by Timothy Rutt
The U.S. Department of Education announced last week that a $7.9 million Magnet School Assistance Program grant has been awarded to the Pasadena Unified School District to extablish or expand magnets at four district schools over the next three years.
Two Altadena schools will benefit from the grant: Jackson Elementary for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) and a new visual and performing arts magnet at Eliot Middle School.
Washington School's STEAM program (which also incorporates arts) and the Washington Accelerated Elementary program will also benefit from the grants, which will be $3.15 million in its first year.
According to a release from PUSD, all four magnet schools will use project-based learning that is integrated with the new Common Core State Standards. The grant is expected to benefit almost 7,000 students in the four schools over a three-year period.
PUSD is among 27 school districts in 12 states to receive the MSAP grants, which total $89.9 million this year and are administered by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Innovation and Improvement. Four other school districts in California are also recipients of the grant. For more information on the MSAP program and a complete list of grant recipients please visit www.ed.gov.
