Parkland Magnet Middle School
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Anonymous
| I know the lottery has been discussed, but I’m hoping someone can help me understand the structure of the school. We are out of out of consortia. Is the school entirely magnet and all classes are magnet or is there a separate magnet program. I feel like I keep reading things that support one or the other. My concern is the low test scores and ranking of the schools online. Thank you! |
Anonymous
Whole school magnet. All classes are for the entire school (both inbound and outbound, doesn't matter lottery or local). Test scores are irrelevant.
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Anonymous
| Whole school magnet. Can't imagine a better middle school experience for my kid anywhere else in MCPS. Highly recommend. My kid is in 8th now and we found out yesterday he can continue the engineering focus at Wheaton next year. Very pleased with this progression. |
Anonymous
Whole school is magnet, but selection of out-of-bounds kids is not based on academic criteria, and the in-bounds areas that feed into the 3-school magnet consortium are fairly high-poverty, so between those things it's not particularly surprising that test scores are low, and doesn't necessarily tell you much about the quality of the teaching. (Sadly, with few exceptions, test scores are fairly predictable purely based on demographics across MCPS.) |
Anonymous
| Incredible teachers and A+ principal and admin in our experience. Interesting and engaging electives. The teachers and counselors are all there for the right reasons and made our son feel seen and heard. There are definitely hallway shenanigans - our son shared he saw lots of vaping, yelling, cursing, some fighting - but pretty sure that happens at most MCPS schools esp with 1,000 pre-teen/teenage kids kept indoors all day. |
Anonymous
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Another vote for a fantastic experience with Parkland for a kids who continued on to a HS magnet.
Not said yet is that although it is a whole school magnet, not every class is mixed level. The math classes were the most homogeneous by ability & grade. (i.e. advanced students were with other same grade advanced students). Advanced students took FL in 6th, while other students still needed reading. One of the science classes was advanced, the other heterogeneous mix. More advanced students were in band/orchestra. The end result from a scheduling perspective was that there was some tracking of advanced students into most classes together. Don't worry about overall average test scores. They don't really impact the experience of students that are on or above level proficiency. |
Anonymous
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My kid goes there - we are also out of consortia.
The teachers are hit or miss. The Principal is good. PTA is non existent. Electives are good. You get an extra Science class. Math is not as expected for a magnet - Frost has Algebra 2 in 8th but Parkland which is a magnet does not and the very advanced kid has to go to a high school in 8th for Algebra 2. The regular Math class is for kids who are below average. Average kids are in the compacted class and advanced are in AIM. AIM has kids with potential and those who are advanced so the advanced kids will be bored since they wait for the others to do catch up. |
Anonymous
Why would Algebra 1 in 6th and Algebra 2 in 8th be "as expected" for the MSMC? It's not a criteria-based academic magnet or anything like that, it's an interest-based magnet. Lots of schools don't support the super-advanced track with kids in Algebra 1 in 6th, it's not at all surprising that Parkland doesn't either. |
Anonymous
It's surprising to go to a Magnet school that doesn't offer things that the home school has. So parents should be aware. |
Anonymous
It's a "magnet" - lottery or not, a magnet should offer courses that support an advanced track if there are non magnet schools that do support it. Why call it a magnet then? |
Anonymous
Frost is the only MS I've heard of (maybe besides Takoma Park magnet, not sure) that makes it relatively easy for kids to go straight into Algebra 1 in 6th grade (if they score 250 or above on MAP-M in 5th), and therefore in Alegbra 2 in 8th grade. Other schools make it a super PITA to so this. Eg our principal told us when my kid was way past that decision point that "sure, we allow little Sheldons to do this, if you talk to me." (We had asked the counselor, not the principal, since we thought that was the right path.) |
Anonymous
My kid got over 260. If we were in Frost, DC would have been in the Algebra class. Instead DC was bored in AIM since the class was paced slow so kids who had the potential but not the resources in ES could be brought up to par. We were given the option to go to high school, but it was too much for us to go to Kennedy when we lived out of bounds. |
Anonymous
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For anyone new to Parkland, if you are willing to make the commitment to drive to high school, push for Algebra 1 during placement if your kid has over 260 in MAP-M. Your kid will be bored in AIM.
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Anonymous
At least you got an option... When I asked our counselor, he just straight up said "AMP 6+ or 7+ are the only 2 options for 6th graders." Whyyyyyy do I ever trust MCPS. Sorry for the side convo! |
Anonymous
Magnet is just a name for a school that you can go to that you're not in-bounds for. Has nothing to do with advanced programming (although it generally does have *something* that your home school doesn't, which is the thing that attracts kids/families to it and away from their home school, hence the analogy of being like a physical magnet.) At some magnets the thing that is different/attracts families is the focus on advanced academics. At Parkland and the other MSMC schools, though, it's just the more specialized classes/focus-- the aerospace/engineering stuff, in Parkland's case. |