesión 4 – Saturday, October 13, 2007

Evaluation/Evaluación

A. Please select the answer that corresponds to your opinion for each of the following statements. 

Favor de seleccionar la respuesta que corresponde a su opinión.

YES/

SI

NO/

NO

I DON’T KNOW/

NO SÉ 

I know how to interpret the information on my child’s report card.

Sé como entender la información en el informe de calificaciones.

25 1

I know the options and resources available to help my child improve his/her grades.

Entiendo las opciones y los recursos disponible para ayudar mi hijo/a mejorar sus notas.

26

I know how to communicate (i.e., request parent conference) with my child’s teachers 

and counselors.

Sé como comunicarme (por ejemplo, como pedir una cita) con los maestros y consejeros 

de mi hijo/a.

25 1

The parenting principles information was helpful.

Siento que la información sobre la crianza de los hijos me ayudó.

25 1

B. What was the most important thing you learned today?

¿Cual fue la información más importante que aprendió hoy?

About report cards. How to read report cards, and how to bring grades up. How to request a parent conference. About raising up children. That 

I can have conferences with teachers. How to sum up grade points. About report cards. I understand the report cards. How to find out his grades 

and speak with his teachers. I learned how I can communicate with the teachers and how to read his report card. The most important thing is 

that now I understand my child’s report card. How to schedule an appointment with teachers, and how to motivate my daughter so she can be a 

better students. Knowing my son is not doing good, and how to help him. How to read the report card. My sons grades. Raising up our children, 

and how to make appointments with teachers. How to interpret the information on the report card. How to keep a good communication with the 

students, and how to interpret his report card. How to request parent conferences with my child’s teachers, and counselor. Methods on how to 

raise our kids. Progress reports. All the information was very helpful. 

C. How will you use this new information to support your child’s academic success?

¿Cómo va a usar esta información para apoyar el éxito académico de su hijo/a?

Talk more with him, and give him more advice. By having a conference with some of the teachers. This conference will be very helpful, I will be 

able to detect when my son is having trouble with his grades. Putting this information to good use. Give him more support and spend more time 

with him. Convince him to go to tutoring, and explain to him how important it is for him to do all his assignments. Help and support her. Putting 

to use what I learned, and be positive. Help him improve in the classes he is having trouble in. I will use this information in a positive way and 

come to any future workshops. I’m going to encourage my daughter in what she needs. Asking the school for help. Give him more attention. 

Give him support with school work. I will put this information to good use. Support him in what I can. Check every report card and find out if 

he is doing better or worst. Rewarding him with what he likes most. Stay firm on the consequences for getting bad grades. Participate in more 

activities with my son regarding class and homework. By helping and working more with him. Putting more rules about education. 

D. List any additional issues/topics you would like discussed in future sessions?

¿Hay otros temas que quisiera platicar en las próximas sesiones?

How to communicate with my son. About other educational programs this school offers. Everything is well explained. How to help my child. 

About future classes they need to take so they can advance. How teachers teach and grade. How to reach success with my son. Money for college 

for students who do not have legal papers. All the information they give us, helps us. I am very pleased. Everything you teach us is perfect. How 

to enroll him for tutoring. 

E. How would you improve the session? / ¿Cómo mejoraría la sesión?

More time. Everything is great. Putting more attention. Thank you for your time. The counselors are doing everything very well.

Supporting the students and teachers. I would like to congratulate all the professionals for helping us, and ask for patience, thank 

you. Everything is great. Everything is well organized, 100% “A”. Everything is good. Talk about how to be a better parent. 

Thank you! We appreciate your participation and support.

¡Gracias! Le agradecemos su participación y apoyo.

 – Bravo Counseling Team 
15

These schools both seem to positively impact 

students’ lives and strengthen their communities. 

In Danville, Va., Galileo Magnet High School is 

helping to revive an economically distressed 

area. A group of local Virginia Tech and city 

leaders collaborated on how to create a local 

workforce skilled for white-collar, not just bluecollar, work. They decided on a magnet school 

focused on three career strands—networking, 

biotechnology, and air and space—infused with 

the skills needed to apply to college and for future careers. They recruited the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) staff at 

the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., to 

help develop the air and space program. “We’re 

part of the economic development of the city,” 

explains retired principal Bill Lawrence. Today, 

because of its rigorous and high-tech academic 

program, when new industries visit Danville, city 

leaders always include a visit to Galileo as part 

of their marketing strategy. If you achieve equity 

in the school building, it can have a huge impact 

in the community. “Companies come to Danville 

because of this school,” says Lawrence. 

Forging Community Partnerships

Mobilizing community support has been a key 

strategy in how these schools develop rich programs for students. A spirit of entrepreneurship 

inspires their lead administrators to devote time 

and energy to build partnerships with students’ 

families, universities, and civically minded businesses and nonprofit organizations. These proactive principals reach out to the community 

to garner resources. For many of these magnet schools, innovative curriculum is enhanced 

through internship programs sponsored by 

community businesses and local universities. As 

NEM’s founding principal Jim McNiece recalls, 

“I was on a first-name basis with anyone who I 

thought could help the school. We felt that we 

have to give kids a reason to get on the bus and 

travel 15 miles to come to our school. There 

has to be a really good program at the end of 

the bus ride.” He developed a 10-year active 

partnership with the Boeing Company, which 

donated money, equipment, trained staff, and 

mentored students. When Boeing changed its 

funding priorities, McNiece started anew with 

Raytheon Company, local museums, and other 

organizations. “There is an ebb and flow to 

partnerships because they are based on individuals, connections, and relationships.” 

NEM is adjacent to Wichita State University 

(WSU). NEM high school students attend special science programs at WSU’s engineering 

facility on a regular basis and have access to 

equipment and software there. Juniors and 

seniors can attend WSU art classes and exhibit 

their work in shows at the Wichita Art Museum, 

Wichita Center for the Arts, and other public 

and private galleries. 

Other partnerships magnet high schools develop are those that are dual-enrollment programs 

with local universities. Dual-credit courses enable students to accrue college credits while still 

in high school.12 At MLC, students can enroll in 

courses at Capital Community College and St. 

Joseph College with tuition and fees waived for 

one course each semester, provided they pass 

mathematics and English placement exams and 

have at least an 80 percent grade point average. 

Two schools have active advisory boards that 

leverage additional resources, similar to how a 

board of directors serves a nonprofit organization. The BTWHSPVA advisory board embarked 
16

Successful Magnet High Schools 

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

on a capital campaign of $55 million to create a 

new facility on the original school site. As a result of this public-private partnership, the district, 

through local city bonds, has given $23 million, 

and the school has raised almost all of the remaining $32 million through private funds. The 

board includes 45 elected members who represent 34 local arts organizations. It also has helped 

the school develop community partnerships (see 

fig. 5 on p. 17), providing students with professional-level opportunities, such as performing 

with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and taking 

master classes with renowned dance artists who 

serve as role models, providing inspiration. 

Partnerships with industry to support careerfocused magnet programs have kept some of 

these schools on the cutting edge of innovative 

education. At Bravo, student research projects 

with university faculty and researchers connect 

students to the medical world, and they have 

the opportunity to pursue a medical certification course, gaining hands-on experience from 

neighboring medical and research facilities. 

There are mutual benefits for the school and its 

partners: Students learn from real-world applications and are exposed to high-level research 

and professional learning opportunities; hospitals and organizations gain volunteers while 

investing in the education of future nurses, doctors, researchers, and technicians. 

At DASH, all students complete a career design portfolio (see fig. 6 on p. 18) that includes 

creating a resume as a step towards getting an 

internship in the community. Linking school 

course work to real-world experience is a critical component of a DASH student’s education. 

The school’s robust internship program provides 

students with the opportunity to go and work 

in top-notch design firms and art galleries; there 

they can learn what one staff member describes 

as “things we could never teach them.”

These schools also garner support from various kinds of parent involvement. For example, 

at BTWHSPVA, each arts cluster has a parent 

guild. The school’s Theatre Guild, for example, 

has 100 members and, according to its president, “assists students and teachers in the cluster with whatever needs they have,” including 

raising money for costumes and for students to 

attend performances outside of school. CSAS 

parents commit to a minimum of 18 volunteer 

hours and, in 2006, they dedicated more than 

28,000 hours within the school. 

Designing Rigorous Academic Programs

These schools have a clear vision for their 

students’ postsecondary success beyond high 

school. They raise the bar for all students so 

that they will be prepared not only to enter 

but also to complete college. Their rigorous 

graduation requirements include portfolios, 

senior projects, and advanced course curriculum that exceed district and state graduation 

requirements. Fulfilling them prepares students 

for admission to selective university programs 

and professional careers. 

Research shows the importance of aligning high 

school graduation requirements with college 

admission criteria.13 To do so, many schools 

have increased graduation requirements beyond those of their district or state, requiring 

students to take not only more credits, but also 

more rigorous courses.14 For example, MLC’s 25-

credit graduation requirement is higher than the 

16
17

Figure 5. Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts 

(Dallas) List of Cultural Community Collaborations and Guest Artists

Source: Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Used with permission.

The U.S. Department of Education does not mandate or prescribe particular curricula or lesson plans. The information in the figure above was provided by the identified site or 

program and is included here as an illustration of only one of many resources that educators may find helpful and use at their option. The Department cannot ensure its accuracy. Furthermore, the inclusion of information in this figure does not reflect the relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this information; nor is it intended to endorse any views, 

approaches, products, or services mentioned in the figure.
18

Successful Magnet High Schools 

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

Figure 6. Design and Architecture Senior High School (Miami) Career Design 

Portfolio Flyer

Source: Design and Architecture Senior High School. Used with permission.

The U.S. Department of Education does not mandate or prescribe particular curricula or lesson plans. The information in the figure above was provided by the identified site or 

program and is included here as an illustration of only one of many resources that educators may find helpful and use at their option. The Department cannot ensure its accuracy. 

Furthermore, the inclusion of information in this figure does not reflect the relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this information; nor is it intended to endorse any views, 

approaches, products, or services mentioned in the figure.
19

22 credits required by the state of ­Connecticut. 

MLC requires more credits in mathematics, global studies, and foreign language (see fig. 7 on 

p. 20). To graduate, students also must complete 

a senior project. For MLC staff, part of the rationale for the increased requirements is to ensure 

that students reach higher proficiency levels 

in subject areas. MLC students begin language 

study in middle school so they have time to 

develop proficiency in one of three offered—

Spanish, Chinese, or French—and reach the language AP level by the end of high school. 

The magnet high schools with thematic strands 

in engineering or arts programs give students 

a structured sequence of course requirements 

and specific electives from which to choose. 

By taking the recommended progression, they 

are able to complete all of the requirements by 

graduation and are on track for college or future careers. For example, at Carver, there is a 

separate set of requirements for each of its three 

magnet themes—engineering, applied technology, and visual arts. A sampling of related careers are outlined on course selection guides, 

linking rigorous curriculum and skill preparation for future interests (see fig. 8 on p. 21).

At Bravo, all students are encouraged to meet 

the admission standards of the University of 

California and California State University systems, called “A-G” course work requirements. 

“One of the key factors here is that even if they 

didn’t walk in the door wanting to go to college,” says one teacher, “they are going to walk 

out the door knowing they need to go to college.” As one student explains, “It’s the number 

one priority of every single administrator, counselor, and teacher to send everybody to college. 

From the beginning they push us to go, and if 

you tell them you are thinking about quitting 

or dropping out, they’ll push you, set up meetings, and tell you how you can better yourself.” 

Bravo is well on its way to achieving that goal: 

Of its 2007 graduating class, 94 percent went on 

to two- or four-year colleges.

Several research studies link rigorous academics in high school to predictors of success in 

college and careers. For example, a study by 

ACT and the Education Trust looking across 

high-performing, high-poverty, high-minority 

high schools found that advanced, college-oriented material in core courses is the number 

one predictor of success in college and work.15

But studies have found that students from lowincome families are less likely to be enrolled 

in college preparatory courses.16 Intending to 

reverse this trend, several of these magnet high 

schools offer AP courses, and one school offers 

the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma 

Programme. DASH was recognized by the College Board as the international leader for having the largest number of African-American and 

Hispanic students earning college credit on the 

AP studio art exam. Of the 385 exams submitted in 2006 in 14 courses, 80 percent received 

a score meriting college credit. In 2007, 244 

students took 500 AP tests in 16 AP subjects, 

and 66 percent scored 3 or higher, making them 

eligible for college credit. And 100 percent 

of the class of 2007 went on to college, with 

87 percent attending four-year colleges and 

13 percent attending two-year colleges. 

One strategy for addressing low student 

achievement has been to increase the level of 

rigor in courses that students are taking in secondary school programs. Increasingly, AP and 

IB diploma programs have been added to high 
20

Successful Magnet High Schools 

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

Figure 7. Metropolitan Learning Center (Bloomfield, Conn.) Graduation 

Requirements

The U.S. Department 

of Education does not 

mandate or prescribe 

particular curricula 

or lesson plans. The 

information in the figure 

to the right was provided 

by the identified site or 

program and is included 

here as an illustration 

of only one of many 

resources that educators 

may find helpful and 

use at their option. The 

Department cannot 

ensure its accuracy. Furthermore, the inclusion 

of information in this 

figure does not reflect 

the relevance, timeliness, 

or completeness of this 

information; nor is it 

intended to endorse 

any views, approaches, 

products, or services 

mentioned in the figure.

the College Board has recognized the school as 

having the strongest AP Music Theory course 

in the nation. The high levels of achievement 

by minority students at these magnet schools 

further suggests their success in preparing all 

students for rigorous college programs. 

Adelman’s landmark study on contributing 

factors to completion of a bachelor’s degree 

showed that, at the high school level, the key 

factor linked to college completion is a rigorous 

school curricula to enrich the academic content 

of teaching. Between 1997 and 2005, the total number of students taking AP examinations 

more than doubled.17 Many magnet high schools 

have opted to implement rigorous curriculum 

including AP and IB programs, explicitly preparing students for college. At MLC, eight AP 

courses are offered, and in 2007, 70 percent of 

the students in these classes came from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. 

At BTWHSPVA, 19 AP courses are offered, and 

Source: Metropolitan Learning Center. Used with permission.
21

curriculum.18 The National Center for Education 

Statistics found that students who completed 

any advanced mathematics course (64 percent) 

enrolled in four-year colleges at nearly double 

the rate of those who only completed mathematics through Algebra II (34 percent).19 Putting 

this research into practice, all of these schools 

have sequenced their mathematics programs so 

that students will reach such advanced courses 

as calculus, trigonometry, or statistics by the 

end of their high school education.

Every student at NEM takes mathematics for 

all four years of high school. These classes 

meet daily for 95 minutes all year long, providing more time on task and opportunities 

for remediation, enrichment, and acceleration. 

Students are expected to complete Algebra II 

or beyond, and science magnet students are 

required to complete Algebra II and Precalculus/Trigonometry with a C or above. In 2007, 

86 percent of students passed the Kansas state 

mathematics test. 

Several of these magnet schools have project 

graduation requirements. CSAS requires two distinct exhibitions of student mastery to graduate: 

the Scholar’s Journey and the Senior Project. To 

graduate from CSAS, students must complete the 

Senior Project (see fig. 9 on p. 22) that includes 

a 10–12-page research paper, 30 hours of related 

community service, the creation of a tangible 

product, and two culminating presentations. 

Senior Project papers have explored such topics 

as biodiversity and water quality in a local watershed. Similar to a college-level dissertation 

Figure 8. Examples of Careers Related to Magnet Strands at G.W. Carver 

Magnet High School (Houston) 

House of Engineering Examples of Careers

Electrical 

Engineering

Students work in digital electronic labs equivalent to universitylevel programs, and learn about alternating currents, wiring, and 

circuitry.

