The LPS focus programs are small public magnet high schools

Magnet school

In education in the United States, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities as school zones that feed into certain schools.There are magnet schools at the...

, established and run by Lincoln Public Schools

Lincoln Public Schools

Lincoln Public Schools is the only public school district in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA. It is the second largest of Nebraska's 596 school districts, surpassed only by Omaha Public Schools. LPS educates more than 35,000 students in 57 schools....

 to serve the needs of academically gifted students.

Individual schools

As of 2009, there are four focus programs:

• Arts and Humanities Focus Program
• Entrepreneurship Focus Program
• Information Technology Focus Program
• Science Focus Program

Background

Each school typically enrolls under one hundred students each year with the intent of creating a community in which students can receive individualized attention along with a curriculum centered around the school's respective focus. Admissions are based by application, which involves a short essay of intent. Generally, graduation requirements are not wholly met through the classes offered at focus programs alone, so students will often attend the high school in which they would normally be enrolled in for a couple class periods in the morning and then commute to the focus programs during the school day. Classes run on block scheduling

Block scheduling

Block scheduling is a type of academic scheduling in which each student has fewer classes per day but each class is scheduled for a longer period of time . A student might be taking 7 different classes, but only 4 per day, and the specific daily classes would rotate through a changing daily cycle...

.

History

In 1997, Zoo School began as a project initiated by Dennis Van Horn and a group of teachers from various high schools in the district. The model of organization used by Zoo School has since been replicated by the other focus programs, which emerged one after another in the following decade. Most recently, the Entrepreneurship Focus Program was established in 2006 in the Southeast Community College

Southeast Community College

Southeast Community College is a community college system located in the southeast portion of the U.S. state of Nebraska.- Locations :The college includes three campuses and more than 20 off-campus sites in 15 counties...

Entrepreneurship Center.