The Equity Conundrum Facing Magnet Schools in Large Urban School Districts

• In Event: Economics, Equity, and School Choice

Abstract

Inspired by the recent denial by the Supreme Court to add the case about selective admissions policy for a highly competitive magnet school in Virginia to their docket, this paper explores the question “how are educational resources, specifically, enrollments in high quality, competitive public magnet schools in large urban centers equitably distributed?”. This conceptual paper examines the history of magnet schools and inequality in education in the U.S. The term equity is a rhetoric that everyone uses but means different things to different people (Levinson et al., 2022; Furman and Gottlieb, 2023). Political liberalism and critical theory inform this policy analysis, used to first identify meanings of equity being applied in exploring equity in enrollment, to reconcile the past and current literature on inequity in urban education, and to explore the complexity of selection criteria for high demand magnet schools in large urban areas.

Author

• Eunice Laryea, Miami Universiy