Aircraft Electrician, Biomedical 

Equipment Repair

Architectural 

Engineering

Students use applications like Computer-aided Design (CAD), 

Auto Desk Pro, and other software tools to build future cities and 

design homes.

Architectural Engineer, Civil 

Engineer, Interior Designer, 

Landscaper

Applied 

Technology

Engineering 

Technologies

Students become proficient in programming languages, computer networking, and telecommunications. Projects include 

multimedia productions, live broadcasts, sound mixing, and 

video editing. 

Computer Programmer, Security Specialist, Systems Analyst, Data Communications 

Technician

Manufacturing 

Engineering 

Technologies

Students train in manufacturing techniques and safety, operating 

machine tools and mills to create products. Students also design 

and construct a variety of robotic models.

Mining & Petroleum Technologist, Quality Control & Safety 

Technologist

Source: G.W. Carver Magnet High School. Used with permission.

The U.S. Department of Education does not mandate or prescribe particular curricula or lesson plans. The information in the figure above was provided by the identified site or 

program and is included here as an illustration of only one of many resources that educators may find helpful and use at their option. The Department cannot ensure its accuracy. Furthermore, the inclusion of information in this figure does not reflect the relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this information; nor is it intended to endorse any views, 

approaches, products, or services mentioned in the figure.
22

Successful Magnet High Schools 

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

Figure 9. Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences 2008 Senior 

Project Overview

The U.S. Department of 

Education does not mandate or 

prescribe particular curricula 

or lesson plans. The information 

in the figure to the right was 

provided by the identified site or 

program and is included here 

as an illustration of only one of 

many resources that educators 

may find helpful and use at 

their option. The Department 

cannot ensure its accuracy. 

Furthermore, the inclusion 

of information in this figure 

does not reflect the relevance, 

timeliness, or completeness 

of this information; nor is it 

intended to endorse any views, 

approaches, products, or services 

mentioned in the figure.

process, essential questions, outside experts, 

and bibliographies for research papers must be 

approved by Senior Project advisers each step 

of the way. 

To ensure that students are taking rigorous 

academic programs, these schools provide 

academic advising so that students receive 

guidance when making their annual course 

selections. Academic advising plans include 

preparing students for the college application 

process. At BTWHSPVA, the school hosts college representatives for a multiday event where 

students perform and present their best work. 

At DASH, the college counselor organized a 

trip to New York City to show students college 

campuses and meet with alumni and college 

students, creating a bridge to the next step in 

their education. 

Building a Culture of High-quality 

Teaching

A rigorous curriculum infused with innovative 

learning opportunities developed by outstanding teaching helps make these schools exceptional. Their leaders, recognizing the critical 

role of outstanding teachers, attract, hire, and 

retain educators with the ability to inspire, hold 

Source: Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences
23

quality teaching staff makes an enormous difference for advancing student learning.20 The result 

is a high-caliber program for all students.

To infuse high-quality teaching with cuttingedge practices, these schools engage in a model 

of continuous improvement through ongoing 

professional development. At NEM, teachers 

formed Professional Learning Communities 

(PLCs) to encourage faculty collaboration. 

Weekly staff development meetings focus on 

such topics as using student performance data 

to improve instruction, cultural proficiency, 

differentiated instruction, and best practices 

for improving reading comprehension. Every 

Wednesday, teachers have a 40-minute block 

of time that is used to examine student data 

by grade level and by department. Each PLC

group devotes a series of sessions to focus 

on student learning, effective instruction, 

and student data analysis. As part of their 

professional development, teachers learn to use 

interim assessments to inform their teaching 

and instruction. The science department, for 

example (see fig. 11 on p. 25), discussed how 

material is actually learned and strategized 

ways to support students further to demonstrate 

mastery of concepts they missed in the first 

round of assessments. The school data leader 

compiles the data and then works with teachers 

in PLC teams to understand it. 

By bringing teachers together to work 

collaboratively, faculty members say they feel 

less isolated and compartmentalized by department; instead, they can share strategies for 

working with students and help each other to 

prepare curriculum activities and assessments.

high expectations for students, share subject 

matter expertise, and provide support for outstanding academic achievement. As professionals, the teachers have the autonomy and collegial support to be creative and collaborative, 

resulting in a dynamic learning environment for 

their students. 

These schools have teachers who connect 

classroom learning to real-world situations and 

experiences. At MLC, teachers highlight the 

links between what their students learn and 

the desired outcomes of a global education, 

the school’s magnet theme. Teachers use a map 

(see fig. 10 on p. 24) to help students reflect 

upon and connect their own values, abilities, 

and knowledge. These are represented adjacent 

to specific knowledge areas (global history, human culture and values, etc.) that students need 

to develop to become global citizens. Together, 

they nurture and connect to the global perspectives identified on the map’s circumference. 

The innovative nature of these magnet high 

schools appeals to teachers and may make it 

easier for principals to recruit outstanding staff. 

Former Superintendent of Hamilton County, 

Jesse Register, explained that when starting 

CSAS, over 100 educators applied for the 20 

openings, reflecting teachers’ overall excitement to experiment with methods of teaching 

emphasized in the Paideia model. When hiring 

DASH staff, principal Stacey Mancuso notes, “All 

of our program teachers are from industry. They 

are not education majors. The industrial design 

teacher designed the sunglasses on her head. 

The architecture teacher is still a registered architect. Florida gives teachers three years to 

complete their credentials. Tom Pike, the film 

instructor, did his online in six months.” A top-
24

Successful Magnet High Schools 

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

Figure 10. Mapping Connections for MLC Students Between Learning and the 

Real World*

The U.S. Department of 

Education does not mandate or 

prescribe particular curricula 

or lesson plans. The information 

in the figure to the right was 

provided by the identified site or 

program and is included here 

as an illustration of only one of 

many resources that educators 

may find helpful and use at 

their option. The Department 

cannot ensure its accuracy. 

Furthermore, the inclusion 

of information in this figure 

does not reflect the relevance, 

timeliness, or completeness 

of this information; nor is it 

intended to endorse any views, 

approaches, products, or services 

mentioned in the figure.

* The map links the core knowledge areas in the triangles to the global perspective on the outer ring.

Source: Metropolitan Learning Center. Used with permission.
25

Figure 11. Northeast Magnet High School (Wichita, Kans.) Science Professional 

Learning Community Notes From Weekly Meeting (Excerpt) 

Source: Northeast Magnet High School. Used with permission.

The U.S. Department of Education does not mandate or prescribe particular curricula or lesson plans. The information in the figure above was provided by the identified site or 

program and is included here as an illustration of only one of many resources that educators may find helpful and use at their option. The Department cannot ensure its accuracy. Furthermore, the inclusion of information in this figure does not reflect the relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this information; nor is it intended to endorse any views, 

approaches, products, or services mentioned in the figure.
26

Successful Magnet High Schools

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

Conclusion 

In the United States, students who graduate 

from college are likely to have higher earnings 

than those who only complete high school.21

But research also shows that it is students from 

affluent families who are more likely to graduate from college.22 Further, students of color 

and those from low-income families are less 

likely to be in a college-track curriculum in high 

school.23 Given these trends, completing a rigorous high school program can have significant 

consequences for students from low-income 

and minority backgrounds. 

These magnet high schools present opportunities for students to advance themselves. They 

show what is possible in public education—that 

when public high schools provide students from 

all walks of life with rigorous curricula and high 

academic expectations, students will rise to the 

challenge. The measures of successful achievement are clear: These schools are outperforming 

local districts on state tests (see tables 2 through 

9), are getting students into college, and are preparing them for a productive future. 
Part II

Profiles of 

Magnet Schools 

Highlighted 

In Part I

Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School

G.W. Carver Magnet High School for Engineering, 

Applied Technology, and the Arts 

Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences 

Design and Architecture Senior High School 

Galileo Magnet High School 

Metropolitan Learning Center 

Northeast Magnet High School 

Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing 

and Visual Arts

27
28

Successful Magnet High Schools

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

28
29

Selected Characteristics of Magnet School and Host District a

Magnet School: Francisco Bravo 

Medical Magnet

Host District: Los Angeles Unified School 

District b

Year Established 

as Magnet 

1990 Population Type Large City

Theme Medical Size 710 square miles

Grades 9–12 MSAPc

 Funded Yes

Enrollment 1,723 students Enrollment 52,525 magnet out of 

653,215 students

Student Ethnicity 66% Hispanic

1.9% African-American

14% White

12% Asian American 

5% Filipino

Student Ethnicity b 72.8% Hispanic

11.2% African-American

8.9% White

3.7% Asian American

Special Education 1.3% Special Education d 11.2%

Free or Reducedprice Lunch82.8% Free or Reducedprice Lunch b73.2%

English Language 

Learners

4.1% English Language 

Learners b

37.6%

a

 Source: Dataquest, data for school year 2006–07, http://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest

b

 Source: Ed Data district profile fiscal year 2006–07, Los Angeles Unified School District, 

(LAUSD) http://www.ed-data.k12.ca.us

c

 U.S. Department of Education’s Magnet Schools Assistance program

d

 Source: School Matters, students with disabilities, LAUSD 2005–06, http://www.schoolmatters.com

Francisco 

Bravo Medical 

Magnet High 

School

Los Angeles

their research projects conducted with university faculty and biomedical researchers. 

Such accomplishments signal Bravo’s rigorous 

curriculum. Students are motivated because if 

they do well, they will qualify for a program that 

enables them to become certified nursing assistants and find employment as paraprofessionals in 

a California health-care center. Bravo’s principal 

Maria Torres-Flores sums up the school’s ambitious aim: “Our belief is that every student that 

comes through our doors can and will be successful. It’s not just about graduating from high 

school, but about continuing their education and 

going on to college.” 

Named to honor a local surgeon, business leader, 

and advocate for the education of Mexican American students, Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet 

High School was established in 1990 to meet the 

academic needs of students drawn to health services careers. It began modestly. Opening with a 

High levels of achievement and motivation are 

not hard to find along the corridors and in the 

classrooms at Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School (Bravo). Display cases show 

recent awards: a National Title I Distinguished 

School plaque (Title I is the section of the No 

Child Left Behind Act that provides resources 

for districts and schools serving disadvantaged 

student populations, including low-performing 

and high-poverty students) hangs next to photos of students, community members, and administrators at a ceremony celebrating Bravo’s 

2006 recognition as a National Blue Ribbon 

School. (Both award programs honor schools 

for their academic excellence; the former is administered by the National Association of Title I 

Directors, the latter by the U.S. Department of 

Education.) Nearby posters, including one titled 

“Determination of Neurostimulating Electrode 

Surface Area Using Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy,” exhibit students’ academic 

excellence in the medical field and summarize 
30

Successful Magnet High Schools 

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

class of 84 students and three core teachers, the 

magnet was housed in two bungalows on the 

campus of Lincoln High School. This small magnet program, Lincoln Medical Magnet, underwent several stages until 1990, when it became 

a stand-alone magnet, Francisco Bravo Medical 

Magnet High. With the help of funds from community partners and loans, the school relocated 

to the current five-floor, single-building facility 

in the Boyle Heights area of East Los Angeles, 

adjacent to the Keck School of Medicine of the 

University of Southern California (USC). Today, 

Bravo’s 74 faculty members serve 1,723 students. 

Its proximity to a hub of medical schools, hospitals, and research centers that partner with the 

school, opens the doors for students to learn 

about the real world of biomedical research, clinical practice, and health care providers. Bravo is 

an inner-city school in the Los Angeles Unified 

School District (LAUSD): 40 percent of its students live in the Boyle Heights neighborhood, a 

community of low-income Latinos, although the 

school draws the balance of its students from all 

backgrounds and from various areas of LAUSD.

While Bravo’s magnet theme connects students 

to the real world of health-care providers, biomedical research, and hospitals, and offers them 

options for pursuing various medical careers, the 

school’s focus has evolved over the years to ensure that even students who do not pursue those 

professions will be fully prepared for college. 

Through the Bravo Curricular Pathway, students 

are encouraged and prepared to meet the admission requirements of the University of California 

system, the California State University system, 

or similar institutions. A second option available 

to students may include a community college, 

occupational center, technical school, or other 

postsecondary training programs. Bravo has successfully realized its goal: All students complete 

California’s “A-G” course work for college admission, and of its 2007 graduating class, 94 percent went on to two- or four-year colleges.

Mission and Curriculum

Bravo’s motto of “Quality and Integrity” embodies 

the school’s approach to teaching and learning. 

Teachers constantly look for ways to put fundamental college-preparatory and life skills into everyday classroom practices. Bravo’s curriculum is 

infused with academically enriched material and 

course offerings that require students to develop 

organizational and analytical skills they can apply 

beyond the school walls. 

Students are expected to follow a framework for 

rigorous academics from the first day they enter 

Bravo. An individualized graduation plan helps students plan courses over the next four years geared 

to their postsecondary goals. Incoming students attend an introductory orientation course that exposes them to the health professions. Bravo staff also 

set a goal for each student to enroll in at least one 

of the 14 Advanced Placement (AP) courses before they graduate. Bravo partnered with East Los 

Angeles Community College, where students who 

want to get an early start can enroll in a variety 

of college-level courses offered at Bravo’s campus 

after the regular school day. Since students attend 

Bravo from all over Los Angeles, students also 

may take courses at a community college in their 

own neighborhood. This dual-enrollment program 

(90–100 students participate on campus and 25–30 

students participate off campus each semester) allows students to receive credits towards graduation from Bravo, as well as college units.

The school offers a diverse curriculum in the 

fields of science and health science beyond the 

basic district requirements. Most courses allow 

students to spend time at health or clinical sites 

to gain additional experience and training. While 

their core courses meet the state’s minimum college admissions requirements, juniors and seniors 

can enroll in one of the dozen science and health 

science electives, which include Dental Assistant, 

Medical Terminology, and Nursing Assistant. After 

successful completion of the first term, students 
31

are then required to complete 60 hours of theory 

and 100 hours of clinical practice in a community 

health facility. Students are tested at the end of 

the course—the equivalent to the first semester of 

nursing school—by taking the state certificate exam 

administered by the American Red Cross. Successful completion enables students to be employed as 

nursing assistants in a health-care facility. 

Bravo’s partnerships with such world-class medical 

and research facilities as the University of Southern California Health Sciences Campus (USC-HSC) 

and the Saban Research Institute offer students diverse field experiences, learning enrichment opportunities, and internship possibilities. 

Ensuring Student Success

Central to Bravo’s focus as a school for the college-bound is the idea that all students, no matter what their ethnicity, socioeconomic status, 

or incoming GPA, should have the opportunity, 

academic support, and resources to succeed and 

pursue a higher education. This means that there 

are no tests or admissions requirements that students must meet in order to apply; instead, students are selected by lottery. Thus, says assistant 

principal Felipe Caceres, “We get students from 

the very high end to the very low end of the educational level as far as their needs.”

Though students at Bravo vary in achievement 

levels, Caceres explains that Bravo’s administrators 

have “challenged the faculty to look at the composition of the more rigorous classes such as AP 

courses so that the underrepresented minorities are 

a part of that.” Bravo offers an Advancement Via 

Individual Determination (AVID) program, which 

provides support to the academically average so 

that they can be placed in more rigorous classes. 

It requires a 7:1 student-to-tutor ratio, and teaches 

students foundational strategies like note taking 

and organizational skills that help them thrive in 

all their classes, and even into college. 

Bravo students come from all parts of Los Angeles and from diverse backgrounds. Implementing a support system that meets the individual 

needs of all students is key. One strategy is its 

Summer Bridge Program, designed for students 

who struggled during middle school. They are 

invited to the Bravo campus for one week before the start of the school year to familiarize 

themselves with the school’s environment, mission, and expectations. With their parents, they 

also can attend a six-Saturday program in which 

students receive assistance from a core group of 

faculty, while their parents work with counselors 

in academic workshops focusing on such topics 

as building a positive learning environment and 

how to read a student report card. 

