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27 May 2015
Report

What Happens When Schools Become Magnet Schools? A Longitudinal Study of Diversity and Achievement

Julian Betts, University of California, San Diego
Sami Kitmitto, Jesse D. Levin, Hans Bos, and Marian Eaton, AIR

Magnet schools hold a prominent place in the history of education reforms in the United States. Best known for offering unique programs or curricula to attract students from outside a school’s neighborhood, many magnet schools started off as neighborhood public schools but converted with the goals of increasing student diversity and achievement. These goals remain important to policymakers and educators today, so there is interest in understanding what happens to converting schools, including those funded under the U.S. Department of Education’s Magnet School Assistance Program (MSAP).

This report describes the results of a descriptive study of 21 MSAP-supported elementary schools. The study collected data on these schools for several years before and after their magnet conversion, to see how their student body composition and academic achievement changed over time. The group of schools contained 17 that converted to become what might be called “traditional” magnet schools and another 4 that converted to become “destination” magnet schools.

Key findings
  • When measured against district changes, both types of magnet schools experienced some changes in diversity in the expected direction.
  • Achievement in the traditional magnet schools was higher after conversion, outpacing district changes in English language arts but not in mathematics; achievement in destination magnet schools did not change, while their districts improved over the conversion period.
  • There is not evidence that magnet conversion itself played a role in the study schools’ diversity or achievement, with the exception of the decline in the concentration of minority students in traditional magnet schools.
PDF icon What Happens When Schools Become Magnet Schools? A Longitudinal Study of Diversity and Achievement (PDF)

Related Work

26 May 2015
News Release

Elementary Schools that ‘Converted’ to Magnet Status under Federal Program Offer Mixed Results on Student Achievement, Diversity, AIR Study Finds

An examination of nine years’ worth of data on elementary schools that converted to magnet schools to boost student achievement and increase demographic diversity offered mixed results. While there was limited evidence that the schools were successful in increasing diversity, a study by AIR found inconclusive evidence of increased student achievement.

Further Reading

  • Elementary Schools that ‘Converted’ to Magnet Status under Federal Program Offer Mixed Results on Student Achievement, Diversity, AIR Study Finds
  • AIR Presenters to Focus on Research-to-Practice Pipeline at Biannual Society for Research on Education Effectiveness (SREE) Conference
  • Long Story Short: How Can Schools Respond to Rapid Demographic Shifts?
  • American Institutes for Research Staff to Participate in the Association for Education Finance and Policy’s Annual Conference
  • American Institutes for Research and IMPAQ Experts to Present Virtually at Annual APPAM Fall Research Conference
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Sami Kitmitto

Principal Researcher
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Jesse D. Levin

Principal Researcher

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District and School Improvement

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