Dive Brief:
- The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools plans to take into account the socioeconomic status of students and the neighborhoods in which they live when deciding who gets into the district’s magnet schools.
- The Charlotte Agenda reports every child will get a socioeconomic status score (low, medium or high), and the district will run its lottery process based on how many openings per category are at each school, with preference going to siblings of current students, students whose home schools are under-performing, and those who live close to the magnets.
- For magnet programs that exist inside of larger schools, the socioeconomic status of the entire building will be taken into account when deciding which students are eligible for open spots.
Dive Insight:
Research has shown that socioeconomically diverse schools benefit all students in them. When there are high concentrations of poverty, students do not get these benefits. An argument can be made for racial diversity offering similar benefits to students, but legal challenges have made it hard to take race into account explicitly. In many places, socioeconomic status is closely aligned with race, however, and districts can achieve the broader diversity goals by paying attention to income-based factors.
Exclusive and high-demand magnet programs have been used as a way to diversify schools around the country. If they are housed at racially isolated, high-poverty schools, the idea is wealthier families of all ethnic groups will want to enroll their children, thus diversifying the student body. In the Los Angeles Unified School District, some argue the quality of magnet schools is being diluted because so many have specialized programs aiming to attract new students.