I have come across your article [A. Mack, "Science 'Magnet' High School Programs Growing In Popularity, Variety," The Scientist, Sept. 16, 1996, page 3] in a bulletin board maintained by my high school alumni. I graduated from a magnet high school (it is called Ankara Science High School/Ankara Fen Lisesi in Turkey) in 1969. The school was then, and to a degree now, a very special school, and tens of thousands of students would enter the exams to get in.
I am in touch with many graduates, and I believe the school is successful by many measures. One, at the top, would be entrance in universities; in Turkey higher education is relatively scarce, and getting into a "good" college is very competitive. I remember that our high school's success rate was easily above 95 percent in my day. Many of our students became academicians and scientists.
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