During the school day, tutors are scheduled to 

come into math and AVID classrooms to work 

with students in small groups. Some of Bravo’s 

qualified paraprofessionals stay after school and 

tutor students. In addition to after-school support, 

students identified as below or far below basic on 

their California Standardized Test (CST) scores are 

invited to attend Saturday Academic Academies. 

On average, 150 students in grades 9–11 participate, as well as any seniors who have not passed 

the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). 

Building School Capacity

High-quality teachers are drawn to Bravo because 

of its reputation, strong professional culture, and 

the level of classroom autonomy. Its 72 members 

average 11 years of teaching experience. Five teachers hold doctorate degrees, three received National 

Board Certification, and many hold master’s degrees. 

Professional development for science program staff 

is helped through Bravo’s partners in the medical 

world. Teachers and staff from the USC-HSC help 

develop teacher lesson plans and, through its 

STAR I Biomedical Research course, educates 

teachers in how to use computing and communications technology to enhance student learning. 
32

Successful Magnet High Schools 

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

The partnerships Bravo has with its neighboring medical and research institutes have been a 

crucial part of the school’s development and its 

access to resources and sustainability, beginning 

with its founding partner, the Los Angeles County and University of Southern California Medical Center. Thanks to the Adopt-A-School agreement, Bravo students can take advantage of the 

Center’s personnel and site resources, and participate in on-site experiences at the medical facilities. A key component of this partnership gives 

Bravo students a traditional, hands-on approach 

to learning in a health setting by way of training programs coordinated in conjunction with 

the school’s volunteer requirements. To graduate from Bravo, students must complete 40 hours 

of community service, and to receive credit, students must volunteer in a hospital setting. 

Achievement and Outcomes

Bravo’s designation as a Title I school in 1996 enabled it to acquire additional resources to meet 

the diverse needs of its students.24 Title I funds 

have been used over the years for such support 

as hiring extra teachers to reduce class sizes, providing students with specific assistance through 

tutoring, counseling services, and extended learning time through Saturday Academies. As a result 

of the continued dedication of both the staff and 

students towards achieving success, Bravo has 

made significant gains in closing the achievement 

gap, particularly for the Hispanic and economically disadvantaged subgroups. ­Table 2 shows 

that the percentages of Bravo 10th- and 11thgraders scoring proficient and above on the 2007 

state assessments for reading and mathematics 

were greater than the overall district achievement 

rates for those grade levels and, with the exception of grade 10 mathematics, greater than the 

state achievement rates for those levels.

In 2005, Bravo was recognized as a Title I Distinguished School for having risen above obstacles 

of poverty and showing exceptional student performance for two or more consecutive years. That 

same year, Bravo became one of the very few Title I 

high schools that had surpassed the 800 Academic 

Performance Index (API) target set by the state of 

California. (As part of California’s Public School 

Accountability Act of 1999, API measures the academic performance and growth of schools.) 

Table 2. Percentages of 10th- and 11th-Grade Students Scoring Proficient and 

Advanced on 2007 California Standards Test in Reading and Mathematics at 

Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet as Compared to Los Angeles Unified School 

District and the State

Subject and Grade Bravo Los Angeles Unified 

School District

State of

California

Summative High School Mathematics Grade 10 46% 42% 65%

English Language Arts Grade 10 62% 23% 37%

Summative High School Mathematics Grade 11 52% 27% 44%

English Language Arts Grade 11 74% 30% 37%

Source: http://star.cde.ca.gov/star2007/viewreport.asp
33

G.W. Carver 

Magnet High 

School for 

Engineering, 

Applied 

Technology, 

And the Arts

Houston

Selected Characteristics of Magnet School and Host District a

Magnet School: G.W. Carver Magnet 

High School

Host District: Aldine Independent School 

District, Houston

Year Established 

as Magnet 

1995 Population Type b Suburb; Large 

Theme Engineering, 

performing arts, and 

visual arts

Size 111 square miles

Grades 9–12 MSAPc

 Funded FY1995–97; 

2001–03

Enrollment 938 students Enrollment 16,748 magnet out of 

58,596 students 

Student Ethnicity 37% Hispanic

53% African-American

7% White

2% Asian American 

Student Ethnicity 

(grades K–12)

62% Hispanic

31% African-American

4% White

2% Asian American

Special Education 3% Special Education 9%

Free or Reducedprice Lunch58% Free or Reducedprice Lunch81%

English Language 

Learners

< 1% English Language 

Learners

28%

a

 Source: Texas Education Agency, 2006–07 Campus Performance, Academic Excellence 

Indicator System, http://www.tea.state.tx.us

b

 Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics’ Common 

Core of Data for the school year 2005–06, http://www.nces.ed.gov/ccd/districtsearch

c

 U.S. Department of Education’s Magnet Schools Assistance program

Houston, Carver is part of the Aldine Independent 

School District (AISD). Like all of Aldine’s magnet 

schools, Carver has no selective admissions, and 

students are selected by a random lottery process. 

Created in response to a mid-1990s court desegregation order, Carver High was one of the first 

four magnet schools in Aldine. Establishing Carver 

as the district’s pioneer magnet high school signaled a commitment to reducing minority-group 

isolation. The intent was to attract students from 

the entire 111-square-mile system while providing the local African-American community with 

a strong academic school option. Carver’s engineering, performing arts, and visual arts magnet strands were favored by the community. For 

many families, the engineering theme was a way 

to provide their children with marketable skills for 

Houston’s job market in the oil and gas industries. 

The performing and visual arts were also popular 

concepts among families, with two of Aldine’s elementary magnet sites adopting this focus as well. 

Combining the three themes at the high school 

In the main hallway of Carver High, students 

warm up for a dress rehearsal of the fall semester musical, an original production that includes a 

trampoline act, rope climbing, ballet pointe work, 

tap, and hip-hop routines. Over in the school’s 

engineering wing, a student-led broadcast crew 

in the TV production lab handles the technical 

problems of putting on a news show, the daily morning broadcast that is piped through the 

Internet to all classrooms. Across the hall, students work in groups at computers to design and 

produce a plastic ruler that accurately measures 

both in 1/16-inch and one-millimeter increments. 

Their teacher has challenged them to use the fewest possible steps on the computer-aided design 

(CAD) software. These examples illustrate the 

rigor and project-based nature of Carver’s innovative curriculum, which features three houses, or 

magnet strands: Engineering (including Applied 

Technology), Performing Arts, and Visual Arts. 

Located in Acres Homes, a well-established, historically African-American community in northwest 
34

Successful Magnet High Schools 

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

level was an intentional strategy for balancing different academic interests and attracting a larger 

number of applicants to Aldine’s west side. 

District staff devised a feeder system in which elementary and middle school magnets developed 

themes and programs aligned with Carver’s. Students from the district’s feeders are guaranteed 

placement in the continuing magnet school within 

the strand as long as they sign intent-to-return letters each year. Carver has gained a local reputation as the most popular, successfully integrated, 

and high-performing high school in Aldine. 

Mission and Curriculum

Carver’s mission is to provide students with the 

rigorous academic foundation and individualized 

support that enables them to develop their talents and interests in one of the magnet program’s 

three houses or specialty areas. The small-group, 

intensive, project-based learning that occurs in 

these specialty areas nurtures a small school atmosphere that helps staff meet Carver’s mission. 

The houses have created strong academic programs that stand alone, but staff at Carver also 

work across the houses to promote content integration whenever possible. 

The House of Engineering is guided by the framework of Project Lead the Way (PLTW), a program 

sponsored by the Texas Education Agency (TEA). 

Its hands-on, project-based curriculum requires 

students to work in teams to solve real-world 

problems in ways that simulate global industry 

standards. The tasks and feedback for these assignments are authentic. One team of Carver students took on a public safety issue when Harris 

County’s new light-rail system resulted in numerous incidents of trains hitting pedestrians. The 

students invented pop-up warning lights for pedestrians, a solution the county’s public transit 

agency known as METRO liked and eventually 

adopted. Carver’s engineering curriculum closely 

aligns with state and local standards for mathematics and science, emphasizing physics. 

In the House of Performing Arts, students are 

coached in aspects of problem solving, exploration, and mastery of performance technique so that 

they may continue training at the college level or 

join a performing company upon graduation. The 

program—including vocal, piano, guitar, orchestra, theater, and dance—requires students to gain 

broad exposure to a variety of genres. For example, a guitar player may pursue a personal interest 

in rock music, but also must learn to sight-read 

and play classical guitar. Emphasis is placed on 

individual growth as measured through frequent 

performance opportunities. Students receive immediate feedback on their technique, participation, 

enthusiasm, and ability to work collaboratively.

Students in the House of Visual Arts are guided 

by master teachers who provide studio experience in areas of design, drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, and electronic 

media. As they rotate through the different areas, students build personal portfolios that reflect 

qualifying entry work for college-level arts programs. The curriculum is anchored by real-world 

connections: field trips to museums, galleries, and 

art schools; opportunities for student work to be 

exhibited in professional venues; guest artists and 

speakers from art colleges around the nation. 

At Carver, as in most real-world workplaces and 

colleges, there are no bells signaling the beginning and end of classes. Students travel from class 

to class listening to classical music through the 

Visual Bell Alert System that promotes a positive 

school climate with an air of professionalism and 

independence. 

Ensuring Student Success

A key aspect of Carver’s success is the careful 

planning and support provided by the district’s 
35

magnet office. Administrators were forward thinking in developing vertical strands for magnet students to continue their course of study throughout 

the Aldine system, eventually feeding into Carver 

High and Eisenhower High (for its International 

Baccalaureate program). Currently, Carver’s 

ninth-grade class is made up of 249 students, 224 

of whom have come up directly through Aldine’s 

feeder middle schools, Drew Academy and Grantham Academy. The vertical strands are working 

to keep students in integrated and high-performing schools throughout their careers. As Melinda 

Stapley, Aldine’s director of magnet schools, says, 

“Data show that once they’re in [the magnet program], they stay.” And in a district with an average 

mobility rate of 80 percent, the dedicated magnet program is an important strategy for keeping 

more consistent school communities that are tied 

to student success.

Carver’s principal, Ken Hodgkinson, believes that 

the school’s magnet themes provide the necessary hook that helps staff support students of all 

backgrounds to meet challenging academic standards. “The kids really love this school,” he says. 

“They love the programs, and so they buy into 

the education we provide.” Carver staff leverage 

this desire to motivate, engage, and push students 

to meet success in the classroom: “We make sure 

that if they want to be here, they are not going to 

be left behind.” 

Students are well aware of the don’t-pass-don’tperform policy that requires a minimum of 70 

in every class. “If some of our members aren’t 

passing, then we can’t get on that stage,” says 

one senior. “And for us performers, getting up 

on stage is what we live for, so then we tell ourselves, ‘Okay, we have to get our act together.’” 

“We have a lot more freedom than students in 

other schools,” says one student. “Students here 

are treated like adults.”

In the classroom, teachers regularly provide tutorials before and after school, and give out their 

phone numbers so that students can get help on 

assignments from home. Resource teachers are 

used strategically in classrooms to support students with various skill levels to access course 

content. An individualized, self-paced, computerassisted credit recovery program also is provided 

to students who have not mastered course materials. Throughout the school year, students identified as needing additional support are assigned 

to mandatory after-school tutoring, with a computerized system providing last period teachers 

with the list of students to remind them to attend 

the tutoring session. Parents agree that these supports provide a strong safety net for Carver students. As one mother told her daughter, “There is 

no reason you can’t succeed here. You have no 

excuse not to be successful.” 

Building School Capacity

Ken Hodgkinson, Carver Magnet’s fourth principal, is a product of Aldine’s home-grown school 

leadership program; the district has focused recruitment efforts to attract educators from all 

over the country and then nurtures school leaders from a talented staff with a broad range of 

experience. Hodgkinson, who had worked as 

both an assistant principal and principal at one 

of Aldine’s magnet feeder schools, also spent 

13 years managing Fortune 500 companies and 

brought a wealth of business experience to designing systems for improving staff communication. “I work for everybody,” says Hodgkinson, 

“and I try to challenge everyone to be on the cutting edge. I try to create excitement by holding a 

vision of where we want to go with the program. 

And then I try to remove the barriers for staff so 

that they can actually succeed.” 

A key ingredient for building a successful staff 

culture, he believes, is creating an infrastructure 

for communication across teams and throughout 

the building. He created an intranet for Carver 

staff, centralizing important information, such as 
36

Successful Magnet High Schools 

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

a shared academic calendar, discipline referrals, 

and discussion groups. The idea is to develop a 

paperless environment where staff can access information online when they need it, streamlining 

communication and information flow to support 

more effective actions.

Hodgkinson’s goal is to integrate more of the specialized houses’ project-based curricula into core 

courses, where he believes some teachers rely too 

much on lecture as a method of instruction. He 

points to the successes with cooperative learning and the emphasis on critical-thinking skills 

that he sees throughout the school as a way to 

ensure more consistent application of such practices. A parallel goal is to increase the number 

of Advanced Placement (AP) courses at Carver, 

with the hope that by 2010, all students are taking at least one AP course. As the school moves 

towards increasing the rigor while still holding 

to a no-admissions requirement policy, the next 

step naturally is tied to supporting all students to 

access college-level courses.

Achievement and Outcomes

Today, Aldine is recognized for its exemplary 

magnet schools program, hosting district leaders from all over the country who are looking 

to implement or expand similar programs. In 

2007, Carver was selected as one of the nation’s 

top high schools by U.S. News and World Report, 

and in 2005, its engineering team won second 

place in an international competition sponsored 

by NASA, after beating out teams from highly selective private schools to win the United States 

championship. 

Carver has shown consistently high performance 

on standardized tests, outperforming average 

district and state scores while serving similar demographic populations. Table 3 shows that the 

percentages of 11th-grade Carver students who 

passed the standard on the 2007 state reading and 

mathematics assessments were higher than those 

of students districtwide and statewide.

Table 3. Percentages of 11th-Grade Students Who Passed the 2007 Texas 

Assessment of Knowledge and Skills Test in Reading and Mathematics at 

G.W. Carver Magnet High School as Compared to the District and the State 

Subject Carver Aldine Independent 

School District

State of Texas

Reading/English Language Arts 96% 93% 91%

Mathematics 91% 85% 81%

Source: Texas Education Agency, 2006–07 Campus Performance, Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS), http://www.tea.state.tx.us
37

Selected Characteristics of Magnet School and Host District a

Magnet School: Chattanooga School for 

the Arts and Sciences

Host District: Hamilton County, Tenn.

Year Established 

as Magnet 

1986 Population Type b Mid-sized City 

Theme Paideiac Size 542 square miles

Grades K–12 MSAPd

 Funded FY 1998–2006

Enrollment 1,058 (grades K–12) 

470 (grades 9–12)

Enrollment 12,370 magnet out of 

40,800 students 

Student Ethnicity 2% Hispanic

40% African-American

56% White

3% Asian American

Student Ethnicity e 3% Hispanic

34% African-American

60% White

2% Asian American

Special Education 10% Special Education 16%

Free or Reducedprice Lunch23% Free or Reducedprice Lunch e50%

English Language 

Learners

0% English Language 

Learners e

1%

a

 Source: 2007 CSAS Report Card, Tennessee Department of Education, 

http://www.tennessee.gov/education

b

 Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics’ Common Core of 

Data for the school year 2005–06, http://www.nces.ed.gov/ccd/districtsearch

c

 Based on the curriculum ideas of the American philosopher and educator Mortimer J. Adler, the 

Paideia model combines didactic instruction of factual information, intellectual coaching of skills, 

and seminar discussion of ideas, concepts, and values. Further information can be found at the National Paideia Center Web site: http://www.paideia.org

d

 U.S. Department of Education’s Magnet Schools Assistance program

e

 Source: http://www.schoolmatters.com

A Socratic seminar on the “Anatomical Drawings 

of Leonardo da Vinci” engages students in questions and discussion about six sketches and a written article. The teacher notes who raises topics 

and who makes specific references to the text that 

contribute to the discussion. Throughout the 90-

minute seminar, students make connections between mechanical principles and the human body, 

identifying da Vinci’s purpose in producing the 

sketches and evaluating how well he succeeded. 

