As this first issue of Distinct by Design makes clear, American public schools are facing a range of challenges, from dwindling federal funding to dizzying and disruptive technological advancements to entrenched segregation.

In our book, Magnet Schools: Public Schools of Choice in a Changing Education Landscape, we explore the unique facets of magnet schools that position them so well as potential solutions.

The last few years have seen states and districts flush with cash, thanks to historic sums of pandemic relief aid in the form of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, or ESSER.

A growing trend on Instagram is Gen Z’ers asking “is this story real?” in response to content surfacing in their feeds. They’re smart to be asking. An unprecedented number of new forces are reshaping our information ecosystem. If the internet created the infrastructure that supercharged information flow, these new forces are heavily influencing the kind of information that’s flowing.

As the title of this newsletter suggests, magnet schools are distinct by design. From the first magnet school that opened in 1968 (McCarver Elementary School in Tacoma, Washington) until today, magnet schools have specialized in having distinctive missions. Magnet schools operate with clear purpose and practices; teachers, students, and parents know what a magnet school is about.

By now, you have no doubt heard a lot about artificial intelligence (AI) and why it’s the best—or the worst—thing to happen to K-12 education in a long time. I can’t tell you what to believe, but I can help explain a little about how generative AI might be used in schools today.