Evaluation of the Magnet Schools Assistance Program, 1998 Grantees

摘要

For nearly four decades, magnet schools have been an important element of American public school education. They have offered innovative programs not generally available in local schools and provided opportunities for students to learn in racially diverse environments. Magnet schools have been particularly important in districts that are trying to desegregate. Congressional support for desegregation first came in the form of the Emergency School Aid Act (ESAA), enacted in the spring of 1972 to encourage the voluntary reduction, elimination, or prevention of minority-group isolation. Legislation specifically authorizing grants to support the planning and implementation of magnet programs in school districts attempting to desegregate was passed in 1976 as an amendment to ESAA,2 and again in 1984, with the enactment of the Magnet Schools Assistance Program (MSAP). MSAP grants are intended to support magnet schools that are part of an approved desegregation plan and that are designed to bring students from different socioeconomic, ethnic, and racial backgrounds together. Beginning in 1985, MSAP has offered multiple-year grants to school districts through a competitive process administered by the U.S. Department of Education (ED). In 1998, the American Institutes for Research (AIR), with the McKenzie Group serving as subcontractor, was awarded a contract to evaluate the MSAP. This is the final report for our evaluation. It is based on data collected from the 57 projects that received three-year MSAP awards in the summer of 1998.