Unlike traditional whole-class discussions where 

the teacher fields and directs the conversation, 

students in seminar speak to one another, pose 

questions, and focus on citing the text to substantiate their opinions as they analyze why anatomical sketches are important to the study of anatomy 

and physiology. Chattanooga School for The Arts 

and Sciences (CSAS) was founded to realize the 

principles of democratic liberal arts education as 

developed by the philosopher Mortimer Adler in 

The Paideia Proposal (Paideia), first published in 

1982. A parallel goal was to design an alternative for this community that had a long-standing 

tradition of racially segregated public schools 

and private schooling for the affluent. Jack Murrah, president of the Lyndhurst Foundation, a local philanthropy, had read Paideia and believed 

in its philosophy of setting a high standard for 

children from all backgrounds. He drew together 

civic leaders, parents, and members of the business community to discuss Paideia and eventually 

lobbied the Chattanooga Public Schools Board of 

Education to create a new middle school magnet, 

initially serving grades 5–8, to execute his vision. 

CSAS was established as a magnet in 1986, the 

same year that a desegregation lawsuit from 1960 

against the district was dissolved. Ten years later, 

Chattanooga 

School for 

The Arts and 

Sciences

Hamilton County, Tenn.
38

Successful Magnet High Schools 

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

CSAS became part of the Hamilton County district 

when Chattanooga deeded its urban, predominantly African-American schools to the more affluent, white, suburban county. The creation of 

new magnet schools became a primary tool for 

reducing minority-group isolation in the county, 

with a total of 16 more magnet schools developed 

from 1998 to 2001. As Hamilton County’s pioneer 

magnet, CSAS continues to be one of the most 

racially integrated schools in the system. CSAS 

currently serves grades K–12, but remains small, 

with 470 students in grades 9–12. Recognized nationally as a model Paideia school, and with the 

vast majority (consistently 95 percent or higher) 

of its graduates continuing on to postsecondary 

education, CSAS has demonstrated that a college 

preparatory, liberal arts education can bring out 

the highest potential of any student who comes 

through its doors.

Mission and Curriculum

The Paideia philosophy, the school’s magnet 

theme, articulates a broad goal of making a rigorous curriculum accessible to students from all 

backgrounds, empowering each to be a lifelong 

learner. “We don’t say only some kids are capable of doing high-level work, and we don’t track 

kids,” explains Steve Ball, principal of CSAS.

Academics are clearly the focus, with graduation 

requirements closely meeting or exceeding the entrance requirements of highly selective colleges. 

For example, every student takes either French or 

Spanish starting in kindergarten and continuing 

through senior year. Advanced science electives 

in geology, physiology, chemistry, and physics 

are offered in addition to the four years of mandatory lab science. The program aims to develop 

well-rounded and intellectually curious students. 

CSAS offers 20 electives in the visual and performing arts, and the school has well-established 

band, strings, choir, and theater programs.

CSAS classrooms integrate the three types of 

instruction that distinguish the Paideia model: 

didactic (lecture), coaching (skills development 

in small groups), and seminar (whole group discussion and questioning). Teachers try to make 

no more than 20 percent of the instruction didactic so that students are actively engaged in their 

learning through small groups and seminars for 

at least 80 percent of the time. The third type 

of instruction, Socratic seminar, is an essential 

part of what makes CSAS’s curriculum distinctive. 

These seminars are explorations of written texts 

or products of human art for the purpose of exploring complex issues and ideas.

The CSAS academic year is divided into two 

block-scheduled terms. Each term, students 

complete four courses, one of which may be an 

elective or community service. The high school 

program also requires two distinct exhibitions of 

student mastery, known as the Scholar’s Journey 

and the Senior Project. To provide evidence of a 

student’s readiness for promotion to 11th grade, 

the Scholar’s Journey includes a working portfolio 

documenting ninth- and 10th-grade course work, 

a final portfolio of revised and exemplary work, 

and a roundtable presentation of the portfolio that 

includes a personal essay and reflection on learning. The Senior Project is a chance for students 

to demonstrate that they are independent learners 

who have mastered the skills and habits needed 

for managing work and following academic areas 

of interest. To graduate, students must complete 

this exit project, which includes a 10–12-page 

research paper, documented time spent with an 

expert in the student’s chosen field, 30 hours of 

related community service, the creation of a tangible product, and two culminating presentations. 

Continuous improvement is a large part of the 

school culture, reflecting a vision of education as a process of ongoing learning. While 

students are celebrated for achievements and 

accomplishments, they also receive a consistent message that they can always make 
39

improvements. One senior recalls a French class 

in which he had a 100 percent average, “and at 

my conference the teacher told my parents that 

I could do more, that I could work harder to 

improve my skills.”

Ensuring Student Success

The same core curriculum is required of all students, though each may move through the progression at his or her own pace. There is no 

tracking, no class ranking, and no advanced 

placement classes. Because students are accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis and there are 

no admissions criteria, emphasis is placed on 

supporting students to meet high expectations. 

At CSAS, “we believe that the best education for 

the best kids is the best education for all,” says 

principal Steve Ball.

From strategic college counseling to award ceremonies that recognize students who have earned 

college scholarships, CSAS staff ensure that there 

are ample reminders and support for all students 

to think about college. Few college preparatory 

activities are optional: All juniors are required to 

participate in a week of college trips; all 10thgraders take PLAN, a preliminary assessment for 

the ACT college entrance exam; all juniors and 

most sophomores take the Preliminary Scholastic 

Aptitude Test (PSAT) along with any freshmen 

who have completed Algebra I. And the hallways 

are lined with college banners representing the 

different postsecondary institutions CSAS graduates have attended. College is a clear and consistent message communicated to students.

In addition to personalized attention that comes 

from small class sizes (typically 18–23 students) 

and small group instruction, students can access additional academic support services. CSAS 

teachers are paid to work with identified students 

in mandatory before- and after-school sessions, 

providing homework help and teaching literacy 

strategies. On a voluntary basis, students also can 

receive tutoring through the Academic Coaching 

department.

Building School Capacity

CSAS boasts an accomplished staff: Of the 47 

secondary school faculty and professional staff 

members, 80 percent hold advanced degrees. The 

Socratic seminar plays an essential role in adult 

learning for CSAS’s faculty as it does for student 

learning. All faculty meet in grade-level teams 

on Tuesdays to plan for the next day’s Socratic 

seminar with students. They plan preparation 

activities, discuss scaffolding strategies to help 

students access difficult texts, and design assessments. In this way, teachers across the disciplines 

collaborate on improving seminar instruction. A

significant amount of professional development 

occurs in monthly Quality Circles, where small 

groups of teachers with common prep periods 

meet to collaborate and discuss instruction. Staff 

recently looked at the school’s grading policy to 

address issues of equity, for example. Through 

ongoing, small group discussions like these, faculty work to create policies and safety nets that 

provide for more equitable outcomes for their 

struggling students.

CSAS has garnered strong community involvement with its service-learning component. To 

graduate from CSAS, a student must have completed 100 hours of community service, and for 

the Senior Project, each student must incorporate 

30 hours of real-world service. This translates into 

students working in the community, alongside 

professionals, conducting expert interviews and 

volunteering their time in the field.

A team of college counselors engages a number 

of regional colleges and universities by making 

frequent contact, helping educate admissions officers regarding the unique attributes of CSAS (e.g., 

no ranking of students), and preparing students 
40

Successful Magnet High Schools 

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

40

to make good impressions. According to many 

of the parents, having an open enrollment process that demands additional family commitment 

and support for the unique program is critical to 

the school’s success. As part of the application 

process to all magnets, parents must commit to 

a minimum of 18 volunteer hours. In 2006, CSAS 

parents dedicated more than 28,000 hours within 

the school. Parents also are required to participate in at least two parent-teacher conferences 

per year. These requirements help create buy-in 

to the school program.

Achievement and Outcomes

For over 20 years, CSAS has sustained an innovative model of education that has proven successful 

in terms of integration and student achievement. 

The success of CSAS as part of the Chattanooga 

Public Schools led the way for the city system 

to create five more Paideia schools in the years 

following CSAS’s opening in 1986. The school 

currently has a waitlist of 1,100 students (100 at 

each grade level) and has attracted families from 

every zone in the county, including families who 

had previously sent their children to elite private 

schools. In 2006–07, 97 percent of CSAS students 

were accepted to two- or four-year colleges, with 

81 percent going on to four-year colleges.

CSAS’s principal, Steve Ball, recalls hearing from 

professors of neighboring the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga that they notice right away 

which of their students are CSAS graduates: “They 

aren’t afraid of hard work, they don’t get intimidated by large assignmentss, and they embrace 

debate and intellectual disagreement.”

As table 4 shows, a greater percentage of 

grades 9–12 CSAS students scored proficient 

and advanced on the 2007 state reading and 

mathematics assessments than did students in 

the district and state.

Table 4. Percentages of Ninth- through 12th-Grade Students Who Scored 

Proficient and Advanced on 2007 State Assessments in Reading and 

Mathematics at Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences as Compared 

To Hamilton County and the State

Subject CSAS Hamilton County 

School District

State of Tennessee

Reading/Language Plus Writing 98% 92% 91%

Mathematics 97% 76% 85%

Source: Tennessee Department of Education Report Card NCLB (AYP) 2007, Hamilton County, http://www.state.tn.us/education
41

Design and 

Architecture 

Senior High 

School

Miami

Selected Characteristics of Magnet School and Host District a

Magnet School: Design and Architecture 

Senior High School

Host District: Miami-Dade County Public 

Schools

Year Established 

as Magnet 

1990 Population Type Minority/urban

Theme Visual arts and design: 

architecture; interior, 

industrial, and fashion 

design; entertainment 

technology; visual 

communications

Size 2,000 square miles

Grades 9–12 MSAPb

 Funded 1991–2007

Enrollment 479 students Enrollment c 27 magnet high 

schools out of 

77 high schools in district; 13,509 students 

in magnet high schools 

out of 108,462 students in grades 9–12 

in 2006–07

Student Ethnicity

2006–07

52% Hispanic

16% African-American 

28% White

3% Asian American 

1.5% Multiracial

Student Ethnicity c

2006–07

61% Hispanic

27.9% African-American

9.9% White

1.1% Asian American

1% Multiracial

Special Education 4% Special Education 12%

Free or Reducedprice Lunch36% Free or Reducedprice Lunch61.2%

English Language 

Learners

< 1% English Language 

Learners

16%

a

 Source: DASH 2006–07, http://www.greatschools.net

b

 U.S. Department of Education’s Magnet Schools Assistance program

c

 Source: Miami-Dade County School District student demographics 2006, 

http://www.schoolmatters.com 

The buzz of excitement is palpable in the industrial design room at Design and Architecture Senior High School (DASH). Students have just received printed glossy cards showing their entries 

in a chair design contest cosponsored by Dacra 

Development, a Miami real estate and restoration 

firm, and the HSBC bank in Switzerland. From 

their 48 designs, 11 finalists were culled, and five 

were chosen and manufactured as prototypes. 

Tomorrow, the winners’ prototypes will arrive, 

just in time for the annual Miami Art Basel Festival. The students’ high-caliber work shows how 

DASH, ranked by U.S. News and World Report

in 2007 as the nation’s eighth best high school, 

encourages innovation and creativity through interdisciplinary, project-based learning. As DASH 

principal Stacey Mancuso says, “There isn’t a 

student here who isn’t driven.” They discover that 

“you don’t have to be a starving artist to pursue a 

career in the arts.” 

DASH was founded in 1990 through Miami-Dade 

County Public School’s Saturn School Initiative, an 

effort to create leading-edge teaching and learning 

models throughout the school district. It is an exemplar of a career-focused high school program, 

the first in the district to focus on design careers 

in the arts. DASH combines a rigorous academic 

program with specialized design training. Located 

on a three-acre campus in the heart of Miami’s 

recently revitalized design neighborhood, DASH 

serves students from the entire Miami-Dade ­County 

area. In the 2007–08 school year, it enrolled 479 
42

Successful Magnet High Schools 

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

students in grades 9–12, more than two-thirds of 

them from minority backgrounds. According to 

the College Board, DASH is an international leader in Advanced Placement (AP) exam participation and performance with the largest number of 

African-American and Hispanic students scoring 3 

or higher on the AP Studio Art exam.25

Mission and Curriculum

Founding principal Jacqueline Hinchey-Sipes 

coined the DASH motto “Education by Design” 

that is articulated in the faculty handbook: “Our 

vision is to educate talented students to become 

confident and critical thinkers through interdisciplinary challenges in the visual arts in preparation 

for college and a career in the design world.” The 

school’s curriculum features five strands: Architecture/Interior Design, Fashion Design, Entertainment Technology, Industrial Design, and Visual 

Communications/Web Design, combined with 

rigorous liberal arts courses. Admission to DASH 

is selective. Students must complete an application that includes a portfolio of ten art works, a 

sketchbook of drawings, and an audition on campus in which they are asked to complete several 

drawings in charcoal, pencil, and ink, take a short 

tour of the school, and have an interview with a 

DASH teacher. The highly coveted spots result in 

a school with low attrition. Students work hard to 

get there and even harder to stay.

The college preparatory curriculum exceeds state 

and district requirements for high school graduation. Students take eight classes, completing 32 

credits for graduation, eight more credits than the 

state requirement for graduation. Academic class 

periods run for 100 minutes, with classes meeting either Tuesday and Thursday or Monday and 

Wednesday, as well as every other Friday. The 

school day is extended by an hour, running from 

7:40 a.m. to 3:35 p.m. with eight periods. The 

school’s curriculum also exceeds state requirements 

in terms of its content. Both the art design and 

college preparatory classes are rigorous. In each of 

the five design strands, students complete required 

course work from five curriculum areas: technical 

skills; fundamentals and historical perspectives; advanced techniques and applications; business essentials in design and marketing; and core studies. 

The curriculum requires that all juniors and seniors 

take AP portfolio courses, creating a digital portfolio of their art and design products for college 

applications, local and national competitions, and 

college admissions offices. In addition, their rigorous liberal arts requirements include: social studies, world history, American history, government, 

and economics courses offered at regular, honors, 

or AP levels. Mathematics courses are aligned to 

prepare students for college from basic algebra 

through AP calculus. Technology is integrated into 

courses with CAD (computer-aided design), multimedia, Web design, digital photography, and basic 

applications. Three languages (Spanish, French, 

and German) are offered, and students can take 

the college requirement of two years, or extend 

to four years in a language. Every day there are 

30 minutes of sustained silent reading in all classrooms simultaneously. 

At DASH, teaching strategies are often interdisciplinary and teachers incorporate seminars, studios and workshops, and self-directed study for 

students. Through courses and projects, students 

are shown the connections between their class 

activities and assignments and the jobs and projects that professionals undertake in the design 

fields. From the outset, students are shown the 

connections between school learning and realworld applications in art careers.

Students are encouraged to work on community 

projects. In 2005, when Hurricane Wilma blew 

down an observatory tower in Everglades National 

Park, DASH architecture students were invited to 

design a replacement structure for the observatory 

tower. Each student drafted plans and submitted 

them to a local architectural firm for review. In a 

graphics class, students created a virtual gallery 
43

for a 400-foot-long white corridor at the Miami 

airport that remained on display for three years. 

Airport officials have asked DASH students to create a new installation for another concourse. 

