Hardy Middle School -- 5th grade in feeder school -- who's considering Hardy for 6th?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am OUTRAGED AND OFFENDED at the trash talk about Hardy. It is a DCPS jewel! If it isn't for you, then STFU. Don't try to gentrify Hardy. It will not happen.

Too late, at the rate the numbers are changing it will be flipped in five years if not in two.

PP who was asked to elaborate - I really cannot without identifying families. But the above poster makes the point quite well. It has not flipped. Not yet. And I guess what the Mann parents who feel disappointed and somewhat deceived heard convinced them that it had flipped sufficiently (at least for their kids - through SEM, through tracking)...

I think one of the most significant issues may be that at some other schools they test kids over the summer or the first day of school to decide whether they belong in "advanced/honors/SEM/whatever you call it classes" and that appears NOT to be the case at Hardy. The unhappy families we spoke to were still waiting to be tested - and the kind of impression a school makes on you and your child in the first couple of weeks counts more than at any other time except the end of the year (and that is assuming the families can still vote with their feet at the end of the year).

Unfortunately, those IB for Hardy not on the Latin or Basis wait list had closed off all other options before they entered the school. And it is the stuck parents who are, to put it bluntly, quite pissed.

IMO I think if Hardy tested and separated earlier you might have people with a completely different set of opinions - that is of course what Wilson is all about after all - Yale (or Jail) - from Deal (or dead in the water academically before you enter) the less and less hallowed halls............

I do not know, but would hazard a guess, that Wilson separates and segregates the two tracks early enough to prevent white flight.......................... Be it through testing at Deal that automatically guarantees you a place in Honors classes before you start......... I have no clue, no kids here or there or bound for Wilson, no skin in the game.

But I do feel sorry for these parents who honestly did not intend to be trailblazers or sacrifice their kids on the altar of some "Alice Deal for All" ideology. They believed (based undoubtedly on information they were given by someone they trusted, at some point in the process), that the school had already changed enough. for their kids to receive a certain quality of education in a certain type of environment they were comfortable with. They had no desire to risk their kids' education or expose them to an environment where they had the opportunity to be the change.

While I respect both perspectives, what I don't respect is friends who I know made every attempt to educate and reassure themselves that Hardy was already "there" enough for their kids to be comfortable in the environment and for them to be comfortable as well that their kids were getting the type of education they had been led to believe would be offered. I also respect parents who are comfortable sending their kids in order to help Hardy "get there," who are comfortable that their kids will do well anywhere, and think that being part of this process is a valuable education in and of itself.

But these are two completely different sets of parents. And the parents and principals and everyone rooting for Hardy do themselves no favors when they encourage people to enroll their children by glossing over not bad language, which is pervasive at every single middle school in the country and no doubt to a large degree internationally as well, but apparently a (what must be necessary) focus on discipline at the expense of education.

Hardy might be able to dig itself out of this hole by testing and separating kids out earlier by educational level before or immediately when school begins. That is the only advice I have. From my understanding that is how Wilson works. They do not throw all the kids together for a month of boot camp before deciding who is eligible for Algebra II or pre-calculus or Honors English.

[Anonymous]

You forgot to mention a third type of parents: those who genuinely think that Hardy is the best educational option for their kid. No need to reassure themselves. No interest or intention to contribute to the change.
Kids are different, parents are different. The school is a great match for some, and is a bad match for others. It definetly works great for kids who are socially mature and academically advanced. Those kids will thrive at Hardy.

[Anonymous]

Here is my question on testing. Deal does it in the feeder schools but then also does a shuffle the first month based on a retest, how long does Hardy wait? It can't really be done the first two weeks of school without some significant disruption.

What I would like to see is some standardized test that could be offered across the city for the advanced classes, or maybe on a Saturday for those using the lottery.

