Questions such as the following drove discussions around Anne Arundel County: 

• What are the challenges and obstacles that negatively affect our students’ engagement and achievement most significantly and why?
• Are we analyzing our data and listening closely to learn about all of our students when we seek to understand our learners’ social-emotional and academic struggles?
• How do cultural differences, language challenges, transportation difficulties, health problems, and frequent family relocation (mobility) serve as obstacles to school success for our students?
• What resources and supports are available within AACPS and across our county to support students and families in need?  How do we help our families receive the supports they need?

Students and teachers are growing together toward a bright future in which a community of MacArthur scholars will flourish within the Meade area and positively impact the local community. Our goal is for all students and staff to feel like valuable members of the MacArthur Middle School community. At MacArthur MS, all faculty and staff complete a School Climate Survey during each marking period to assess whether our students and staff feel like valued members of our school. In addition, our staff participates in team-building activities throughout the school year, such as nominating each other for Faculty Member of the Month, and celebrating one another during faculty meetings, monthly breakfasts, and outside of school functions. To help gain the parents’ trust and build rapport, we host a monthly Principal’s Coffee, monthly Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) meeting, and other activities to bring our community into our school, like Veterans Day Assemblies, Science Fairs, MYP Nights, Music and Dance Concerts, Math NIghts and an Eighth Grade Student Celebration.

Moreover, we have put in place small groups of students, called Rally Circles, to facilitate relationship building during every school day. Faculty meetings, Interdisciplinary Team, Collaborative Planning, Department, and Leadership meetings also have components of team building incorporated to generate collegiality amongst staff.  Lastly, MacArthur MS is also supported through the Ft. George G. Meade Garrison Commander’s Office as well as local churches and businesses in the surrounding community. 

The MacArthur Middle School faculty and staff has focused on our Kids at Hope target group, which consists of 130 African American male students who may not have met with academic success in a traditional learning environment. We believe that if we are moving our Kids at Hope target students toward becoming IB Scholars, their peers will also move toward greater success. Members of the Odenton Church of God provide mentoring services to our Kids at Hope target student group, so they can see themselves as successful in the outside world. Our Kids at Hope student group also participate in Rally Circles/Advisory classes with mentor teachers from across the building, and have access to many other support systems available at MacArthur. In addition, our administrative staff make home visits over the summer to the homes of every Kids at Hope target student to introduce themselves, building an even stronger sense of community. We also host parent information nights at the students’ elementary feeder schools, as well as at community centers and public libraries. 

While in school, all MacArthur students are challenged to be their best and do their best every day - No Exceptions! Students are supported through programs such as Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID). While not every student will take an AVID course during their time at MacArthur, AVID strategies are embedded in ALL curricula throughout the year; therefore, all students will have access to AVID strategies and organizational tools in their other classes. Moreover, MacArthur students also benefit from the PBIS approach to behavior where all students are rewarded for displaying good behavior. 

MacArthur students are so much more than academic, however! Students also participate in Concert Band, Guitar, Orchestra, Chorus, Dance and Drama. Our students speak Spanish, French and Chinese and work on inquiry-based projects of interest, too. After school clubs include: chess, LGBTQ groups, computer gaming, anime and sports.