Internships with practicing artists and designers introduce students to landscape architecture, 

what it is like to work in a gallery or museum, 

develop art in public places, and assist in a variety of design businesses. To participate, seniors 

must have a 3.0 grade point average, parental 

consent, an excellent school attendance and conduct record, and access to transportation. Often, 

students work with DASH alumni who are professional artists in the field. In 2007–08, out of 120 

seniors, 75 were participating in internships.

Ensuring Student Success

To prepare students to meet their high standards, 

DASH teachers provide intensive study courses and 

specialized tutoring in mathematics, reading, and 

science for students who require additional help. 

Teachers use annual and interim test results to restructure efforts in the classroom and to analyze 

which students need additional tutoring and academic support. Online data of interim testing results 

help teachers to identify specific skills that targeted 

students need to work on. Teachers also analyze 

student SAT scores and results from the Florida 

Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) to identify 

those areas where they need additional work. For 

example, if testing shows that students are struggling with graphing, the teachers will create a set of 

activities to reinforce the fundamental concepts. 

Teachers provide lunchtime tutoring, and junior 

and senior students also will tutor freshmen and 

sophomores. The school offers a Saturday program for students with low FCAT scores or those 

who have been recommended by teachers as 

needing additional support. Grade-level teams of 

teachers meet on Tuesdays, keeping an eye on 

particular students who need assistance. “We talk 

in a positive manner and try to work to students’ 

strengths,” says one teacher. “If a student is not 

doing well, we ask, ‘How do we help? What’s the 

home situation? How is he doing in your class?’ 

Someone will take on a mentor role, and often we 

arrange for parent conferences during our team 

meeting time.”

DASH helps its diverse student population achieve 

at high levels so they can continue their education 

in universities and art schools. The graduation rate 

typically varies between 98–100 percent. In 2007, 

138 DASH students took dual-enrollment courses 

at local universities, enriching their high school 

experience and preparing them for college. In 

2007, seniors were offered a total of $9.6 million 

in merit scholarships. With a diverse faculty and 

student body representing 37 different countries, 

including Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Chile, 

Argentina, Morocco, Cuba, and Pakistan, many 

students will be the first person in their family to 

attend college. As principal Mancuso says, “DASH 

is providing school choice for kids who might not 

fit in at other schools. They are super artsy and 

bright and a real mix of kids.” 

Building School Capacity

With two administrators, 33 full-time classroom 

teachers, eight resources specialists, 20 support 

staff, and seven adjunct teachers, there is constant 

activity at DASH. Principal Mancuso is also a professional painter and sculptor, and teaches a class 

at DASH. The school has had its share of growing pains. Currently in her ninth year, Mancuso 

explained that when she first arrived at DASH, 

“It was second best. There were many adjunct 

faculty who were very creative, collaborative, and 

engaging teachers. But as part-time faculty, they 

simply weren’t around enough for the students.” 

So she encouraged strong adjunct faculty members to pursue their teaching credentials and become full-time staff. “All of our program teachers 

are from industry. They are not education majors. 
44

Successful Magnet High Schools 

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

44

The industrial design teacher designed the sunglasses on her head. The architecture teacher is 

still a registered architect. Florida gives teachers 

three years to complete their credentials. Tom 

Pike, the film instructor, did his online in six 

months.” So now, the industrial design instructor has changed from teaching two courses as an 

adjunct to teaching six courses full-time. 

When principal Mancuso arrived at DASH, she 

made several changes to the program to increase 

the level of rigor by expanding the AP and honors programs, making AP Studio a mandatory 

course for all juniors and seniors. She increased 

the number of class sections required for the architecture strand, expanded the faculty, hired a 

fifth math teacher to decrease class size in mathematics, lengthened the school day by an hour, 

and raised the graduation requirements. 

As the district and state mandates for accountability have increased, DASH made adjustments accordingly. In 2007, the faculty was composed of 

certified Miami-Dade County Public School teachers, professional designers, and college instructors, with 36 percent of the teachers having master’s degrees, and 22 percent having specialist or 

doctoral degrees. More than half of the teachers 

are trained in the specialized reading instruction 

Project CRISS (Creating Independence Through 

Student Owned Strategies).

Achievement and Outcomes

DASH has made adequate yearly progress (AYP) 

for the past five years in a district that has not. 

And it has the highest writing scores in the district, 

outperforming 56 of the 57 district high schools. 

The school is known for its consistent high performance on testing. DASH qualified for the sixth 

consecutive year as an “A School” in Florida’s A+ 

Plan for Education, the state’s school accountability 

program, which grades each school’s performance 

according to such factors as student achievement, 

dropout rates, and college readiness. 

The school has received many other accolades 

and recognition for its arts and academic achievements. In 2007, DASH was honored by the U.S. 

Department of Education’s National Blue Ribbon 

School program, designed to recognize schools 

that demonstrate academic excellence. The class 

of 2007 exemplifies the school’s high academic 

achievement: 87 percent enrolled in four-year 

colleges, 13 percent enrolled in two-year colleges, and 73 percent are majoring in architecture, 

art, and design programs. As table 5 shows, the 

percentages of 10th-grade DASH students who 

scored proficient or above on the 2007 reading, 

mathematics, and writing assessments exceeded 

district and state achievement rates.

Table 5. Percentages of 10th-Grade Students Scoring Proficient and Above 

On 2007 State Assessments at Design and Architecture Senior High (DASH) as 

Compared to the District and the State

Subject DASH Miami-Dade District State of Florida

Reading 75% 27% 34%

Mathematics 96% 57% 65%

Writing 100% 42% 79%

Source: Florida’s Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT), http://fcat.fldoe.org
45

Selected Characteristics of Magnet School and Host District a

Magnet School: Galileo Magnet 

High School

Host District: Danville Public Schools (DPS)

Year Established 

as Magnet 

2002 Population Type Mid-size City

Theme International Baccalaureate Programme, 

air and space / 

networking / biotechnology

Size 111 square miles

Grades 9–12 MSAPb

 Funded Funded: In 2001, 

DPS received a threeyear grant totaling $8 

million for four magnet 

schools

Enrollment 250 students Enrollment c Total enrollment is 

6,725

Student Ethnicity 2% Hispanic

33% African-American

60% White

2% Asian American 

Student Ethnicity 

(grades K–5)

1.6% Hispanic

68.5% African-American

28.3% White

1% Asian American

Special Education d 8.4% Special Education 4.3%

Free or Reducedprice Lunch d31% Free or Reducedprice Lunch65.8%

English Language 

Learners d

2.4% English Language 

Learners

1.2%

a

 Source: Virginia State Department of Education Reports 2007, Galileo Magnet, 

https://p1pe.doe.virginia.gov/reportcard

b

 U.S. Department of Education’s Magnet Schools Assistance program

c

 Danville Public Schools does not report magnet enrollment, therefore, only the total enrollment is reported. 

d

 Source: All data self-reported by school or district for school year 2007–08

Danville, where Galileo is located, is in the midst 

of an economic redevelopment, and Galileo is 

actively working with the city to help attract businesses and families to the area. From the 1920s 

through the 1960s, Danville was known for its 

textile and tobacco industries. As those local 

economies declined, many businesses shut down 

or left the area. In response, education, business, 

and city leaders began collaborating to figure out 

how to develop a local workforce that would be 

skilled for white-collar, not just blue-collar work. 

They decided on networking, biotechnology, and 

air and space as three areas of study that a school 

should focus on to equip students with necessary 

skills for the future.

Danville Public Schools (DPS), Virginia Tech (VT), 

and NASA leaders jointly wrote an application 

A former department store may seem a surprising place to find students learning advanced 

technology and communication skills through 

rigorous, real-life applications. But at Galileo 

Magnet High School (Galileo), advanced academics and cutting-edge technology are the 

school’s defining qualities. In an Advanced 

Application of Biotechnology course, a mixedgrade class of 10th- through 12th-graders work 

in pairs in a state-of-the-art laboratory. They 

are practicing using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test to detect diseases 

in blood. The test indicates the presence of antibodies in the bloodstream. Lining the walls of 

the classroom are posters of student projects on 

such subjects as “Arboviruses,” “Protein A,” and 

“Staphylococcus aureas.”

Galileo Magnet 

High School

Danville, Va.
46

Successful Magnet High Schools 

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

to the federal Magnet Schools Assistance program (MSAP), resulting in $8 million for four 

schools, the largest MSAP grant given in the 

country that year. Galileo received $2.5 million. 

As one indicator of its success, the school’s rigorous and innovative curriculum design earned 

Galileo full state accreditation in its first year of 

operation. The school opened in the fall of 2002 

and currently serves 250 ninth- through 12thgrade students.

Mission and Curriculum

Galileo’s stated mission is to provide for “all students a balanced, diverse, and challenging educational experience that emphasizes individual responsibility in a global society” and that develops 

“the skills needed to enter the workforce of the 

21st century.” The school offers an International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IB) and 

three technology-based strands of study: Air and 

space, biotechnology, and advanced communications and networking.

The IB offerings include a Middle Years Program 

for ninth- and 10th-grade students and a Diploma 

Programme for 10th- and 11th-graders. All ninthand 10th-graders are automatically placed in the 

Middle Years Program. Students who choose 

to advance into the Diploma Programme must 

meet certain course requirements, carry out community service, and complete a personal project. The assessment of students’ work in the IB 

Diploma Programme is largely external, holding 

students to a competitive standard. At the end of 

each class, students take examinations that are 

assessed by outside examiners affiliated with the 

IB Programme. 

Galileo also offers three technology-focused 

strands of study. The Biotechnology strand—

geared toward students interested in research, 

medicine, technology, science, and business—

offers classes in DNA technology, plant and animal systems, molecular biology, and forensics. 

An Air and Space strand is for students interested 

in becoming scientists, engineers, technologists, 

and technicians. It offers classes in astronomy, 

principles of flight, aerodynamics, and systems 

design. And for students drawn to information 

technology careers—needed today in professions from education to health care, business 

and industry, and from aerospace to forensics—

an Advanced Communications and Networking 

strand offers classes in computer technology, 

computer science, Web-based systems, and networking technologies.

Each strand consists of four courses that students can complete at any point in their Galileo 

career. Students can complete one strand, multiple strands, or sample classes from each strand. 

If a student does complete all four courses from 

a strand, that student receives a commendation 

on his or her high school diploma. The courses 

in these three strands, with their emphasis on 

technology, academic rigor, and hands-on learning, exceed the state’s standards for science and 

mathematics.

Ensuring Student Success

“Technology allows you to take your students 

other places,” says Galileo’s former principal, 

Bill Lawrence. Each classroom has laptops and 

a wireless network for accessing the Internet. 

SMART boards (interactive whiteboards) can 

be found in every classroom. Each morning, 

school announcements are made using this 

technological medium that also, in the words 

of one 10th-grader, “plays a big part in making 

classes interactive.”

The school’s IB director has noticed that many 

students remark on how they entered the school 

completely focused on one of the three major strands but, because IB requires such varied 

classes and introduces many perspectives on 
47

knowledge, they have become well rounded. 

Galileo also expands students’ perspectives on 

life after high school. Teachers and administrators place a high value on going to college. The 

school’s graduation takes place not on campus, 

but at nearby Averett University, signaling the 

importance and expectations of college. Many of 

Galileo’s graduates are the first in their families to 

attend college.

While still in high school, some Galileo students 

enroll in classes concurrently at a local college 

or university, giving them a firsthand look at the 

rigors of college-level work and the culture of a 

college campus. Galileo students enroll in engineering classes offered through Virginia Tech and 

its Institute for Advanced Learning and Research.

“The small school size lends itself to success,” 

remarks assistant superintendent Tyrell. “This is 

more of a personalized institution” where teachers know virtually all of the students by name, and 

students cannot fall through the cracks. Teachers 

go the extra mile for students and offer tutorial 

sessions before and after school. But high expectations remain constant. There are no remedial 

classes offered at Galileo, and students are expected to take the initiative and get extra tutoring 

in school if needed, study hard, ask questions, 

and pass classes.

Building School Capacity

Magnet director Diane Locker calls Galileo “a 

nontraditional high school in a city that has traditional high schools.” Galileo does not offer a 

comprehensive athletics, music, or arts program, 

for example. “Getting this school accepted in such 

a traditional city” was difficult, recalls Locker. But 

the community has become very supportive as 

the school has produced excellent results.

The relationship between the host district (DPS) 

and Galileo is strong and highly collaborative. 

Galileo is seen as the flagship school of the district and one of the reasons why many families 

and companies are moving to the area. DPS helps 

support the school in many ways—through professional development, funding graduate opportunities for school staff, and supporting outside 

partnerships. DPS also gives a lot of autonomy to 

the school as it makes hiring decisions. 

The school has several key partnerships that impact its curriculum, improve its instruction, and 

attract more students and families to the school. 

One partner is the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech University, which provided 

funding to help develop some of the curriculum 

in the Biotechnology strand. Another partner is 

the NASA Langley Research Center, whose staff 

helped write the original magnet grant proposal 

and helped develop the curriculum for Galileo’s 

Air and Space strand. Langley has provided Galileo teachers with two-week training programs 

on how to use and integrate technologies in the 

classroom and across grade levels. 

Achievement and Outcomes

On each of the state’s 11 Standards of Learning 

(SOL) assessments, Galileo has outperformed 

both the district and the state. The school has 

made adequate yearly progress (AYP) for the 

last four years. Galileo boasts a high school 

graduation rate of 95 percent. For the class of 

2007, 57 percent of Galileo’s graduates went on 

to a four-year college, 38 percent to a two-year 

college, with the remaining 5 percent joining 

the military.

With such strong results, the school is gaining wide recognition including a citation in the 

2007 U.S. News and World Report on “America’s 

Best High Schools.” The success of Galileo has 

helped change the climate of the city. When 

new industries visit Danville to consider locating in the area, city leaders always include a 
48

Successful Magnet High Schools

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

48

visit to the school to show off Galileo’s rigorous high-tech program and thriving students. 

Table 6 compares the percentages of Galileo 

students who scored proficient pass rates on 

the 2007 Standards of Learning (SOLs) state assessments with district and state achievement 

rates. In all subjects, Galileo exceeded district 

and state rates. 

Table 6. Percentages of Students Scoring Proficient in Reading, Writing, and 

Mathematics Subjects on 2007 State Assessments at Galileo Magnet High 

School as Compared to Danville Public Schools and the State 

Subject Galileo Danville Public Schools State of Virginia

English: Reading 98% 90% 94%

English: Writing 96% 92% 92%

Algebra I 98% 88% 92%

Geometry 100% 73% 86%

Algebra II 95% 78% 88%

Source: Virginia State Department of Education Reports 2007, Galileo Magnet, https://p1pe.doe.virginia.gov/reportcard
49

Selected Characteristics of Magnet School and Host District a

Magnet School: Metropolitan Learning Center Host District: Capitol Region Education 

Council (CREC), interdistrict magnet

Year Established 

as Magnet 

1998 Population Type Urban and Suburban

Theme Global international 

education

Size 543 square miles 

(greater Hartford communities

Grades 6–12 MSAPb

 Funded Funded: 1998 

(1.2M over three 

years)

Enrollment 681 students Enrollment c 1,117 magnet out of 

1,313 grades 9–12 

students (2007)

Student Ethnicity 9.8% Hispanic

61.5% African-American

24.7% White

3.8% Asian American

Student Ethnicity 

(grades 9–12)c

14.5% Hispanic

30% African-American

52.5% White

3% Asian American

Special Education 7% Special Education c 10.8%

Free or Reducedprice Lunch35% Free or Reducedprice Lunch c22.9%

English Language 

Learners

< 1% English Language 

Learners c

3.4%

a

 Source: 2006–07 school profile, http://www.csde.state.ct.us/public/der/ssp/sch0607/school.htm

b

 U.S. Department of Education’s Magnet Schools Assistance program 

c Source: Data self-reported by school or district for school year 2007–08

In 2003, at the outset of the Iraq war, a class of 

17 sophomores at Metropolitan Learning Center 

(MLC) in Bloomfield, Conn., participated in videoconference exchanges with a group of 21 students nearly 6,000 miles away in Baghdad. During two exchanges, these students spoke about 

the war’s impact on their lives. MLC staff believe 

such cross-cultural experiences are crucial to preparing students to participate and achieve in the 

global economy of the 21st century. 

