An outstanding example of urban magnet school success is that of Detroit's Lewis Cass Technical High School. Dating to 1907, Cass Tech has been home to such teenagers as Lily Tomlin, Diana Ross, Detroit Policy Chief Benny Napolean, trumpeter Donald Byrd, and renegade auto magnate John DeLorean.
Cass has a unique curriculum structure: all students are required to take a basic college preparatory core program in addition to having a wide choice of technological programs in which to specialize. Students have to take an exam to get into Cass, and there are always more applications than there are seats. In a district that graduates barely one-half of its high school student body, ninety-five percent of Cass graduates attend college.
Nearly 100 years after Cass Tech was founded, magnet schools are a promising reform option being used by more and more urban school districts. They are able to offer a strong academic program as well as career job training.
Many new magnet schools focus on technology. These schools resist the stereotype that vocational and technical schools are for students who can't make it academically, or have high school discipline issues. By melding the best of technical and academic training, supporters say, they offer a new way of preparing students for a world where business leaders are desperate for smart workers with strong technical skills.