Magnet Schools Assistance is a Federal grants program administered by the U.S. Department of Education. The program is designed to help desegregate public schools. The program is defined in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, in Section 5301, though the program itself was developed in the early 1980s to address de facto racism through funds given to school distracts that were voluntarily implementing desegregation plans or court orders intended to reduce racial isolation.
The Magnet Schools Assistance Program serves many purposes including but not limited to:[1]
Magnet schools offer a wide range of distinctive education programs. Enrolling in these schools is often a highly competitive experience. Applicants are required to develop hypothetical magnet school projects in order to demonstrate how they intend to align a magnet school project with their already existing desegregation plans. They must also provide according context and a summary of their intended goals in line with their desegregation plan as well as lay out how the funding provided by the program will assist in achieving district goals related to the purposes of the program.[2]
Projects are meant to support the development and design of education methods and practices that will promote diversity and increase choices in the public education system. MSAP supports capacity development—the ability of a school to assist all of its students in meeting more challenging standards in their education—through the encouragement of professional development along with other activities that will continue to enrich the educational experience of students in magnet schools at a high performance level even after funding ends.
MSAP funded magnet schools are notably characterized by the fact that they are still public schools despite the enhancements made to the institutions through program funding. These elementary schools, secondary schools, and education centers offer special curriculums that are capable of bringing in a significant number of students that come from a plethora of different backgrounds. These schools offer a variety of distinctive education programs, some based specifically on community interests and others that emphasize specific academic subjects such as math, science, technology, language immersion, visual and performing arts, or humanities.[3]