MLC is an interdistrict grades sixth through 12th 

magnet whose interdisciplinary theme emphasizes global understandings. MLC teachers help 

inner-city students increase their awareness of 

international issues through rigorous academic 

study and a wide range of firsthand and virtual 

overseas experiences. As the school’s handbook 

notes: “We expect that each child will travel and 

study in another country, take an Advanced 

Placement course, host an international visitor, 

take classes online, participate in a live teleconference, achieve academic success at high levels, 

and contribute to our community.” Last year, as 

part of their education, 109 students made overseas trips to such countries as Finland, Senegal, 

Brazil, Canada, Spain, Ecuador, and Chile. 

Founded in 1998, MLC was launched in response 

to the 1996 Connecticut Supreme Court case, 

Sheff v. O’Neill. In this case, the court ruled that 

racially and socioeconomically isolated students 

in Hartford public schools were receiving inferior and inadequate educational opportunities 

and mandated desegregation efforts for the urban school system. The challenge of desegregating Hartford area schools was complicated by the 

area’s existing housing patterns and demographics. To mix students from different backgrounds, 

the community proposed an interdistrict solution. 

This led to the establishment of eight interdistrict 

magnet schools. MLC serves students from the 

543-square-mile capitol region of Hartford—the 

third largest city in Connecticut and one of the 

poorest cities in the U.S., with a poverty level of 

42 percent. In 1998, MLC received a three-year 

Metropolitan 

Learning 

Center

Bloomfield, Conn.
50

Successful Magnet High Schools 

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

$1.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of 

Education’s Magnet Schools Assistance program 

(MSAP) and opened with 94 sixth-graders from 

six towns. Adding a grade each year, MLC now 

serves grades 6–12 and sends 98–100 percent of 

its graduates to college.

Mission and Curriculum

At MLC, the mission of global education is taken seriously. As social studies department chair 

Caryn Stedman says, the future for our students 

is “going to be international and globally connected, so they need to leave with awareness of 

the state of the planet, knowledge of global dynamics, and be conscious of human choices and the 

various world perspectives. So, for example, you 

do math and excel in it; but you also understand 

that math has real, live applications that can solve 

global issues—everything from immigration projections to space exploration and environmental 

issues require mathematics; so that you are not 

just taking math so you can pass the test.”

Interwoven across the curriculum, MLC’s international theme features intensive study of world 

languages (Chinese, French, and Spanish) and 

extensive student use of technology. In addition 

to languages, integrated curricular topics include 

global economics and environment, world cultures and societies, and world geography. At the 

high school level, the schedule is arranged by 

90-minute classes, with a Wednesday morning 

block to meet with their advisers. Every grade 

level has a service-learning requirement. In a 

cross-age, peer-tutored mentoring program, for 

example, seniors provide academic assistance to 

middle school students. Students select projects 

that will benefit the community without monetary gain. They document their hours, write reflections, and include an annotated bibliography 

of newspaper and magazine articles they have 

read relating to their project, which is graded according to a rubric. 

Ensuring Student Success

At MLC, teaching is tailored to meet students’ individual needs. For example, a sixth-grade special education student, taking a high school-level 

geometry class, works alongside high school students to create posters of proofs demonstrating 

the chain of reasoning for solving a math problem. From January through March, morning classes at the Saturday Academy provide struggling 

students with additional support. MLC has two 

guidance counselors who work with students on 

the college application process and facilitate an 

early intervention process for students with academic or behavioral concerns.

Principal Anne McKernan and the school leadership team ensure that the state learning standards 

are embedded in the curriculum plan and course 

content. As principal McKernan explained, “We 

look at state, national, and international standards 

to identify the most valuable skills and concepts. 

Then we ask, how do we assess it? It is about giving our teachers time to work with the information, to embed the skills into curriculum and have 

a common way of assessing the outcomes through 

rubrics.” Teachers created schoolwide student 

learning goals that include proficiency in a second 

language, demonstrating understanding of global 

connections, as well as expectations that students 

will demonstrate proficiency in effective communication, problem solving, and use of technology.

Technology is used to assist learning and 

meaningful cultural exchanges at MLC. Teachers 

use interactive whiteboards and every student has 

a laptop. Students are expected to e-mail writing 

assignments to teachers and use the laptop for researching. They also use advanced technology to 

participate in the International Education and Resources Network (iEARN) where students interact 

with peers overseas through teleconferencing.

MLC offers eight Advanced Placement (AP) 

courses. For the 2006–07 school year, 60 percent 
51

of the seniors and 35 percent of the juniors enrolled in an AP course; 70 percent of the students 

in AP classes came from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. Students also 

can enroll in courses at local community colleges with tuition and fees waived for one course 

each semester, if they have taken and passed 

the placement exam in math and English, and 

have at least an 80 percent grade point average. 

In senior year, students complete a culminating 

project designed to reflect in-depth learning. 

Students choose a topic, write a proposal, and 

conduct extensive research, and publicly present 

their findings to a panel of faculty, members of 

the public, students, and parents. 

Building School Capacity

As an interdistrict magnet, MLC draws its students from a mix of rural, suburban, and innercity communities. Each town that sends students 

to MLC contributes funding for them. Funding 

from the State Department of Education Interdistrict Cooperative Grant Program and Connecticut 

Commission on the Arts provides $6,250 per seat, 

while the boards of education from the towns of 

Windsor, Windsor Locks, East Windsor, Enfield, 

Hartford, and Bloomfield provide $2,000 per seat. 

The school has significant autonomy in defining 

budget priorities and allocating resources. 

In the high school, a myriad of cocurricular activities help promote a positive school climate. Afterschool activities are held Mondays and Wednesdays from 3–5 p.m., and students are encouraged 

to form new clubs. One of them, such as the 

group, Student Abolitionists Stopping Slavery, 

was started by three students dedicated to stopping modern-day slavery around the world. To 

honor diversity, MLC held a “names conference” 

in November 2007—Names Can Really Hurt Us, 

a schoolwide program in partnership with the 

Connecticut Anti-Defamation League to promote 

a safe learning environment. In multiage groups, 

students engaged in activities about violence prevention and listened to a panel of MLC students 

share their personal experiences. 

Achievement and Outcomes

Serving a diverse student body, MLC is closing 

achievement gaps. A higher percentage of MLC

African-American and free or reduced-price lunch 

10th-graders demonstrate proficiency on the state 

CAPT math, science, reading, and writing tests 

than the same subgroups’ statewide average (see 

table 7 on p. 52).

Each year, more students are taking AP courses 

and demonstrating high levels of achievement. In 

2006–07, 46 percent of seniors and 35 percent of 

juniors were enrolled in an AP course and took 

119 exams; 45 percent scored a 3 or higher, making them eligible for college credit. MLC students 

are scoring above the state proficiency average 

and above Hartford Public Schools’ (HPS) proficiency percentages in state testing on writing, 

math, and reading. 

In 2004, MLC won the Goldman-Sachs Award for 

Excellence in International Education. Magnet 

Schools of America named it as a Magnet School 

of Excellence for 2008 and a Magnet School of 

Distinction in 2002 as well for each year from 

2004–06. It has been recognized by the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (CONNCAN) 

as one of the top 10 performers for African-American student achievement on both the Connecticut 

Academic Performance Test (CAPT) and Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT); and in 2004, the National 

Association of Multi-Cultural Educators (NAMES) 

recognized MLC as one of the schools of the year. 

Table 7 on p. 52 shows that the percentages of 

10th-grade MLC students who scored proficient on 

the 2007 mathematics, reading, and writing assessments were higher than the CREC interdistrict rates 

and, with the exception of mathematics, higher 

than state achievement rates.
52

Successful Magnet High Schools 

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

Table 7. Percentages of 10th-Grade Students Scoring Proficient and Above on 

2007 State Assessments at Metropolitan Learning Center as Compared to the 

Capitol Region Education Council (CREC) and the State

Subject MLC CREC State of Connecticut

Mathematics 74.4% 68.0% 77.2%

Reading 87.3% 75.0% 79.7%

Writing 96.2% 85.7% 82.2%

Source: http://www.schoolmatters.com/schools.aspx/q/page=sl/sid=99124/midx=Grade10

MLC students and faculty have participated in 

the Bezos Aspen Scholar program, which brings 

together 12 of the country’s top high school juniors to meet one another and engage in seminars and informal meetings with international 

leaders as well as creative artists who participate 

in the annual Aspen Ideas Festival. MLC is the 

nation’s only school whose students have won 

scholarships to the program and festival, selected for each of the three years of the program’s 

existence at the Aspen Institute, an international 

nonprofit founded in 1950 to foster enlightened 

leadership. A 2008 scholarship recipient created 

the MLC Global Humanitarian Ideas Festival at 

the school with a week full of learning activities, 

speakers, films, and presentations, which focused attention on three issues: genocide in 

Darfur, human trafficking, and health problems 

in Africa and Haiti. 
53

Selected Characteristics of Magnet School and Host District a

Magnet School: Northeast Magnet High 

School

Host District: USD 259, Wichita, Kans.

Year Established 

as Magnet 

1990 Population Type Small City

Theme Science, law, and visual 

arts

Size 152 square miles

Grades 9–12 MSAP b

 Funded No

Enrollment 538 students Enrollment c 575 magnet high school 

students out of 13,538 

grade 9–12 students 

(as of 9-20-07)

Student Ethnicity 13.2% Hispanic

25.7% African-American

47.4% White

9% Asian American

1% Native American

4% Multiracial

Student Ethnicity c 

(grades 9–12)

20% Hispanic

23.5% African-American

45% White

6% Asian American

3% Native American 

4% Multiracial

Special Education 0% Special Education c 19%

Free or Reducedprice Lunch44% (2006) Free or Reducedprice Lunch c

55.7%

English Language 

Learners

< 1% English Language 

Learners c

4.86%

a

 Source: Kansas State Department of Education Report Card for school year 2006–07, http://online.ksde.org/rcard

b

 U.S. Department of Education’s Magnet Schools Assistance program

c

 Source: Data self-reported by school or district for 2007–08 school year

Northeast 

Magnet High 

School 

Wichita, Kans.

In a science class at Northeast Magnet High School 

(NEM), students are researching DNA transformation as part of the Pass the Salt Project sponsored 

by the biology department of Wichita State University. The program provides sophisticated lab 

equipment and graduate students in genetics to 

mentor the students who also will conduct antimicrobial research and gel-electrophoresis experiments. Many students are drawn to NEM because 

it offers three magnet programs in science, law, 

and visual arts; others like how these are integrated into a rigorous, college-preparatory curriculum and because it is the smallest high school in 

the district with a strong academic track record. 

Located in a residential, predominantly AfricanAmerican neighborhood, NEM is one block from 

Wichita State University, providing easy access 

for collaboration and opportunities for college 

preparation. In the 2006–07 school year, approximately 25 percent of the seniors took local university classes. NEM’s long-standing partnerships 

with the university and local cultural and civic 

institutions bring students to the university campus and local art museums to engage in research, 

projects, and special events. Founded in 1990 as 

a science and arts magnet, NEM modeled high 

school reform innovations that were new to 

the host district, which is Wichita Public School 

District (USD 259), including block scheduling, 

smaller learning communities, an interdisciplinary humanities program, and projects using technology. In 1996, as a result of budget constraints 

and changing state standards, the district merged 

Northeast Magnet High School with the Downtown Law Magnet program, moving the program 

from its location at city hall to the NEM school 

site. In a district with seven comprehensive high 

schools, three alternative high schools, 19 magnet elementary schools, and four magnet middle 

schools, 26 percent of students in the district attend magnet schools. NEM is the district’s only 

high school that has made adequate yearly progress (AYP) for the past six years. 
54

Successful Magnet High Schools 

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

Mission and Curriculum

NEM’s mission is to provide a four-year program 

of studies for students who want to focus their 

education in science, law, or visual arts. These 

three magnet areas, embedded in a college preparation program, offer a rigorous interdisciplinary 

curriculum, integrated with technology and annual projects to produce a focused, well-rounded 

education. The school’s vision statement captures 

NEM’s achievement-driven ethos: 

“Students and teachers are here because they 

want to be.

Students and teachers think what they are 

doing is important.

Students and teachers share high standards 

and a commitment to excellence.

Northeast Magnet has clear goals and everyone knows what they are.

At NEM, risk taking is not only allowed, but 

encouraged.”

Forty-four percent of NEM students are in the science program, which has two major strands—one 

that focuses on engineering and the other in biological sciences. Students engage in lab research, 

applied technology, and problem solving, and 

math and science courses are integrated and taught 

with a project-based focus. Students have the opportunity to earn dual credit for Wichita State University in advanced course work. All freshmen 

take honors physical science and introduction to 

engineering design. Students can focus on aerospace engineering, biotechnology, or biomedical 

classes. In every science class, they are engaged in 

hands-on, project-based learning and lab activities, 

and are often using computers for simulations. Students built and tested gliders using a wind tunnel, 

worked with flight simulators with the Federal Aviation Administration, created prototypes of a child 

car seat alarm, a redesign of an auto seatbelt, and 

built a solar collector sun shade for hybrid cars. 

Other students worked with glow-in-the-dark bacteria in a genetic engineering project, built models 

of the human heart, and developed a model for an 

artificial prosthetic joint replacement. 

The law and public service program introduces 

students to legal and judicial issues, forensic science, crime scene investigations, and public policy. Students learn about the role of court officers, 

how to write a legal brief, opinions, and contracts. 

Every student completes a magnet project each 

year that includes research, a written paper, and 

both oral and visual presentations. All students are 

expected to complete a minimum of 100 hours 

of community service by the end of their senior 

year. Freshmen take the Law 101 class; sophomores take practical law and have opportunities to 

participate in mock trial competitions; and juniors 

and seniors select such classes as forensic science, 

government, economics, and mentorship. Seniors 

also participate in a mentorship program involving internships with the Wichita Bar Association, 

fire department, police department, the Sedgwick 

County sheriff’s department, district court judge, 

and other community agencies in the legal and 

social work fields. The internships, as one teacher 

explains, mean that students have “seen fights in 

courtrooms, jumped on ladders with firemen, and 

had a wide range of experiences.” 

Students in the art magnet program are required 

to complete at least 7 credit units, including an 

art survey, drawing, and painting classes. In addition, students can earn college credit in studio 

arts courses at Wichita State University. Electives 

are offered in drawing, painting, ceramics, digital imaging, computer graphics, creating computer 

games, sculpture, AP Studio Art, senior art projects, 

fiber arts, and special art production classes. The 

school is equipped with a ceramics lab with pottery wheels and kilns, and a computer lab with 25 

PCs for digital imaging, computer art and design.

Art students regularly exhibit their work in shows 

hosted by the Wichita Art Museum, Wichita ­Center 
55

for the Arts, CityArts, Wichita State University, and 

Friends University as well as other private and 

public galleries. Each of the teachers in the program are professional artists themselves.

Ensuring Student Success

To support student learning, teachers provide 

math, science, and English tutoring during lunch 

and after school for any student. Every student 

receives a weekly progress report each Wednesday showing the student’s current grades, and 

comments from his or her teachers. Students take 

an advocacy class, one 40-minute period each 

week where they meet in smaller groups with a 

teacher to work on a range of projects. Freshmen 

learn study skills and habits to acclimate to high 

school; juniors and seniors are preparing for the 

Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) and 

building portfolios in preparation for applying 

to college, conducting scholarship searches, and 

preparing resumes. Part of the class involves creating an advocacy folder that holds testing scores, goals, and an individualized high school plan 

with questions about “where you are now and 

what you need to do to get to college.” 

