Magnet Options in Wake County

We’ve discussed the exceptional quality of many, but not all, charter schools in Wake in another blog post on this site. But school choice can also be applied to Wake County’s traditional public schools (TPS, also referred to as district schools). Within the district, choice starts with the much-lauded magnet program. And it’s a great place to start. A national magnet-school certification program, Magnet Schools of America (MSA), recognized 30 Wake County schools in the National Merit Awards program for 2017-18, designating 12 as Schools of Excellence and 18 as Schools of Distinction. The previous year, they named 27 WCPSS magnet schools as either Schools of Excellence or Schools of Distinction.

In April 2018, MSA named April Guenzler, a teacher at Brooks MES in Raleigh, as the Teacher of the Year for Region IV, which comprises NC, SC, TN, and KY.

It’s a strong program, and it’s growing. The Raleigh News & Observer reports that WCPSS received 6,709 applications for magnets and early college programs for 2017-18, 119 more than the previous year. They also note that between 2011 and 2017, WCPSS launched 12 new magnet programs—and another one in the fall of 2017. In the 2017-18 school year, there were 28 magnet elementary schools, 12 magnet middle schools, and 13 magnet high schools in Wake County.

If you’re not enthusiastic about your base school, you should head right on over to this page on the WCPSS website: http://www.wcpss.net/Page/172. This page lists, and provides links to more information about, all the magnet programs in WCPSS. You might as well start there, and then perhaps move on to the specialized academies. The application process occurs in January, with the results announced in February for the following academic year.

Our Q&A page provides more information about the magnet school application process in Wake County.