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[quote=Anonymous]Parkland, Loiderman, and Argyle are the only true Whole School Magnets in the county. (And BTW, the one program that received heaps of praise in the Metis report studying all of the county choice programs.) All students that live in the consortium area for the three middle schools choose between the three middle schools, ostensibly by the focus of each school, but in reality also by proximity and parental perception of "best" school. In addition to in-consortium students, there are ~80 students per grade level (~25%) that are from out-of-consortium. They get a place at the school by lottery (not an academic requirement). All students in the school are considered magnet students, and they all have access to all of the courses and programs offered at the school. Students are placed in academic courses according to their readiness - some students are in all of the highest academic classes (English, Math, Science, World Studies, Language), some students have a mix of the highest classes and regular classes, and some are in just regular classes. An important part of the school programs is that students have 8 classes and the school run on a block schedule (4 classes per day). This allows students to take an additional elective class in the school's focus area.

The middle school magnet consortium concept could be applied elsewhere in the county - and quite frankly I'm surprised it hasn't been spread yet. It certainly is a good way to balance enrollment between multiple schools. There would be an additional cost for offering 8 classes instead of 7, because teachers still only teach 5 classes, and additional busing within the consortium.

I have no idea why Poolesville claims it is a whole school magnet, because they aren't. They are three test-in magnet programs placed in the same building, and all the rest of the home school population is placed in a 4th "house" called Independent Studies, which is just a regular high school academic program. They claim that all students have access to the upper level magnet classes, but in practice students generally don't have the prerequisites if they aren't in a specific magnet or the way the scheduling works, the elective classes always conflict with key courses in the general program or other magnets.[/quote]

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