How do Houston ISD’s magnet schools and programs work?
H ouston ISD has proposed radically changing the way it operates its choice and magnet programs, but the conversation about school choice in Houston ISD has left many confused as they try to understand the district’s current system.
Houston ISD’s school choice system, as it exists now, is hard to define. It’s been cobbled together over three decades, and few board policies govern how it works.
While some magnet proponents say the current system has produced some of the best schools in the country, advocates in minority communities argue it has exacerbated educational inequities throughout the district.
So, how does school choice work in Houston ISD now? Here are some answers:
Q
What is school choice, and what are magnet programs?
A
School choice is a system by which students can chose to leave their home campus to go to another Houston ISD school. There are nearly a dozen ways students in Houston ISD can exercise choice, but the most common methods — by far — are through the districts’ dozens of magnet and school-choice programs and schools.
Magnet programs and schools fall under the umbrella of HISD’s school choice system, as do specific school-choice programs.
Q
What’s the difference between magnet schools/ programs and school-choice programs? A
“A magnet is a theme program, while choice are those other types of programs that we have throughout the district,” said Mark Smith, Houston ISD’s chief student support officer. “Virtually every high school in HISD has choice programs in which they draw kids into them, and many are career-and-technical training programs, IB programs and JROTC.”
But the definition of what constitutes a “theme” can be murky, at least as the system exists now.
For example, magnet programs include those centered around visual and performing arts, language immersion, singlegender college preparatory schools and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). But early-college, career-and-technical, IB and dual-language programs and schools are all choice — but not magnet — options.
Some comprehensive high schools house both magnet programs and programs of choice. Bellaire High School has a World Languages magnet, an IB school-choice program and a careerand-technology choice program. Lamar High has a business career magnet, an IB schoolchoice program and a career-and-technology choice program
Others, like Wheatley and Wisdom high schools, operate a program of choice. Still more — including Madison, Houston and North Forest high schools — have no school choice or magnet programs.
Open-enrollment magnet schools and schools of choice, which have no zone, also draw in students. Some include Carnegie Vanguard High School, Eastwood Academy, East Early College High School and DeBakey High School for Health Professions.
The district is expected to better codify which schools house magnet programs and which schools house choice programs as it works to finalize its school-choice plan.
Q
How do students apply to magnet and school-choice programs, and how are they accepted?
A
To attend a school with a magnet program or a magnetonly school, there’s an application. Parents can apply online or can pick up a paper application at any magnet school or the district’s central office. Families can rank five schools they would prefer.
Aside from the vanguard programs, which require a child be tested and classified as gifted and talented, no documentation is required for elementary students to apply and be accepted to magnet program lotteries. At the middle and high school level, most magnet programs and schools require that students earn a certain score on a matrix that measures academic performance based on their GPA and STAAR scores. Performing and visual arts programs and schools, such as the High School for Visual and Performing Arts, often skip the matrix in favor of an audition process.
The district’s schools and programs of choice also often have academic requirements. Futures academies, which train students in vocations, require a minimum GPA of 2.5 for several semesters and proficient STAAR scores.
If a student is deemed qualified through the matrix, an audition or gifted/talented testing, they are entered into a lottery for the programs to which they applied. All students entered into the lottery have the same statistical chances of being selected for the school.
Q
How do magnet programs begin? How are they ended?
A
Schools that want to start a magnet program must submit a proposal to the district’s Office of School Choice and hold community meetings, according to policy.
The Houston ISD Board of Education’s current policy on sun-setting magnet programs states: “changes in (a magnet program’s) status shall require a transparent review process with a clear time line for implementation prior to the student application process.” It does not include specifics about how those decisions are approved or initiated.
Q
How are magnet programs and school choice programs funded?
A
The vast majority of magnet programs and schools in Houston ISD get extra funding for their programs, while school choice programs often do not.
Q
What’s the controversy with the current system?
A
It depends whom you ask. Magnet proponents and many magnet parents do not want to see the system change. It has produced the eighth- and 18th-best schools in the country, proponents say, and has worked to keep white and more affluent students from fleeing to private schools or suburban school districts. They worry that changing funding and admissions requirements will lead to worse academic performances at the district’s most prestigious schools.
Advocates for minority and low-income communities say the current system is inequitable and ships their neighborhood’s best students to a handful of high schools and programs in white and more affluent areas, leaving little for students whose families do not have the means or ability to take advantage of the district’s school choice system. They say demographics at the most sought-after magnet schools in HISD don’t match those of the district overall and instead enroll an unreasonably high number of affluent, white and Asian students.