Parkland is on track to become a title 1 middle school I would sell my house there yesterday but I care about stuff like that. You go ahead and lose you shirt on principle

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Never head of parkland before and it looks like the middle of no where. I looked at the at a glance and great schools and was shocked. I had no idea there was so much concentrated poverty that far out. It might be a magnet but it looks like it has a reverse polarity towards middle class families.

There is poverty all over the county!

We live in Aspen Hill, where Parkland is located. It used to be a fantastic Middle Class neighborhood, but has changed over the past several decades.

No there isn’t, less than 2% FARMs at Whitman

I remember aspen hill was a normal suburban zone but that was when white people were afraid to go into DC. There kids didn’t stick around and buy their homes so Latinos did and here we are

Anonymous wrote:Never head of parkland before and it looks like the middle of no where. I looked at the at a glance and great schools and was shocked. I had no idea there was so much concentrated poverty that far out. It might be a magnet but it looks like it has a reverse polarity towards middle class families.

There is poverty all over the county!

We live in Aspen Hill, where Parkland is located. It used to be a fantastic Middle Class neighborhood, but has changed over the past several decades.

I know a lot of people who are very happy at Parkland, and no, it’s not in the middle of nowhere! That said, it also doesn’t have the caliber of students that a test in program does (or at least did). With all the changes, magnet programs are going a bit down.

Never head of parkland before and it looks like the middle of no where. I looked at the at a glance and great schools and was shocked. I had no idea there was so much concentrated poverty that far out. It might be a magnet but it looks like it has a reverse polarity towards middle class families.

We have a 7th grader at Parkland and are very happy with the school. There is a strong focus on science which is what DC wanted and did not want to have to travel across the county to Takoma to get it. DC has taken 3 science classes each year and is excited to take physics and introduction to engineering next year. We have had no problems with the school-- kids are nice, teachers are enthusiastic. We've recommended it to many families we know whose kids love science.

You get a magnet, you get an acronym program, you get a magnet, you get a fancy arts program, you get a consortium.

All while the W’s have to settle with simple quality good schools. Man the rest of the county sure is lucky

My child loves Parkland. She had been admitted to the magnet at Eastern but not the magnet at Takoma Park and ultimately chose Parkland because of the heavy emphasis on science courses. In 6th grade alone she took 4 science courses (2 required year long courses and 2 electives that were each a semester long). Each grade has been similar (from 2-4 science courses) since then. There is a good number of high achieving students and they end up together in the honors level classes and in the science electives. The workload is manageable, though sometimes I would wonder if it should be heavier. That being said, there is no reason to overwhelm middle school kids with lots of busy work as long as they are actually learning. Besides the science offerings, the math instruction is excellent. What works well for Parkland is that they apply the mathematical concepts the students are learning in the science classes, which really helps the students get a good grasp of the concepts. There is a lot of coordination between the classes. I've heard from high school math teachers that they can always tell which one of their students came from Parkland because they have a deep understanding of the math concepts from their past courses.

I hope this helps with making your decision.

I was a former teacher at Parkland. All students take 2 full year science courses complete a yearly science fair project and have the opportunity to take space, aviation, and engineering courses. My only complaint is that a lot of the students at Parkland just chose it since it is close to their home and don't really care about the science and engineering work. What ends up happening in every class is that you have 4 to 5 high achieving motivated students coming in from the magnet program mixed in with the all the local students. Sometimes the class can have the wrong mix of personalities/abilities and make it difficult for the high achieving students to get challenged enough.

That said, if your kid loves science and engineering there is no better program in the county and your kid will gain a lot from the experience.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parkland is a magnet. Ignore the trolls who think only the test in magnets are worth something. Parkland is great. Our son chose it over private school, and loves it. The quality of the teaching is great, they have lots of enrichment activities tied in to the aerospace curriculum. They take advanced math and science, etc. if your kid likes science, esp physical sciences it's a great choice. Workload is manageable and kids are friendly.

No, it's not.

'I don't know what you mean by "glory",' Alice said.

Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. 'Of course you don't — till I tell you. I meant "there's a nice knock-down argument for you!"'

'But "glory" doesn't mean "a nice knock-down argument",' Alice objected.

'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.'

'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.'

'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master — that's all.'

Anonymous wrote:Parkland is a magnet. Ignore the trolls who think only the test in magnets are worth something. Parkland is great. Our son chose it over private school, and loves it. The quality of the teaching is great, they have lots of enrichment activities tied in to the aerospace curriculum. They take advanced math and science, etc. if your kid likes science, esp physical sciences it's a great choice. Workload is manageable and kids are friendly.

No, it's not.

Parkland is a magnet. Ignore the trolls who think only the test in magnets are worth something. Parkland is great. Our son chose it over private school, and loves it. The quality of the teaching is great, they have lots of enrichment activities tied in to the aerospace curriculum. They take advanced math and science, etc. if your kid likes science, esp physical sciences it's a great choice. Workload is manageable and kids are friendly.

OP here. Appreciate the debate about what a magnet school vs a gifted school but was looking for any feedback on Parkland. Perhaps you can start a new thread on how to define a magnet program?

Anonymous wrote:I think the problem that people have/ some magnets test in and some are just kids who want to go and get picked by the lottery. It's not to say both aren't good, but I would assume the caliber of students are vastly different.

No doubt. Night and day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More and more schools are using "magnet" in their program or school names it seems. Just like calling 2/3 of kids "gifted" in MCPS. I guess that makes parents happy...

Stop being obtuse. a magnet is a school or program that draws students in from outside the school's normal boundaries. It is a program that attracts students to the school who would not otherwise be zoned for that school. That is why it is called a magnet - the drawing in students aspect, not the method of admission. It doesn't matter if it is test in or lottery. It is a magnet.

You don't really believe that do you??

I do. Here is the definition of a magnet school:

mag·net school
noun
noun: magnet school; plural noun: magnet schools

a public school offering special instruction and programs not available elsewhere, designed to attract a more diverse student body from throughout a school district.

Fits Parkland to a T. OP never asked about a gifted program.

it's better to be lucky than good I suppose...