Magnet school

In the U.S. education system, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. Normally a student will attend an elementary school, and this also determines the middle school and high school they attend, unless they move. "Magnet" refers to how magnet schools accept students from multiple different schools in the area, pulling students out of the normal progression of schools. Attending them is voluntary. There are magnet schools at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. In the United States, where education is decentralized, some magnet schools are established by school districts and draw only from the district, while others are set up by state governments and may draw from multiple districts. Other magnet programs are within comprehensive schools, as is the case with several "schools within a school". In large urban areas, several magnet schools with different specializations may be combined into a single "center," such as Skyline High School in Dallas. Other countries have similar types of schools, such as specialist schools in the United Kingdom. Most of these are academically selective. Other schools are built around elite-sporting programs or teach agricultural skills such as farming or animal husbandry. In 1965, then Vice President Hubert Humphrey came to John Bartram High School in Southwest Philadelphia to declare it the first magnet school in the country. Bartram's curriculum was concentrated in the commercial field, offering commercial and business training to students from all over Philadelphia. There is also a system of magnet schools in Iran, which is called SAMPAD. SAMPAD is funded by the government and the largest number of Iranian elites graduate from these schools. In the United States, the term "magnet school" refers to public schools with enrichment programs that are designed to attract and serve certain targeted subgroups of potential students and their families. There are two major categories of public magnet school structures in the United States, and although there is some overlap, their origins and missions remain largely distinct.