Magnet Schools of America recognized eight area schools with National Magnet Merit Awards.
The Miami-Dade County Public Schools won 97 awards overall – 61 for Excellence while 36 were Schools of Distinction -- more than any other district in the country, school officials said.
The local Schools of Distinction are American Senior High School; Palm Springs Middle School and Jose Marti MAST 6-12 Academy.
Those rated Schools of Excellence are Miami Lakes Middle School; Barbara Goleman Senior High School and Miami Lakes Educational Center.
Schools of Excellence Merit Award winners are Hialeah-Miami Lakes Senior High School and Lawton Chiles Middle School.
The National Magnet Merit Awards are part of the Magnet Schools of America.
“Every year, they put out an application to be able to identify the top performing magnet schools,” Jacqueline Basallo, executive director of innovation and advancement for Miami-Dade County Public Schools said. “To win, a school basically provides a narrative and data showing how they excel in specific areas that address five pillars.”
Those pillars are:
-Diversity, which includes the number of male and female students, ethnic backgrounds and countries represented;
-Innovative curriculum, which applies the magnet focus to core subjects like history;
-Academic excellence, to demonstrate growth and student achievement;
-Leadership, which shows how strong the administrative team fosters collaborative culture;
--Family and community partnership, how the school connects with the community so that students can see what their futures may look like.
“For the last 14 years, we have been consistently receiving recognition for the implementation of our programs,” Basallo said.
The district has offered magnet programs for five decades, with a focus on magnet offerings that now begin as early as pre-kindergarten.
Basallo said pre-
kindergarten to eighth grade students study subjects such as languages and music; high school programs have a career focus with courses such as aerospace, legal studies or the arts, and learn skills that can be applied to other professions.
The district works with The Miami-Dade Beacon Council to identify what coursework students are going to need when they graduate and enter the job market.
“We’re really equipping them with transferable skills,” Basallo said.
Miami Lakes Middle School Principal Maria Medina said its School of Excellence award was “a great recognition … It’s a testament to the leadership we have.”
Magnet Schools of America met virtually with administration and sent a team to campus to see its offerings, Medina said.
“When we went to Nashville to collect our award, we were one of the top seven schools that was up for a monetary award,” Medina said.
The school didn’t win the cash prize but the visit to Tennessee helped Medina and her team see what the future of the magnet programs could be.
“We came back and were discussing how we can change our programs … to enhance them and bring about that change,” Medina said. “As crazy as an idea may seem, my staff is [saying], ‘Yeah, yeah, let’s go ahead and let’s try it,’ to see how it’s going to be better for the school.”
Medina’s goals are to make sure students are engaged and wanting to learn, to be ready for the next steps in their education.
Miami Lakes Middle has a legal studies magnet program and a Cambridge program, which offers a rigorous curriculum focused on mathematics, English and science.
“We also incorporate how Cambridge has a global perspective, too, not only [in] the school [and] the community but [in the world],” Medina said. “It gives them the opportunity of not just thinking local, but really looking at how they can make our outside world better,” Medina said.
Students who complete a Cambridge program in middle school can continue that curriculum in high school and receive a diploma, as well as become eligible for a Florida Bright Futures Scholarship, which pays tuition at any public or private in-state school, after certain criteria are met.
Medina hopes to continue fostering their magnet programs, have her students participate in academic competitions and gain more recognition for the school’s diversity.
She said it was an honor to be part of the process.
To learn about district magnet programs, visit YourChoiceMiami.org.