MacArthur Middle School in Fort Meade

Category	Rating	Details
Test Scores	4/10	The Test Score Rating examines how students at this school performed on standardized tests compared with other schools in the state. The Test Rating was created using 2025 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program data from Maryland State Department of Education, and using 2025 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program End-Of-Course data from Maryland State Department of Education.
Student Growth	6/10	The Student Progress Rating measures whether students at this school are making academic progress over time based on student growth data provided by the Department of Education. Specifically, this rating looks at how much progress individual students have made on state assessments during the past year or more, how this performance aligns with expected progress based on a student growth model established by the state Department of Education, and how this school's growth data compares to other schools in the state. The Growth Rating was created using 2025 Student Growth - Elementary Level data from Maryland State Department of Education, and using 2025 Student Growth - Middle Level data from Maryland State Department of Education.

Posted: August 29, 2026

This school shouldn't be a school anymore. The school has a "zero bullying tolerance policy" which is a WHOLE LIE. I know this because I saw it happen to someone. Also, this school NEEDS to get rid of most of the students, They are either disrespectful or just not following the rules. Also some people really don't follow the "no phone policy" because I saw one person with their phone in their pocket. Really? Lying that your school is a "no phone school" meanwhile some of the people don't follow these rules? I don't even need to be at this school for a year for experience of this review, Also there is SO much drama there, You can't even focus on your work. Yes, some of the teachers there are good but one good thing doesn't change over 100 bad things. Really hope this school fixes somethings around this building because it looks like a MESS.

Posted: August 20, 2026

This school is horrible. You might think that because it's located on a military base, it would be up to standard. However, it's a complete nightmare. If you're a parent who cares about your child's mental health, please move somewhere else so your child won't have to attend MacArthur MS. Bullying is severe, fights happen almost every other day, and the administrators like Principal McVey and the 6th grade vice principal are terrible. If I go into details, the website probably won't allow me. Trust me, keep your child away from this school.

Posted: June 4, 2026

i am a current eight grade in this school, ive been here for three years and i do NOT reccomend this school, ever sincei have came here ive seen students being bullied so bad, fights every day, students bringing guns. Its extremely, the educations is so horrible. My teacher quit at the first TWO WEEKS because of how horrible the students are. Mid class two students broke the board and now we see a carbord box. The teachers cannot control the students.
Ive hated every year ive been in this school. Every year i see kids being bullied so bad they stop talking and the students "help" doesnt work. I know from expierience because this girl started bullying me and my friends, so we reported her to the admin and wrote over 14 INCIDENT REPORTS. Not only did they get ignored but she keep harrasing us with many different people and tried jumping one of my freinds, after all of this the admins said we dint want to fix the problem.
This isnt the first time this gets passed like its nothing, in sixth grade this guy who was hispanic stated bullying me ( i am hispanic too) after i reportedit to the school they told my parents " theres no bullying between the same races so its not true" just because we were both hispanic.

Posted: May 7, 2026

My second child is attending this pathetic school. Unfortunately as a dual-working family stationed at Ft. Meade we have little options. Both times that I had a child at this school a student brought a weapon in WITHOUT BEING REPRIMANDED. Not only that, but graduation is a joke. If you're not the right color all of the parents just scream over your child as they walk to receive their certificate. My son was bullied because of his race, and my daughter sees fights every single day. Stop importing these kids from Baltimore and keep Fort Meade to the Military families!!

Posted: April 10, 2026

The absolute worst school Ive ever dealt with. The whole county is absolute trash. If you have any other option for your child go there.