If a student is struggling academically, typically, 

the advocacy teacher will talk with the student, 

make parent contact, and try different interventions, including tutoring or involving another teacher if they are having trouble motivating the student. Every student takes four years of high school 

math. Students are expected to complete Algebra 

II or beyond, and science magnet students are 

required to complete Algebra II and Pre-calculus/

Trigonometry with a C or above. Math classes at 

NEM meet daily for 95 minutes all year long, providing more time on task and opportunities for 

both remediation, enrichment, and acceleration. 

Historically, the NEM building was an African-American junior high school. Today, the school provides bus transportation for white students from 

outside the predominantly African-American neighborhood who attend. As principal Joel Hudson 

explains, “The African-American community sees 

this as their school. So there is community buy-in 

even though students come from all over the city. 

In reality, white students are being bused in and 

parents have no problem with students coming to 

this neighborhood. If this were a comprehensive 

school and students were being bused from the 

outskirts, parents would have a problem with that. 

But because it is a magnet, they want them here.”

“We don’t fight here at Northeast,” says one student. “Sometimes it takes ninth-graders a little 

while to figure out that this school is different 

and this environment won’t foster conflict. But 

they catch on fast.”

Building School Capacity

“The school has been extremely successful,” says 

principal Hudson, “and we have always made AYP 

[adequate yearly progress] and for the most part 

have made the [Kansas] standard of excellence in 

reading or math.” Still, Hudson acknowledges that 

the school has work to do in closing the achievement gap among its subgroups. “It is a challenge 

for me to get the staff to really look at the data and 

say, ‘If we don’t really start talking about the kids 

that we need to help improve, we may not make 

AYP next year.’ Now teachers are actually talking 

about what strategies could ... bring those scores 

up. We have been on this quest of coming to grips 

with the fact that we are going to have subgroups, 

and if we don’t do something to help their skill 

level we are not going to progress this school.”

In Professional Learning Community (PLC) meetings, teachers meet weekly to collaborate by 

department and magnet theme area. At weekly 

staff development meetings, faculty discuss such 

topics as lesson sharing, best practices for improving reading comprehension, and using data to 

increase the rigor and relevance of instruction. 
56

Successful Magnet High Schools 

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

Every Wednesday, teachers have a 40-minute 

block of time to look at student data by grade 

level and by department. 

As part of their professional development, teachers work in small groups where they learn to use 

interim assessments to inform their teaching and 

instruction. With the increased focus on data and 

testing from the district and state, the school hired 

a data manager who oversees such testing as the 

PSAT and district common assessments, and works 

closely with teachers on using data to improve 

teaching and instruction. Faculty collaboration is 

a core element of NEM’s success. Teachers are actively involved in decision-making at the school, 

through their departments and PLC groups. 

Since its inception, NEM has actively cultivated 

partnerships with community businesses, organizations, and universities, including Friends University, Newman University, Wichita State University, the Wichita Art Museum, the city’s Fair 

Housing department, the Boeing Company, the 

United Way, and the Salvation Army. The partnerships have yielded a mentorship program, 

research opportunities, and exhibitions for the 

school’s art students. Principal Hudson takes an 

active role in developing them, whether by writing grants to bring programs into the school or 

serving on a district committee.

NEM’s proximity to and partnership with the University of Wichita provide a strong resource for 

students: They can use equipment and software 

at the university’s engineering facility for their 

projects. Graduate students in the physicians’ 

assistant program at the College of Health Professions come to NEM and tutor students in biology, 

chemistry, and the biotechnology engineering 

program. “We are getting college role models in 

our building,” says Hudson. One biology professor wrote a grant that helped NEM get over 

$10,000 dollars’ worth of lab equipment.

Achievement and Outcomes

NEM reflects the district’s ethnic diversity, but 

shows higher levels of academic proficiency on 

state testing and other academic measures. It has 

made AYP for the past six years, while the district, 

with 14,155 students in grades 9–12 in 2007–08, 

has failed to make AYP for the past five years. 

NEM has a 96.4 percent graduation rate compared 

to the district’s rate of 76.9 percent. 

The school has been recognized by the state of 

Kansas for reaching the “Standard of Excellence” in 

mathematics as well as the state’s Challenge Award 

for exceeding assessment expectations for all students. Table 8 shows that the percentages of 11thgrade NEM students meeting or exceeding standards 

on the 2007 state reading and mathematics assessments were greater than district and state achievement rates.

Table 8. Percentages of 11th-Grade Students Meeting or Exceeding 

Standards On 2007 State Assessments at Northeast Magnet High School as 

Compared To the District and the State

Subject Northeast Magnet High School Wichita District 259 State of Kansas

Reading 78.7% 59.8% 77.0%

Mathematics 84.0% 54.6% 71.3%

Source: Kansas State Department of Education Report Card for school year 2006–07, http://online.ksde.org/rcard
57

Selected Characteristics of Magnet School and Host District a

Magnet School: Booker T. Washington 

High School

Host District: Dallas Independent School 

District

Year Established 

as Magnet 

1976 Population Type Urban, Large 

Theme Performing and

visual arts

Size 384 square miles

Grades 9–12 MSAPb

 Funded Received two or three 

cycles of funding in 

the late 1980s and 

early-mid 1990s

Enrollment 696 students Enrollment 9,018 magnet 

enrolled students / 

159,752 total student 

enrollment

Student Ethnicity 26% Hispanic

42% White

3% Asian American

1% Native American

Student Ethnicity 

(grades K–12)

64% Hispanic

29% African-American

5% White

< 1% Asian American

Special Education 3% Special Education c 10%

Free or Reducedprice Lunch27% Free or Reducedprice Lunch c83.9%

English Language 

Learners

<1% English Language 

Learners c

31.2%

a

 Source: Texas Education Agency, 2006–07 Campus Performance, Academic 

Excellence Indicator System, http://www.tea.state.tx.us

b

 U.S. Department of Education’s Magnet Schools Assistance program

c

 For grades 9–12

Booker T. 

Washington 

High School for 

The Performing 

And Visual Arts 

Dallas

A girl perfecting her folklorico movements, a 

group of students rehearsing a mime performance, 

a boy practicing the cello—these are but a few 

snippets of daily life for young artists at Booker 

T. Washington High School for the Performing 

and Visual Arts (BTWHSPVA). Students playing 

instruments, rehearsing, or displaying paintings 

are not unusual sights at most high schools. But 

what sets BTWHSPVA apart is the markedly high 

caliber of its students’ accomplishments in both 

arts and academics.

Distinguished alumni—including Norah Jones, 

Erykah Badu, and Roy Hargrove—collectively 

have won 22 Grammy awards. High-quality, 

professional-caliber works of art—all created 

by students—line the hallways and fill displays 

throughout the school. A gallery showcases visual arts created by the school’s seniors.

Serving 705 ninth- through 12th-grade students 

in the Dallas Independent School District (DISD), 

BTWHSPVA is the school of choice for students 

with special talents and the commitment to develop their potential. BTWHSPVA’s mission is to 

provide intensive training in both arts and academics. The school’s track record in both areas 

has earned it a reputation as one of the premier 

arts high schools in the country.

BTWHSPVA began in a facility built in 1922 to 

house the first African-American high school 

in Dallas. In 1955, that school had expanded 

and become a vocational and technical school. 

Then, in 1976, when the Texas Supreme Court 

ordered the district to desegregate its schools, 

DISD created a magnet program and established 

BTWHSPVA as an “arts magnet” to help attract 

a more diverse student population. In 2003, the 

court lifted the order, finding that DISD had successfully integrated its schools.
58

Successful Magnet High Schools 

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

Mission and Curriculum

BTWHSPVA is a school for the arts—both performing and visual. The school’s program is divided into four arts clusters, and each prospective 

student applies to one: Dance, Music, Theatre, 

or Visual Arts. Each cluster offers a set of classes 

that include training in the performance, technical, production, and theoretical aspects of the 

cluster’s particular art form. In addition, students 

take academic courses to meet Texas graduation 

requirements. As one parent explains, “This is 

really two parallel high schools—a conservatory 

running parallel with an academic structure.”

BTWHSPVA’s rigorous academic offerings include 

19 Advanced Placement (AP) courses—a large 

number for such a small student population. The 

College Board commended BTWHSPVA for its 

rigorous academic curriculum and recognized 

BTWHSPVA as having the strongest AP Music 

Theory course in the nation. The commitment 

to academics is also evident in BTWHSPVA’s 

no-pass-no-play rule—students must be in good 

academic standing in their classes in order to be 

allowed to participate in any of the school’s art 

performances.

Teachers spend a lot of effort and time ensuring 

that their academic curriculum covers required 

standards and content and that classes harness 

the creativity of BTWHSPVA’s students. Master 

teachers, like Sidney Poitier, the late Gregory 

Hines, and Marvin Hamlisch, have come to talk 

to students about being a professional artist, earning an adequate living, auditioning for jobs, and 

finding a unique voice. Artists within the community often visit to help prepare students for interviews. Professional artists show students how 

to interact with adults, put together a portfolio, 

and converse through a mock interview. Students 

frequently attend professional arts performances 

and have opportunities to go backstage to see 

what happens behind the scenes.

Ensuring Student Success

Admission to the school is highly competitive. 

There are, on average, 500 applicants for 190 

open spots for incoming freshmen. The district 

requires students to have a minimum level of 

academic achievement to be eligible for magnet schools, but BTWHSPVA considers another 

factor—all prospective students must audition or 

submit a portfolio of their artwork. If an applicant’s audition or portfolio is strong enough, the 

BTWHSPVA selection committee can choose to 

waive the district’s academic requirements.

Because of this admissions process, the school 

brings in many students who need help academically, so the school and community provide a 

variety of supports. The staff have created a remedial Reading Improvement class for incoming 

freshmen. Teachers offer tutoring before and after school each day. Some teachers offer tutorials 

on Sundays to accommodate students who have 

practices and rehearsals during the week. Each 

cluster also has a coordinator who personally follows up with any student whom teachers identify 

as being in danger of failing a class.

Throughout the school, there is an emphasis 

on college preparation. In a college preparatory course called “Portfolio,” working artists talk 

about life as an artist, giving students a realistic 

view of art as a profession. All BTWHSPVA students create a portfolio for themselves, and every 

year the school participates in National Portfolio 

Day, when representatives of visual arts colleges 

and art institutes travel to high schools across the 

country and seniors show their portfolios.

The school also hosts a “Senior Showcase” for 

college representatives. During this multiday 

event, students from each cluster perform and 

present their best work. Prior to the showcase, 

students have to take headshots, create resumes, 

and sometimes film their work and create a DVD. 

Each cluster then creates a booklet, complete 
59

with resumes, headshots, and a brief background 

about that particular arts cluster, which is given to 

each college representative. The Julliard School 

and the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater 

program are just a few of the prestigious postsecondary institutions that attend.

With the commitment to arts and academics, the 

school day and week are much longer for students at BTWHSPVA compared to those at traditional public schools. The long hours and small 

student population foster close working relationships between adults and students. The extended 

school community also supports students. Adult 

mentors meet weekly with juniors and seniors 

who need extra guidance to prepare them for 

applying to colleges. The Advisory Board stages 

mock interviews for students at the junior grade 

level. Board members help them navigate their 

way through practice interviews and then give 

feedback to cluster coordinators, who use that 

information to better prepare students and to improve upon targeted areas.

Building School Capacity

BTWHSPVA’s Advisory Board plays a large role 

in the school’s success. Designated a 501-(c)(3) 

nonprofit, the board is comprised mainly of volunteers, including the school principal, plus two 

paid positions, including an executive director. 

Most of its 45 members are representatives of local arts organizations. It has raised and distributed funds for teachers to undertake collaborative projects. An endowment fund started in 1988 

currently holds $1.3 million, earmarked solely for 

supporting students. It helps students participate 

in extracurricular and summer arts programs and 

provides graduation caps and gowns for seniors 

who cannot afford these items.

The Advisory Board was instrumental in a recent 

capital campaign to raise $55 million to build a 

new facility. A pivotal factor in the campaign’s 

success turned out to be the 2003 Grammy show, 

when Norah Jones, a BTWHSPVA alumnus, 

won eight awards, drawing local attention to 

the school. Soon afterward, the board secured a 

$500,000 donation, which in turn garnered more 

trust from the local community. When asked what 

was the key to securing large donations, the assistant campaign director points out that “all of the 

big donors have visited the school.” The school 

clearly sells itself.

DISD, a large urban district that oversees 28 

magnet schools, supported BTWHSPVA’s capital 

campaign. It passed a $1 billion bond that was 

dedicated to capital improvements throughout 

the district, and DISD has given $23 million to 

BTWHSPVA’s campaign. The campaign is the district’s first public-private partnership.

All of BTWHSPVA’s teachers—whether focused 

on academics or arts—must have an arts background to join the staff. As a result, students are 

able to go to any teacher in the building to be 

mentored and to learn from professional artists. 

Parents also play a large role in BTWHSPVA’s 

success through their membership in the ParentTeacher-Student Association (PTSA). Each arts 

cluster has a parent guild, which one teacher describes as being “like an individual PTA.” One of 

them, the Theatre Guild, has 100 members and 

has raised money for costumes, to cover the costs 

of students’ headshots, and for students to attend 

performances outside of school.

Achievement and Outcomes

BTWHSPVA is “more of a community than just a 

school,” says one parent, noting that the sense of 

community is due mainly to the long hours that 

both staff and students keep. The school’s assistant principal says he felt he “died and went to 

heaven” when he joined the BTWHSPVA staff because students are so cooperative and their interactions with adults are so respectful and positive.
60

Successful Magnet High Schools 

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

Over 90 percent of BTWHSPVA graduates attend 

postsecondary institutions, garnering scholarships 

in excess of $5 million, while the other graduates 

generally enter an arts profession immediately or 

join the military. The school’s awards are numerous. The National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts named BTWHSPVA as one of 

the “Top 5 Arts High Schools” in the country. It 

was the first school in the district to receive a 

National Blue Ribbon Award for Exemplary Education from the U.S. Department of Education. 

BTWHSPVA also shares the honor, with one other 

school, of producing more Presidential Scholars 

in the arts (the Presidental Scholars Program is 

a national recognition program administered by 

the U.S. Department of Education for excellence 

in academics and the arts) than any other school 

in the southwestern United States.

Table 9 compares the percentages of 10th- and 11thgrade students scoring proficient and above on 2007 

TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) 

English language arts and mathematics assessments 

with district and state achievement rates. The comparison indicates that BTWHSPVA percentages 

exceeded those of the district and state.

Table 9. Percentages of 10th- and 11th-Grade Students Who Scored Proficient 

And Above on 2007 State Assessments at Booker T. Washington High School 

For the Performing and Visual Arts as Compared to the District and the State

Grade and Subject BTWHSPVA Dallas Independent 

School District

State of Texas

Grade 10 English Language Arts 99% 77% 85%

Grade 10 Mathematics 87% 52% 65%

Grade 11 English Language Arts 98% 86% 91%

Grade 11 Mathematics 96% 73% 81%

Source: Texas Education Agency, 2006–07 Campus Performance, Academic Excellence Indicator System, http://www.tea.state.tx.us
61

APPENDIX A

Research

Methodology

The research approach used to develop this 

guide is a combination of case study methodology and benchmarking of best practices. Used 

in businesses worldwide as they seek to continuously improve their operations, benchmarking 

has more recently been applied to education. 

Benchmarking is a structured, efficient process that targets key operations and identifies 

the following: promising practices in relationship to traditional practice, previous practice at 

the selected sites (lessons learned), and local 

outcome data. The methodology used here is 

further explained in a background document,26

which lays out the justification for identifying 

promising practices based on four sources of 

rigor in the approach:

•	 Theory and research base;

•	 Expert review;

•	 Site evidence of effectiveness; and

•	 Systematic field research and cross-site 

analysis.

