Magnet Schools and Resegregation

Magnet schools, which draw students from beyond the normal boundaries of school districts, have been seen as a strategy for racially integrating U.S. schools. However, there is considerable evidence that U.S. schools in the past 2 decades have become increasingly segregated. Have magnet schools exacerbated this trend, or have they mitigated the consequences of intensified racial segregation, especially among low-income, urban African Americans ? This entry examines whether or not magnet schools have proven to be a successful strategy as a method of racially integrating schools.

Since the historic 1954 U.S. Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka legally ended de jure racial segregation in American public schools, states and school districts across the United States have grappled with the ongoing dilemma of ...