Deal and Hardy turnaround

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We're in Kent and would totally send our (currently very small) kids to Hardy if it turned around like Deal. Too housepoor to afford private for all the kids.

how many of your neighbors are willing to invest in Hardy? The only way Hardy becomes Deal is if your neighbors start investing in it - not letting others invest and riding their coat tails.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a current, happy, IB Hardy parent, I hope my perspectives on what is happening with regard to a turnaround is useful.

First, let me note that the families that do choose Hardy are very happy with it - for those who go there, there is not a sense that the school is broken or needs to be fixed. The opposite is true - we are happy with the teachers, pleased with the student body, like our administrators, and enjoying the new SEM program and the other opportunities at the school.

One thing holding back Hardy is the perception of what happened three or four years ago. Things were a mess because Pope got fired. But that era is over, Dr. Stefanus is in her second year, and the Principal situation is stable. But you wouldn't know that from talking to some of the parents from feeder schools or on this board. That perception from three or four years ago is stuck in their head and it will take some time to get it out.

Second, test scores are an issue for some. Hardy has a mixed student body - like Wilson in some ways. Many (IB and OB) students from families that prepare them well for school, but also a cohort that seems to be not so prepared. The well-prepared students do well on their tests; the other students, not as well (though Hardy has a very good record of taking poorly-performing students and moving them up on their DCAS percentile). When you mix those together, the schools test scores do not look as good as Deal. However, I can assure you, the teachers are good enough, and their is a critical mass of well-performing students such that those students are challenged and are learning at a rapid pace.

So, over time, I suspect that more IB families will come. I hope they do, because Hardy is a good school. But they need to overcome ill-informed perceptions and actually take a look a the good things happening at Hardy.

Hope that helps.

IB Hardy Parent

Great to hear that Hardy is doing well! We liked it when our kid was there under Principal Pope and had been dismayed at what we'd been hearing from afar. So glad to know things are going well again!

[Anonymous]

Principal Pope did not get fired. He was given an opportunity to starte anew at an elementary school in Southeast. The school that Pope is at the helm is doing marvelously well.

[Anonymous]

I'm another happy Hardy parent. We're fine with it not being another Deal. Come and see if for yourself. It's small and that's good, it's got some great teachers and the building is nice and not all the kids are rich and snobby.. They're real.

[Anonymous]

Do people zoned for Hardy say from Mann still get the opportunity of attending Wilson just not Deal? We are in a charter now because academically we thought it would beat Hardy, and it has, but not so psyched about the high school at the school and just assumed we had the choice to opt in for high school at
Wilson. Any idea where Key etc get to go to high school by right?

[Anonymous]

You are IB for Wilson. Doesn't matter where your child goes to middle school.

[Anonymous]

I should say that if Mann is your ES then you are IB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: The school that Pope is at the helm is doing marvelously well.

It's Savoy Elementary, near the Anacostia metro. He got there in the spring of 2011, so he's had the 2011-12 school year and now this one to lead the school. It has had some awesome visitors (Yo-yo Ma, Kerry Washington) but the DC-CAS scores haven't really improved so far.

In 2011, 15% of kids were proficient or advanced in math; in 2012 it was 16% The percent of kids at the below basic level went up from 38 to 44.
Reading is actually worse: 21% of kids were proficient or advanced in 2011 and only 20% in 2012. The percent of kids at the below basic level went up from 29 to 35.

Attendance also went down from 2011 to 2012, as did retention of highly-performing teachers (none left in 2011; 10% left in 2012).

Obviously a short time-frame, but I'm not super impressed.

[Anonymous]

1. Deal didn't need to turn-around -- it's been a great school for years -- because it's in a great neighborhood and has always had a lot of IB students.

2. regarding Pope at Savoy -- are student test scores the only measure of success?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would jump start the process to make Eaton and Oyster into Hardy feeders, since they're closer to Hardy than Deal anyway.

Mann is closer to Deal than it is to Hardy, yet it feeds Hardy. Eaton and Oyster should too.

Again, it is actually much harder for students living near the Woodley Park or Cleveland Park stations to get to Hardy than it is for them to simply jump on a train and hop out a couple of minutes later at Tenleytown. Please keep in mind that middle school kids will not be delivered by minivan!!

Go past Deal any morning or afternoon and you will see that lots of middle schoolers are indeed delivered by minivan. Find a better argument.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Attendance [at Savoy] also went down from 2011 to 2012, as did retention of highly-performing teachers (none left in 2011; 10% left in 2012).

Obviously a short time-frame, but I'm not super impressed.

So where did you get the stats about attendance and retention highly performing teachers? Please provide the links. It seems like you have access to hard-to-find info.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would jump start the process to make Eaton and Oyster into Hardy feeders, since they're closer to Hardy than Deal anyway.

Mann is closer to Deal than it is to Hardy, yet it feeds Hardy. Eaton and Oyster should too.

Again, it is actually much harder for students living near the Woodley Park or Cleveland Park stations to get to Hardy than it is for them to simply jump on a train and hop out a couple of minutes later at Tenleytown. Please keep in mind that middle school kids will not be delivered by minivan!!

Go past Deal any morning or afternoon and you will see that lots of middle schoolers are indeed delivered by minivan. Find a better argument.

Deal students coming from truly transit-accessible neighborhoods are not delivered by minivan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Attendance [at Savoy] also went down from 2011 to 2012, as did retention of highly-performing teachers (none left in 2011; 10% left in 2012).

Obviously a short time-frame, but I'm not super impressed.

So where did you get the stats about attendance and retention highly performing teachers? Please provide the links. It seems like you have access to hard-to-find info.

Not hard to find at all. Go to http://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/Savoy+Elementary+School and click "see more" under the "student performance at a glance" section.
The 95% attendance rate is under "unique school indicators" and retention of teachers is under "safe and effective schools."

And I agree that test scores are not the sole measure of school achievement. However,

a) if not this, what? kids coming to school? good teachers sticking around? those aren't going well either. There must be some measure of a good school, and I don't think "Yo-Yo Ma coming" is an effective way to compare it. Especially since 17% of kids had 15 or more absences last school year and therefore a fair number of students probably weren't even there to meet him.

b) if 80% of kids cannot pass the DC-CAS reading test, it doesn't matter if they like school, get to sing and dance and do art, whatever. I'm not saying everyone has to be advanced. But if you cannot read at an elementary school level, that could make the difference between a functional adulthood and one requiring a lot of assistance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. Deal didn't need to turn-around -- it's been a great school for years -- because it's in a great neighborhood and has always had a lot of IB students.

2. regarding Pope at Savoy -- are student test scores the only measure of success?

Deal has definitely improved in the past 12 years or so. Before that, you'd sometimes hear jokes in Ward 3 that "Deal" described illicit transactions at the school. Now everyone wants the option to send their kids there.

[Anonymous]

Test scores are not an impressionable bookmark. In that case then Pope is doing just fine, one-day at a time.