East Career and Technical Academy received the top merit award this year from Magnet Schools of America - the No. 1 honor among the association's many awards. At East, students can choose from eight programs of study ranging from early childhood education to mechanical technology. The students know they're in a special place. "I feel like with them expecting a lot from us, it kind of pushes us toward better," said marketing program junior Aurora Osuna.
A group of more-than-impressive North Las Vegas elementary school students are heading to the Robotics World Championship in Houston. All the teams are expected to build their robots out of LEGO® and then make the robots go on missions to do different things in order to collect points.
"The kids are capable of so much more than we even know so just setting these high expectations for them and letting them rise and grow. We don't even realize what they can do. And the things they come up with are amazing just by giving them that opportunity and that freedom to kind of drive them own learning."
15-year-old Dylan Lamouroux's father, Jesse, watched as he learned to baste a chicken breast at Northwest Career and Technical Academy Friday. Instead of parents bringing their kids to work, parents got a look at what their teens were doing in school this week. The magnet school includes programs in culinary arts, medical professions, teacher education, mechanical technology, construction technology, engineering and design.
Life sciences teacher Kimberly Law helped start an animal program more than 10 years ago with a couple of snakes, which were offered as a way for students to gain a hands-on, real-life study of the subject. Her class, which she began teaching full-time in 2012, has since expanded to include an "animal lab" classroom with exotic birds, reptiles and rodents.
Certain classrooms at Ramsey Magnet School of Science in Coeur d'Alene offer soft lights and special seating that let kids wiggle while learning. At Spokane Public Schools, some classes have flexible seating options - from exercise balls to specialty cushions - and softened lights.
At age sixteen, Audrieanna Hernandez is already working to become a rehabilitation therapist. The senior at Duncan Polytechnical High, a magnet school within Fresno Unified is in the Medical Academy of Science and Health (M.A.S.H) Program. It is paving the way for hundreds of Central Valley students like Hernandez to be leaders in the medical field.
For the third year in a row, student performance at magnets topped those at charters, all LA Unified schools, and the state average. The results are from the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress tests, which are also known as Smarter Balanced Assessments.
The high school in Oceanside has been honored with a national certification as a demonstration magnet school - the only one in California. Mission Vista is a dual-magnet school, with programs focusing on arts and communication, and science and technology.
Raise the level of performance consistent throughout school districts nationwide and creates a platform from which all magnet schools can flourish. Magnet Schools of America’s national certification process is designed to recognize the hard work of the best magnet schools in the nation and to help them as they grow.