The steps of the research process were: defining a study scope, seeking input from experts 

to refine the scope and inform site selection 

criteria, screening potential sites, selecting sites 

to study, conducting site visits, collecting and 

analyzing data to write case reports, and writing 

a user-friendly guide. 

61

Study Framework and Data Collection

A conceptual framework was developed to 

guide the study of the selected sites. While 

there is a lot of daily activity at any school, 

each case study needed to focus on those 

practices most likely to contribute to a school’s 

success and sustainability. The framework for 

this study was an adaptation of that used in a 

previous guide, Creating and Sustaining Successful K–8 Magnet Schools, published in 2008, 

derived from the research literature on magnet 

schools, organizational effectiveness, and sustainability of school reform. Components were 

added from the research literature on secondary school reform. The dimensions of the conceptual framework were academic excellence 

through a theme-based program, commitment 

to equity and diversity, building school capacity, and strategic partnerships. A site visit was 

conducted at each school to gather the information for this guide, each visit lasting for 

two days and including informal observations 

throughout the school, attendance at events, 

and interviews. The primary source of data 

was interviews with a variety of key groups, 

including parents, teachers, administrators, 

district leaders, and school partners. An interview protocol was developed based on the 

study framework and adapted to each role 

group. Interviews were digitally recorded with 
62

Successful Magnet High Schools 

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

key interviews and later transcribed for more 

detailed analysis.

Documents from each school served as an 

additional source of information. Collected 

during the site visit, these documents included 

such items as school schedules, sample assessments, curriculum plans, newsletters, application forms, brochures, and report cards. 

Principals and district magnet office staff also 

completed a standard form to facilitate consistent compiling of school demographic and outcome information.

Site Selection Process

Consideration for this guide, a school had to 

be a dedicated magnet, not a school-within-aschool program, although some had a schoolwide theme and others had more than one 

strand within the same school. Each school had 

to show evidence of strong academic achievement as well as success in reducing minoritygroup isolation. Each had to have graduated at 

least one class of students.

Strong academic achievement meant that student proficiency rates were above 50 percent 

in reading and math on state standardized tests. 

All schools in this guide made adequate yearly 

progress (AYP) for at least three years. Reducing minority-group isolation was measured in 

reference to the demographic characteristics 

of the district as a whole, and selected schools 

closely mirrored the district composition or further reduced minority-group isolation.

The process of identifying sites began with a 

broad scan of possible sites. A list of 52 districts with strong magnet programs had been 

developed for the earlier guide, and this was 

one starting point. Additionally, researchers 

drew from the abstracts of 1998 and 2002 Magnet Schools Assistance program (MSAP) grantees, lists of current and former Magnet Schools 

of America award winners (MSA Schools of 

Excellence and Schools of Distinction), and 

individual nominations by the magnet school 

researchers, practitioners, and board members 

of the Magnet Schools of America who served 

as the guide’s external advisory group. 

Based on screening of schools’ achievement data 

and minority-group isolation data (see “Reducing Minority-group Isolation Criteria” below), 

the initial list of 84 schools was narrowed down 

to 12 schools. Additional information about specific program features and updated data were 

collected using phone interviews with school 

administrators to fill gaps in information. 

From this group of 12 schools, eight schools 

were ultimately chosen as case study sites, 

based on the compiled information and criteria ratings on a screening matrix. Demographic 

variation, a range of promising practices, geographic location, and achievement data were all 

considered in the final site selection.

Selection Criteria

A cross-section of schools were selected to 

highlight magnet high schools successfully 

meeting the integration and achievement 

needs of their particular districts. Considerations included districts with a high number of traditionally underserved populations 

(e.g., low income, special education, African-

­American, and Latino students); variation in 

academic programming and magnet themes; 
63

both schoolwide and multiple-strand programs; inclusion of interdistrict and feeder-pattern arrangements; and a range of geographic 

locations. All schools met the following criteria, prioritized by the advisory group as key 

issues for consideration.

Achievement Criteria

Schools selected met AYP targets for at least 

three consecutive years, including the most 

recent year for which data were available. 

Researchers looked for schools that scored at 

least at the 50th percentile in math or reading 

on state standardized tests with demonstrated 

evidence of continued improvement over several years, or for schools that were consistently 

high achieving in the 90th-percentile range 

annually. Data from state departments of education Web sites and the Web site SchoolMatters.com provided achievement information. 

Researchers looked for additional evidence 

that the schools were demonstrating higher 

achievement for low-income, minority, or students receiving special education services in 

comparison with a similar population of students in its local district public schools.

Reducing Minority-group Isolation Criteria

Compared to district demographics or 

interdistrict targets, these schools are maintaining representative student populations 

with regard to race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic background, or are demonstrating more pronounced reduction in minoritygroup isolation.

Analysis and Reporting

A case report was written about each site, and 

reviewed by site administrators for accuracy. 

From these case reports, artifacts, and transcripts of interviews, the project team identified common themes that contributed to success across the sites. This cross-site analysis 

was built using both the research literature as 

reflected in the study scope as well as emerging patterns in the data.

This descriptive research process suggests promising practices, including ways to do things that 

other educators have found helpful and lessons 

they have learned, as well as practical “how-to” 

guidance. This is not the kind of experimental 

research that can yield valid causal claims about 

what works. Readers should judge for themselves the merits of these practices. Also, readers should understand that these descriptions 

do not constitute an endorsement of specific 

practices or products.

Using the Guide

Ultimately, readers of this guide will need to 

select, adapt, and implement practices that 

meet their individual needs and contexts. 

Schools and districts coming together in learning communities may continue to study, using 

the ideas and practices from these sites as a 

springboard for their own action research. In 

this way, a pool of promising practices will 

grow, and educators can support each other in 

implementation and learning. 
64

Successful Magnet High Schools 

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

64
65

APPENDIX B

Resources

The resources listed below are intended to provide readers with ready access to further information 

about magnet schools. This is not a complete list, and there may be other useful resources on the 

topic. Selection was based on the criteria that resources be relevant to the topic and themes of this 

guide, current and up-to-date, from nationally recognized organizations, including but not limited 

to federal or federally funded sources, and that they offer materials free of charge. This listing offers 

a range of research, practical tools, policy information, and other resources. 

The Office of Innovation and Improvement in the U.S. 

Department of Education runs the Magnet Schools 

Assistance program to support the implementation 

of magnet schools under court-ordered or federally approved voluntary desegregation plans. The 

program’s Web site details the grant competition as 

well as abstracts of sample programs.

http://www.ed.gov/programs/magnet/index.html 

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 

part of the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute 

of Education Sciences, collects and analyzes data 

related to education, including districts’ use of 

school choice.

http://nces.ed.gov 

The federally funded National High School Center provides information on high school improvement challenges for states, districts, and regional 

comprehensive centers. Research on high school 

improvement is available from this site as well as a 

map of regional comprehensive centers and contact information for technical assistance liaisons.

http://www.betterhighschools.org

The above information is provided for the reader’s 

convenience. The U.S. Department of Education is 

not responsible for controlling or guaranteeing the 

accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of 

this outside information. Further, the inclusion of 

these resources does not reflect their importance, 

nor is it intended to endorse any views expressed, 

or products or services offered.

Magnet Schools of America is a membership 

organization that promotes goals of desegregation, equity, and excellence through the expansion and improvement of magnet schools. The 

Web site includes information on upcoming conferences and other resources.

http://www.magnet.edu

The U.S. Department of Education disseminates 

practices and tools from successful school choice 

programs, which create options for parents within 

the public school system across the country through 

such resources as its Building Choice Web site. 

http://www.buildingchoice.org 

The Education Commission of the States includes 

magnet and other specialized schools as an issue 

topic on its Web site. The site also includes references and links to other Web resources. 

http://www.ecs.org

The Policy and Program Studies Service, part of the 

U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Planning, 

Evaluation and Policy Development, conducted an 

evaluation of the Magnet Schools Assistance program 1998 grantees. Their final report published 

in 2003 includes both a cross-site report and case 

studies of eight districts. 

http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/opepd/

ppss/reports.html
66

Successful Magnet High Schools 

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 
Notes

67

1. Christine Rossell, “Magnet Schools: No Longer 

Famous, But Still Intact,” Education Next 4, no. 2 

(2005): 44–49.

Donald Waldrip, “A Brief History of Magnet 

Schools” (Washington, D.C.: Magnet Schools of 

America, 2003), http://www.magnet.edu (accessed 

on July 8, 2008).

2. Rolf K. Blank, Roger E. Levine, and Lauri Steel, 

“After 15 Years: Magnet Schools in Urban Education,” in Who Chooses? Who Loses? ed. by Bruce 

Fuller and Richard F. Ellmore with Gary Orfield 

(New York: Teachers College Press, 1996), 157.

3. Magnet Schools of America, Directory of Public Magnet and Theme-Based Schools (2007), 

https://www.magnet.edu/modules/content/index.

php?id=106 (accessed July 8, 2008).

4. Magnet Schools of America, Alerts: “Magnet 

Schools of America, 2008 Legislative Advocacy 

Leadership: Key Facts and Legislative Priority 

Issues” (Feb. 21, 2008), http://www.magnet.edu/

modules/news/article.php?storyid=25 (accessed 

April 23, 2008).

5. Donald Waldrip, “A Brief History of Magnet 

Schools” (Washington, D.C.: Magnet Schools of 

America, 2003), http://www.magnet.edu (accessed 

July 8, 2008).

6. Margaret Weertz, “The Benefits of Theme 

Schools,” Educational Leadership 59, no. 7 (April 

2002): 68–71. 

7. Mortimer J. Adler, The Paideia Proposal: An 

Educational Manifesto (New York: Macmillan, 

1982). See also discussion on p. 38 and note 9.

8. The 1996 Connecticut Supreme Court case, Sheff 

v. O’Neill, resulted in the creation of a series of 

magnet schools as part of a strategy for reducing 

minority isolation and segregation in public schools 

in the Hartford area. This landmark decision, 

which determined that racially and socioeconomically isolated students in Hartford public schools 

were receiving inferior and inadequate educational 

opportunities mandated desegregation efforts for 

the urban school system and led to the establishment of eight interdistrict magnet schools.

9. National Paideia Center, Paideia Stories: Successful Schools in Practice (Chapel Hill, N.C.: 

­National Paideia Center, 2002), p. 36, http://www.

paideia.org/content.php/results/resmain.htm 

(accessed April 23, 2008).

10. Thomas D. Cook et al., “The Development of 

Occupational Aspirations and Expectations Among 

Inner-City Boys,” Child Development 67, no. 6 

(2006): 3368–3385. 

Jens Ludwig, “Information and Inner City Educational Attainment,” Economics of Education Review

18, Issue 1 (February 1999): 17–30. 

Vincent J. Roscigno, Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, 

and Martha L. Crowley, “Education and the Inequalities of Place,” Social Forces 84, no. 4 (June 2006): 

2121–2145, http://www.muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/

journals/social_forces/v084/84.4roscigno.html 

(accessed April 23, 2008).

11. John E. Chubb and Terry M. Moe, Politics, Markets and America’s Schools (Washington, D.C.: The 

Brookings Institution, 1990).

12. In 2002–03, 71 percent of public high schools 

offered at least one dual-credit course. See Michael 

Planty, Stephen Provasnik, and Bruce Daniel, High 

School Coursetaking: Findings from the Condition 

of Education, NCES2007-065 (Washington, D.C.: 

U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education 

Statistics, 2007), p. 5, http://www.nces.ed.gov/

pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007065 (accessed 

July 8, 2008).

13. Achieve, Inc., Closing the Expectations Gap 

2007 (Washington, D.C.: Achieve, Inc., 2007), 

http://www.achieve.org/files/50-state-07-Final.pdf 

(accessed April 23, 2008).

Jennifer Dounay, “Alignment of High School 

Graduation Requirements and State-Set ­College 
68

Successful Magnet High Schools

Innovat ion s i n Educat ion 

Bachelor’s Degree Attainment (Washington, D.C.: 

U.S. Department of Education, 1999), http://www.

ed.gov/pubs/Toolbox/toolbox.html (accessed April 

23, 2008).

19. Laura Horn and Anne-Marie Nuñez, Mapping 

the Road to College: First-Generation Students’ Math 

Track, Planning Strategies, and Context of Support, 

NCES 2000-153 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, 

National Center for Education Statistics, 2000), 

http://www.nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.

asp?pubid=2000153 (accessed July 8, 2008).

20. Daniel P. Mayer, John E. Mullens, 

and Mary T. Moore, Monitoring School 

Quality: An Indicators Report, NCES 2001-

030 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of 

Education, Institute of Education Sciences, 

National Center for Education Statistics, 2000), 

p. I, http://www.nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.

asp?pubid=2001030 (accessed July 8, 2008).

21. Ibid.

22. “Family Income and Higher Education ­Opportunity 

1970 to 2003,” Postsecondary Education Opportunity 

156 (June 2005) as cited in Katy Haycock, “Courageous Choices: Tackling the Tough Issues to Raise 

Student Achievement and Close Gaps” (PowerPoint 

presentation) (Washington, D.C.: The Education Trust, 

Inc., 2007), http://www2.edtrust.org/NR/rdonlyres/

A73340DD-62F1-45EE-BB3F-F1C048EBBDE3/0/

CONF2K7­ThursdayPlenaryHaycock.ppt (accessed 

July 8, 2008).

23. Ibid.

24. Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act provides financial assistance to schools 

with large numbers of children from low-income 

families.

25. Florida Department of Education Media 

Room, “Florida Shows Largest Increase in Student 

Mastery of Advanced Placement Courses” (press 

release, Jan. 25, 2005), http:///www.fldoe.org/

news/2005/2005_01_25-2.asp (accessed April 23, 

2008).

26. Nikola Filby, “Approach to Methodological 

Rigor in the Innovation Guides,” working paper, 

WestEd, San Francisco, Calif., 2006.

­Admissions Requirements” in State Notes: High 

School—Transitions to Postsecondary (Denver: Education Commission of the States, 2006). 

http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/68/60/6860.pdf

(accessed Sept. 12, 2008).

14. Between 1982 and 2004, the average number 

of course credits accrued by high school graduates 

increased from 21.7 to 25.8 credits. See Michael 

Planty, Stephen Provasnik, and William Hussar, 

The Condition of Education 2007, NCES2007-064 

(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, 

Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for 

Education Statistics, 2007), p. 15, http://www.nces.

ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007064 

(accessed July 8, 2008).

15. ACT and the Education Trust, On Course for 

Success: A Close Look at Selected Courses That Prepare All Students for College (Iowa City, Iowa: ACT, 

2004). This study researched 10 high-achieving, 

high-poverty, high-minority high schools to answer 

the question: “What are the components of high 

school courses that prepare students for successful entry into postsecondary education without 

the need for remediation?” The study isolates four 

major characteristics shared by these high-performing high schools that contribute to students’ future 

success both in work and in college: high-level, 

college-oriented material in core courses; qualified, 

experienced teachers; teaching that is flexible and 

responsive to students; and tutorial support.

16. As cited in Daniel P. Mayer et al., Monitoring School Quality: An Indicators Report, NCES 

20001-030 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of 

Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 

December 2000), p. v, http://www.nces.ed.gov/

pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2001030 (accessed 

April 23, 2008).

17. Michael Planty, Stephen Provasnik, and 

Bruce Daniel, Special Analysis 2007: High School 

Coursetaking (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department 

of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, 

National Center for Education Statistics, 2007), 

http://www.nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2007/

analysis/sa04.asp (accessed July 8, 2008). 

18. Clifford Adelman, Answers in the Tool Box: 

Academic Intensity, Attendance Patterns, and 

The Department of Education’s mission is to promote student achievement

and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational

excellence and ensuring equal access.

www.ed.gov