JUST HOW EFFECTIVE ARE THE SCIENCE AND MATH MAGNET SCHOOLS?

A 1990 study conducted by the North Carolina School of Science and Math (NCSSM) on the occasion of its 10th anniversary covered some 900 alumni from the school's first eight classes (1982-1989), and revealed the following statistics:

* 99 percent of NCSSM students attended or were attending four-year colleges, vs. 58 percent of all students nationally and 39 percent in the state of North Carolina.

* 64 percent of NCSSM students majored in science, math, or technology, as compared with the national average of 40 percent of students in the top 10 percent of their high school class. Perhaps more significant were the results on women and minorities: 61 percent of NCSSM alumnae and 70 percent of NCSSM minority alumni reported majoring in science, technology, or mathematics, vs. 26 percent and 29 percent of the top...