GALVESTON — Interested in math, technology, science or engineering? Dust off that discipline record, dig out your test scores and get ready for an interview.
Galveston public school district released the qualifications to enter its first middle-school magnet program, set to open in the fall at Austin Middle School.
Applying to Galveston’s magnet middle school is a lot like applying to college.
Admission is based on six criteria — discipline records; grades; scores on state and national standardized tests; attendance records; parent, guardian or adult sponsorship; and a one-on-one interview with district officials.
All students — those who live within Galveston public school district and those who don’t — who are entering grades five through eight next year can apply.
Prospective students who are not enrolled in Galveston public school district must submit their report cards for the first semester of the 2007-08 school year, their standardized test scores for 2006-07, their attendance records in 2006-07 and their discipline records for 2006-07.
Applications can be picked up at an informational meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Austin Middle School’s media center, 1514 Ave. N, or at any district campus, including the administration building, 3904 Ave. T.
Completed applications must be mailed to the district or delivered to the administration building by 4 p.m. on Feb. 8.
Galveston’s new magnet school is part of the district’s reorganization. District officials are hoping the school, with its focus on math, science, engineering and technology, will attract students to the district.
Magnet schools, by definition, are designed to attract students interested in specific subjects. Other districts have created magnet programs specializing in performing arts, language, humanities or liberal arts.
Galveston school officials picked math and science, even though it’s difficult to initiate, because of partnerships available with Texas A&M University at Galveston and the University of Texas Medical Branch.
The Houston public school district, which has one of the largest and oldest magnet school programs in the nation, initiated magnet schools in 1975 as a tool to desegregate. In 1980, the district successfully achieved unitary status, a legal declaration of desegregation.
Houston’s magnet schools use admission criteria such as grades, TAKS scores, Stanford scores and discipline records to determine admission. Those who qualify are automatically admitted. If more students qualify than space is available, administrators use a lottery system.
Galveston school district officials are expecting to enroll 400 students initially or 100 students per grade. It will likely take the district three years to fully build the program, said Cathy Van Ness, principal at Austin Middle School.
District officials are hoping the middle school magnet program will feed students into Ball High School’s recently-approved Texas Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics — T-STEM — Academy. The academy will open this fall by enrolling 100 ninth-graders and expand during the next four years.
