First, we gathered the universe of public schools from the Common Core of Data (CCD) for 2014-15. The data for these analyses come from two sources. The purpose of this brief is to reintroduce magnet schools, describe their prevalence and characteristics, and propose some key research questions about these not-new-but-still-important schools of choice. The scant magnet school literature is largely focused on two issues: a) their achievement effects and b) their effects on socioeconomic or racial segregation (by far the largest focus of the extant research). For instance, a Google Scholar search of “magnet schools” research published since the year 2000 returns less than half the hits of a search for “charter schools.” Only three pieces published in that span with “magnet schools” in the title are cited over 100 times, as compared to at least 25 “charter schools” pieces. While magnet schools are widely prevalent-there are over 3,000 magnets across more than 600 school districts within 34 states-they have received less attention in the research literature than charters. Initially a tool for desegregation efforts in the 1970s (i.e., by encouraging white parents to stay in urban districts), magnets have evolved to serve a wide variety of purposes and settings. Magnet schools are schools of choice that have themes (e.g., STEM, arts, gifted/talented). Whereas most of the energy in the school choice debates has focused on vouchers and charter schools, relatively little attention has been paid to another important choice model that serves as many students as charters and has been in existence for longer-magnet schools. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is a long-time school choice proponent, and the administration has signaled it is likely to pursue some big-ticket school choice reforms. With the new administration in Washington, school choice is in the news.
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