Posted: October 22, 2025

I'm in 8th gad joined this school in August and every since I came to this school I have been bullied stuff thrown at me group's of girls coming up to me to start stuff with me saying oh did you say you wanted to fight me and hitting my seat on the bus there's no real friends on you they just act like it and set you up to be jumped on the 21 of October 25 I got set up the girl came up to me and told me to fight her she hit me and knock me to the floor and proceeded to hit me on the side of my head then walked away my cousin was at the bus stop and told her to get off of me she couldn't touch her because she over 15 so all she could do is stand there and yell there was no broken bone or anything but just hit in my head then the school failed me by put them in isi for one day then there good my mom and my aunt have been asking for them to transfer me out of the school they proceeded to say they can't and the school doesn't take my IEP and there basely saying there not going to be happy into I'm dead or leave the school it has been bad to where they have been dingdong ditching my home I do not feel safe at the school and there's a video of them hitting on Instagram suffering around this has gotten so bad that all of the people I thought was my friends was planning this just to have me jumped the police is involved in this I was assaulted at the bus stop I'm pressing charges on everyone that was hitting, throwing bottle's at me bullying me on school grounds and off school grounds I would not recommend this school to anyone kids or anything the work is hard and if your kid has a IEP there going to say they don't take there IEP and then turn around and say they do because they don't want no bad reports on there school and don't want the school to look bad kids take their life off of this and it's not right for anyone to be taking their life because of some kids who wants to be tuff and try to ack grown then they put me in a reading class even though I know how to read they took my money the field trip was 15 for design class and now I have to move schools they will not give me back my money so now I have no other choice to let them have it they took it to far as hitting me I'm not saying this just for attention I'm saying this because I want the word out there so no one else kids will have to go through this and try to take there life if your kids are quiet put them in boxing just in case if anyone lays there hand on them they will know how to protect there self

Posted: December 17, 2024

I am writing this review to express my severe disappointment with [School Name]. As a current student, I feel compelled to share my experiences, which have been overwhelmingly negative.

First and foremost, the teaching quality at this school is dismal. Instructors often fail to engage students or offer meaningful support, and many lessons feel like an endless lecture of irrelevant information. When students struggle, teachers provide little to no help, merely offering a vague set of rules without any practical guidance. Its infuriating to see the same problems rehashed without any real explanation or assistance.

Bullying is another serious issue here. It is utterly disappointing to witness the rampant disrespect among students. Unfortunately, when bullying incidents occur, the response from teachers and administration is lackluster at best. In my personal experience, I have faced bullying multiple times, only for the teachers and vice principal to side with the bully rather than support the victim. This creates a toxic environment where students feel unsafe and unprotected.

Additionally, the cafeteria food leaves much to be desired, with some items being almost rock-hard and inedible. A nutritious meal is essential for students, and its disheartening to see such a lack of care in this area.

Lastly, the grading system at [School Name] is absurdly inefficient. Its like trying to hit a moving target; assignments often take an eternity to be graded, making it feel as though getting feedback is nearly impossible. The chances of receiving timely grades are so slim that the process feels more like finding a million dollars than an educational institution fulfilling its duty.

Overall, I cannot recommend [School Name] with the way things are currently. It is essential for schools to foster a supportive, respectful, and engaging environment for students, and this school unfortunately misses the mark on all fronts. I sincerely hope for positive changes in the future, but as it stands, my experience here has been far from satisfactory.

Posted: July 20, 2024

I hate it here literally , js horrible, I do NOT recommend sending ur child here

Posted: September 6, 2023

Hi All,
I want to put this review here as I would like to inform the viewers of this website, of my experience with MacArthur Middle School. I have a disabled child who is assigned to the school and has not been provided a special bus as of today. I was circling from one person to another till today and literally found that the assigned bus is going to pick up and drop off my disabled daughter four blocks away starting tomorrow. This is because the responsible person thinks that a paved street of 30 feet width ending in a cul-de-sac of 40 feet radius is not appropriate for the bus and tells me that there are no protocols for changing this pick-up/drop-off address.
Lessons learned: Never buy a house on a cul-de-sac if you have a disabled child, especially in a modern community like "Seven Oaks" built in the late 90s. I think I shall also go the other way and try to ask the developers of the community to fix this issue because their architects did not consider the ADA requirements in their designs. I think the better would be to recommend not to move to Anne Arundel County at all!
Thanks for reading and please pray for us so we get the best solution to the problem.
Best Regards,

Posted: November 1, 2022

I have to say, after reading all the reviews from years ago, it is clear to me that the school has changed, but not as much as some say. There are a lot more teachers who care, but at the time I am writing this, there are 25-ish open positions. Even though the current principal is trying to improve the school, the kids dont care. The county still sees this school as less than. The IB program is a joke. Do STEM instead. I, a white female have not faced bullying or have been involved in a fight, but know kids that have fought or bullied. Its slowly getting better.