One can only expect so much out of one school, people can only do so many things at one time. If this is really an issue, then DCPS should be figuring out how to manage this better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You forgot to mention a third type of parents: those who genuinely think that Hardy is the best educational option for their kid. No need to reassure themselves. No interest or intention to contribute to the change.
Kids are different, parents are different. The school is a great match for some, and is a bad match for others. It definetly works great for kids who are socially mature and academically advanced. Those kids will thrive at Hardy.

And who have thick skins and can adjust ok from more nurturing and civil WOTP elementary school environments to the "tough love" disciplinary culture still practiced at Hardy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You forgot to mention a third type of parents: those who genuinely think that Hardy is the best educational option for their kid. No need to reassure themselves. No interest or intention to contribute to the change.
Kids are different, parents are different. The school is a great match for some, and is a bad match for others. It definetly works great for kids who are socially mature and academically advanced. Those kids will thrive at Hardy.

And who have thick skins and can adjust ok from more nurturing and civil WOTP elementary school environments to the "tough love" disciplinary culture still practiced at Hardy

You are being very unfair to so many kids who are doing very well at Hardy still coming from very nurturing and "civil" elementary schools and families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You forgot to mention a third type of parents: those who genuinely think that Hardy is the best educational option for their kid. No need to reassure themselves. No interest or intention to contribute to the change.
Kids are different, parents are different. The school is a great match for some, and is a bad match for others. It definetly works great for kids who are socially mature and academically advanced. Those kids will thrive at Hardy.

And who have thick skins and can adjust ok from more nurturing and civil WOTP elementary school environments to the "tough love" disciplinary culture still practiced at Hardy

You are being very unfair to so many kids who are doing very well at Hardy still coming from very nurturing and "civil" elementary schools and families.

+1. As if civility and nurturing families and/or schools only exist WOTP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You forgot to mention a third type of parents: those who genuinely think that Hardy is the best educational option for their kid. No need to reassure themselves. No interest or intention to contribute to the change.
Kids are different, parents are different. The school is a great match for some, and is a bad match for others. It definetly works great for kids who are socially mature and academically advanced. Those kids will thrive at Hardy.

And who have thick skins and can adjust ok from more nurturing and civil WOTP elementary school environments to the "tough love" disciplinary culture still practiced at Hardy

It does not take a thick skin to understand that you do not want to say to a kid from a diverse neighborhood in your same line at the cafeteria that "I do not understand what you are saying, first learn proper English pronunciation, then get back to me". That's a sentence that generated a bad reaction last year.

You do not need a thick skin to understand that this was an inappropriate statement. And a statement leading to trouble. Mature, intelligent and considerate 6th graders, grown in a cultural environment open to acceptance and diversity, would never say that.

If your kid is not socially considerate, still naive about social issues, and in need of a few additional years of nurturing , with all the due respect, consider going to a small private school (Holy Trinity is an excellent one). No Hardy, no Basis, no Latin. Maybe not even National Cathedral or St Albans. And turn to Hardy for your youngest child, when and if the school will be populated by 90% feeder school kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You forgot to mention a third type of parents: those who genuinely think that Hardy is the best educational option for their kid. No need to reassure themselves. No interest or intention to contribute to the change.
Kids are different, parents are different. The school is a great match for some, and is a bad match for others. It definetly works great for kids who are socially mature and academically advanced. Those kids will thrive at Hardy.

And who have thick skins and can adjust ok from more nurturing and civil WOTP elementary school environments to the "tough love" disciplinary culture still practiced at Hardy

You are being very unfair also to the many kids who are doing very well at Hardy still coming from very nurturing and "civil" WOTP elementary schools and high SES families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You forgot to mention a third type of parents: those who genuinely think that Hardy is the best educational option for their kid. No need to reassure themselves. No interest or intention to contribute to the change.
Kids are different, parents are different. The school is a great match for some, and is a bad match for others. It definetly works great for kids who are socially mature and academically advanced. Those kids will thrive at Hardy.

And who have thick skins and can adjust ok from more nurturing and civil WOTP elementary school environments to the "tough love" disciplinary culture still practiced at Hardy

It does not take a thick skin to understand that you do not want to say to a kid from a diverse neighborhood in your same line at the cafeteria that "I do not understand what you are saying, first learn proper English pronunciation, then get back to me". That's a sentence that generated a bad reaction last year.

