Dive Brief:
- Magnet schools, which offer students a chance to delve into specialized topics, are experiencing a renaissance, with some hoping the specificity of subjects will galvanize student achievement.
- Magnet schools, which started a desegregation effort in the late 1960s, allow students to focus their study around topics such as medicine, the arts, or languages.
- There are currently 4,000 magnet schools in the U.S., with over 2 million students being served.
Dive Insight:
Unlike many charter schools — which also tout flexible curriculum — magnet schools are part of traditional public school districts, and sometimes share the same building as a public school. It's hard to read about the magnet comeback and not think about Sir Ken Robinson's new book, "Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution That's Transforming Education," which speaks to the need for innovative, specialized learning that pushes against standardization.