Posted: May 9, 2022

its great but needs to improve more

Posted: September 21, 2021

My child is being bullied. The teachers do not care that he is called names and books slapped out of hand. I called to talk to someone, they pushed me off saying the person I needed to speak to was on the phone. They never called back. My child gets to go to a school on a military base with staff that do not enforce appropriate school conduct.

Posted: September 21, 2021

Posted: July 16, 2019

The kids of this school are always aware that things are often not fair and that working hard rarely gets them very far. They look forward to leaving and going somewhere where they may earn benefits for hard work rather than be ignored for it.

Posted: July 16, 2019

They have all sorts of programs and staff available to help the lowest performing kids and the biggest trouble makers; however, there is nothing to support gifted learners. There isnt even anyone willing to hear about any of their needs. If your child is average, its even worse because they are often unable to learn in the disruptive classroom and may not be as successful at teaching themselves their lessons at home. Even the way they set up extra class time is only for the kids who fail the test for a certain skill and they get to learn just that concept. If they want any help when they are not failing, just floundering, they must find time with their teacher, usually during their already shortened lunch or during incentive times.

Posted: July 16, 2019

It is rare to see the administration deal effectively with bullying. They do what they are required to do, no more.

Posted: July 16, 2019

My child did well, we met some incredible teachers, but we are so glad to be saying goodbye to this school. It exhausted us.

Posted: July 16, 2019

Either there is no homework or the homework is busy work. Its not effective. They teachers just cannot effectively teach due to lack of disciplinary support from the administration, so they do what they can in class with many distractions from disruptive kids who should have been removed and the few who can concentrate on the lesson teaches themselves the rest at home with the homework assigned. So, homework is either a time for them to figure out what they should have been taught during class, but werent, or the homework is just assigned to give them more grades...its not even truly checked, so hopefully, your kid was able to figure things out correctly so he/she can perform well on the test.

Posted: July 16, 2019

Many of the teachers are WONDERFUL, but they simply cannot be effective when there is no support from the administration for getting disruptive and disrespectful kids out of the class when learning should be happening. The kids who can do well have to be the kind who can work amidst yelling, fighting, cursing without being distracted. They also have to be good at figuring things out for themselves as it is often difficult to hear the lessons. The administration would rather keep troubled kids in the classrooms to make learning near impossible for the kids who want to learn than to take them out and actual discipline these trouble makers. The trouble makers definitely have control in this school. They determine the level of learning, what privileges are given to all, and how things will be done in the school year. Difficult kids are constantly rewarded for any little thing they do while kids who are always doing the right thing are often ignored. Of course, there is always group punishment due to the difficult kids.

Posted: May 30, 2019

Too many times I have heard that there are students who need more help than mine. Since my child doesnt need as much help as others, she gets very little. The teachers are wonderful, but they dont have the resources to help all the troubled students the school districts pawns off on them.

Posted: May 30, 2019

Strongly disagree! The children bully anytime a teacher is not present.

Posted: May 30, 2019

The bullying is out of control. Even though teachers and administrators try to control it, the troubled students have found a way to bully in the hallways and when teachers step out of a classroom.

Posted: May 30, 2019

The principal is AMAZING, always present, knows what is going on, wants to hear from parents. He is doing a wonderful job. I expect AACPS will steal him away soon, leaving a troubled school with more trouble. I hope I am wrong, because this school needs him.

Posted: May 30, 2019

Wow, the workload is immense. From what I can tell the teachers just send work home they dont get done in class. The students are so disruptive A LOT of homework comes home.

Posted: May 30, 2019

The only reason this school rates 3 stars, in my opinion, are the teachers and administrators. They are wonderful, but have a difficult job. AACPS sends all the students who have been kicked out of other schools to this school, which means any student who wants to do well will struggle because of how disruptive the other students are. AACPS is doing a disservice to military children by tearing this school like a last-chance school for troubled students.

Posted: May 30, 2019

I would not send any other child to this school as long as it remains AACPSs second chance middle school.