You do not need a thick skin to understand that this was an inappropriate statement. And a statement leading to trouble. Mature, intelligent and considerate 6th graders, grown in a cultural environment open to acceptance and diversity, would never say that.

If your kid is not socially considerate, still naive about social issues, and in need of a few additional years of nurturing , with all the due respect, consider going to a small private school (Holy Trinity is an excellent one). No Hardy, no Basis, no Latin. Maybe not even National Cathedral or St Albans. And turn to Hardy for your youngest child, when and if the school will be populated by 90% feeder school kids.

Not everyone thinks that it is a good thing when a school embraces Ebonycs. It just perpetuates rather than addresses a handicap that will hold back certain kids once they get into the job market.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You forgot to mention a third type of parents: those who genuinely think that Hardy is the best educational option for their kid. No need to reassure themselves. No interest or intention to contribute to the change.
Kids are different, parents are different. The school is a great match for some, and is a bad match for others. It definetly works great for kids who are socially mature and academically advanced. Those kids will thrive at Hardy.

And who have thick skins and can adjust ok from more nurturing and civil WOTP elementary school environments to the "tough love" disciplinary culture still practiced at Hardy

It does not take a thick skin to understand that you do not want to say to a kid from a diverse neighborhood in your same line at the cafeteria that "I do not understand what you are saying, first learn proper English pronunciation, then get back to me". That's a sentence that generated a bad reaction last year.

You do not need a thick skin to understand that this was an inappropriate statement. And a statement leading to trouble. Mature, intelligent and considerate 6th graders, grown in a cultural environment open to acceptance and diversity, would never say that.

If your kid is not socially considerate, still naive about social issues, and in need of a few additional years of nurturing , with all the due respect, consider going to a small private school (Holy Trinity is an excellent one). No Hardy, no Basis, no Latin. Maybe not even National Cathedral or St Albans. And turn to Hardy for your youngest child, when and if the school will be populated by 90% feeder school kids.

Not everyone thinks that it is a good thing when a school embraces Ebonycs. It just perpetuates rather than addresses a handicap that will hold back certain kids once they get into the job market.

Agreed but you don't have to be an azz when you point it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is my question on testing. Deal does it in the feeder schools but then also does a shuffle the first month based on a retest, how long does Hardy wait? It can't really be done the first two weeks of school without some significant disruption.

What I would like to see is some standardized test that could be offered across the city for the advanced classes, or maybe on a Saturday for those using the lottery.

One can only expect so much out of one school, people can only do so many things at one time. If this is really an issue, then DCPS should be figuring out how to manage this better.

The Hardy testing process was never explained to 6th grade parents.

I get it: testing needs to be done during the first couple of weeks of the school year. If you test at the end of 5th grade or during the summer, you do not catch the student's potential and ability, you catch a noisy indicator that represents his/her abilities developed by the previous school. So at 50% you test how good his/her previous school was. As the Hardy Math Department has made clear in several public open meeting (I attended one last year in the school library open to parents from feeder schools) , the honors classes are meant not only for kids who have a stronger math background, but also for those who show a predisposition and a drive to do well. The latter two are variables that can be hardly tested, but can be detected in the classroom by teachers' expert eyes...

I get it. This has brought disruption and delayed start of the academics. However the disruptions would have had a lesser impact had we received advanced notice of the School's plans for testing. Disruptions had not been anticipated and explained to us. We were left wondering.... Kids were confused....I did not even know that the final schedules would have been distributed by the beginning of the third week of school... No notice on the website, no paper communication, no robocalls... This has been a big communication failure by the school.

All is ok now. But the initial 2 weeks of school, in the absence of clear communications by the School administration, have been hard on many of us and on some of the kids.

