Connecticut Magnet Schools, Integration, and Academic Achievement

Accurso C

Published on: 2019-08-05

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the relation between magnet school attendance, integrated school attendance, and Connecticut students’ standardized test scores (Smarter Balanced Assessments), using public data from 2014 to 2018. We incorporate various controls and explore separately the achievement of students from various demographic backgrounds. In particular, we find that a school’s integration status and its magnet status are both individually positively correlated with greater percentages of minority students performing at grade-level on standardized tests. The combination of these factors however, i.e. both achieving integration and being a magnet school, did not have a statistically significant relationship with achievement of minority students.