Access to Magnet Schools in Chicago

This report describes the magnet schools in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and analyzes students' access to magnet schools based on their ethnicity and residential location within the city. It also examines change in CPS enrollment patterns that may be related to the development of new magnet schools and magnet school policies. The report begins with a brief history of magnet school policies and a description of Chicago's magnet schools and programs. Data from 32 of the 47 elementary schools that the CPS calls magnet schools are used in this report. The next section describes the location of magnet elementary schools, enrollment patterns at these schools, and changes that have occurred since the implementation of the comprehensive magnet school policy. High schools are examined in the third section. The report concludes with implications for access to magnet schools suggested by population growth patterns over the last several years. Findings show that students in the wealthiest sections of the city have access to many more magnet schools than other families in Chicago, with the least access available to Latino neighborhoods and very low-income African American areas on the South Side of Chicago. African American students must travel farther, on average, than other students to attend the highest achieving schools in the city. Findings also show that many magnet elementary schools do not meet the desegregation goals of the Desegregation Consent decree for CPS. (Contains 42 figures.) (SLD)