Magnets have their roots in the concept of district-wide specialty schools. Magnets offer special curricula, such as math-science or performing arts programs, or special instructional approaches, such as academic achievement through application of Gardner's learning styles.

During the late 1970's, school districts began to employ magnet schools as a means of desegregating school systems. Magnets were intended to provide incentives for parents to remain in the public school system and to send their children to integrated schools. Often, magnet programs were placed in racially isolated schools or neighborhoods to encourage students of other races to enroll in those schools. If sufficient numbers of white and minority students enrolled in schools outside of their neighborhoods, districts could promote school desegregation without resorting to mandatory measures. At the same time, by introducing innovative curricula and instructional approaches, magnets could strengthen the educational program in those schools, contributing to overall improvements in educational quality.

Magnet schools today have three distinguishing characteristics