This is my point of view. Sorry for iphone typos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You forgot to mention a third type of parents: those who genuinely think that Hardy is the best educational option for their kid. No need to reassure themselves. No interest or intention to contribute to the change.
Kids are different, parents are different. The school is a great match for some, and is a bad match for others. It definetly works great for kids who are socially mature and academically advanced. Those kids will thrive at Hardy.

And who have thick skins and can adjust ok from more nurturing and civil WOTP elementary school environments to the "tough love" disciplinary culture still practiced at Hardy

It does not take a thick skin to understand that you do not want to say to a kid from a diverse neighborhood in your same line at the cafeteria that "I do not understand what you are saying, first learn proper English pronunciation, then get back to me". That's a sentence that generated a bad reaction last year.

You do not need a thick skin to understand that this was an inappropriate statement. And a statement leading to trouble. Mature, intelligent and considerate 6th graders, grown in a cultural environment open to acceptance and diversity, would never say that.

If your kid is not socially considerate, still naive about social issues, and in need of a few additional years of nurturing , with all the due respect, consider going to a small private school (Holy Trinity is an excellent one). No Hardy, no Basis, no Latin. Maybe not even National Cathedral or St Albans. And turn to Hardy for your youngest child, when and if the school will be populated by 90% feeder school kids.

Not everyone thinks that it is a good thing when a school embraces Ebonycs. It just perpetuates rather than addresses a handicap that will hold back certain kids once they get into the job market.

Ok, agree, let me re-phrase: You do not need a thick skin to understand that this was an inappropriate statement. And a statement leading to trouble. Mature, intelligent and considerate Caucasian-American 6th graders, grown in a cultural environment open to acceptance and diversity, would never say that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is my question on testing. Deal does it in the feeder schools but then also does a shuffle the first month based on a retest, how long does Hardy wait? It can't really be done the first two weeks of school without some significant disruption.

What I would like to see is some standardized test that could be offered across the city for the advanced classes, or maybe on a Saturday for those using the lottery.

One can only expect so much out of one school, people can only do so many things at one time. If this is really an issue, then DCPS should be figuring out how to manage this better.

The Hardy testing process was never explained to 6th grade parents.

I get it: testing needs to be done during the first couple of weeks of the school year. If you test at the end of 5th grade or during the summer, you do not catch the student's potential and ability, you catch a noisy indicator that represents his/her abilities developed by the previous school. So at 50% you test how good his/her previous school was. As the Hardy Math Department has made clear in several public open meeting (I attended one last year in the school library open to parents from feeder schools) , the honors classes are meant not only for kids who have a stronger math background, but also for those who show a predisposition and a drive to do well. The latter two are variables that can be hardly tested, but can be detected in the classroom by teachers' expert eyes...

I get it. This has brought disruption and delayed start of the academics. However the disruptions would have had a lesser impact had we received advanced notice of the School's plans for testing. Disruptions had not been anticipated and explained to us. We were left wondering.... Kids were confused....I did not even know that the final schedules would have been distributed by the beginning of the third week of school... No notice on the website, no paper communication, no robocalls... This has been a big communication failure by the school.

All is ok now. But the initial 2 weeks of school, in the absence of clear communications by the School administration, have been hard on many of us and on some of the kids.

This is my point of view. Sorry for iphone typos.

Let me add that we are now finally settled , yesterday's Back to School Night was great, we got most of the infos we needed, and we were positively impressed by most of the teachers. We now remember why we chose this school. But two weeks of anxiety and confusion could have easily been avoided through better communication. I am not surprised that risk-adverse impatient parents who had alternatives decided to opt-out.

[Anonymous]

What teacher did not impress you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What teacher did not impress you?

All teachers impressed us. With a a few of them maybe we felt a strongest connection: Math, Science & Technology, SEM, art... English too but not sure about lack of reading at home (??), will want to get back there. Science was ill yesterday but we had met him last year at the science fair, he was fantastic, that's when our kid decided he want to go to Hardy. Geography good, my kid says he's his favorite teacher so I guess he knows how to manage the classroom and that's great. Goodbye for today, this blog makes me anxious.