3DE Magnet Program

OFFICIALLY MAGNET SCHOOLS OF AMERICA CERTIFIED

As of August 2026, Banneker High School is an official magnet school, certified by Magnet Schools of America.  Northview shares this official magnet recognition with Northview High School and Tri-Cities High School. The three Fulton County Schools are the first 3DE schools in the country to get Magnet Schools of America certification.

HISTORY OF 3DE AT BANNEKER HIGH SCHOOL

3DE was developed through a shared vision from leaders in education, business, and Junior Achievement. This collective of passionate and innovative individuals united around the belief that equitable access to high-quality education is the lever to economic mobility. With 90 percent of students in public schools, the focus was to develop public-private partnerships to systemically re-engineer education to better reflect the real world and prepare students for life beyond the classroom walls. See https://www.3deschools.org/ for more information.

Fulton County School System launched the 3DE Magnet, formally named the Junior Achievement Magnet Business Academy (JAMBA) at Banneker High School in the Fall of 2015. The JAMBA was developed through a partnership between Fulton County Schools and Junior Achievement of Georgia as a reform initiative to positively impact the academic, behavioral, and social outcomes at Banneker High School. Historically, BHS was one of the lowest-performing schools in Georgia, was identified as a school with the highest number of discipline infractions in the school district, and had a graduation rate of less than 50%. Junior Achievement of Georgia partnered with Fulton County Schools to improve the overall student experience, provide a rigorous and relevant curriculum, and allow students to apply their learning through case study challenges and job site visits.

The learning experiences most successful for 3DE magnet students are the partner-driven case challenges and the interdisciplinary learning designed around the case challenges. Business partners present case challenges to students every five to six weeks. Challenges are real problems confronting the business, ranging from technology and business management to branding and customer relations. Case challenge themes are integrated across core subject areas to connect consistently with academic concepts and real-world applications. This approach to project-based learning fuels classroom engagement and promotes students’ exploration of their passions, skills, and future possibilities. The case challenges are a catalyst for interdisciplinary learning experiences. Students need to draw upon all disciplines to perform research, analyze, collaborate, design, write, and present solutions to complex business and technological problems.