Tennessee Magnet Schools: Examining the Relationship Between Magnet School Designation and Student Achievement in Secondary Public Schools

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the relationship between magnet school designation and student achievement in Tennessee secondary public schools. Three years (2021-2023) of student achievement data from the Tennessee Department of Education was used to analyze student performance in 24 magnet and 287 traditional non-magnet schools. Schools were included in the study if they operated continuously throughout the study period and were categorized as either a public magnet school or a traditional non-magnet school. Excluded from the study were virtual, charter, alternative schools, and early colleges. Four research questions were crafted to guide this study. Student achievement was measured using End-of-Course (EOC) proficiency rates in Biology, English, and Math, ACT composite scores, and graduation rates. Multiple linear regression analyses identified statistically significant relationships between magnet school enrollment and student achievement across all academic metrics. Specifically, magnet schools had 11.70 percentage points more students meeting or exceeding expectations on the biology EOC, 11.81 percentage points more on the English EOC, and 9.42 percentage points more on the math EOC. Additionally, magnet schools had a 3.13 percentage point higher graduation rate, and their students scored an average of 2.78 points higher on the composite ACT. Further research identified statistically significant relationships between socioeconomic and demographic factors and student achievement in magnet and non-magnet schools.