Burke or Hardy for middle school

[CharleighM]

also hardy is a good feeder school for Wilson, SWW,Duke E.,and Ben B!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hardy. We found the MS academics at Burke anemic, and the quality of teaching pretty low too. In my book, that's not worth close to 40K.

Can you tell me more about this?

My DC did not complete MS there- we pulled DC out. He was way behind when he went to another private MS and needed tutoring to catch up.
The teachers were very poor in all core subjects and highly disorganized, with the exception of art and music. The classes seemed chaotic- kids calling out, sitting on the floor, not much order. And for a small school, they never seemed knowledgeable about my DC.

I find this surprising. I visited and was impressed with the language arts and social studies teachers. I did not meet the math teacher so cannot comment. Had mixed feelings about science, although the teacher was new. Music and art seemed great. Anyone else have feedback on the strength of the academics?

[Anonymous]

DD went to Hardy for 7th and 8th, now at Walls. Can't say we absolutely loved it but it was a solid experience for her. Some really great teachers, kids are kids whether from your neighborhood or not and she had friends and academic peers. I think there's great potential at Hardy. It seems to be getting stronger year to year and Principal Pride was very good our last year there. You can certainly visit and students can shadow if they want to. Don't be afraid of your child attending with students from other parts of DC. It makes it an even more enriching experience.

[Anonymous]

My dc can't shadow as he's not in a dcps school right now. I called and was told they can't allow non dcps students to shadow.

[Anonymous]

Reviving this thread since we have the same question. Any perspectives from parents with recent Hardy or Burke experience?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reviving this thread since we have the same question. Any perspectives from parents with recent Hardy or Burke experience?

one costs like $60k and the other is free, right?

Hardy is fine, very different from how it was. Not hard to avoid trouble. Motivated students who sit in the front of the class and drug dealers get tons of attention, middling students are allowed to float along, and get a typical US public school education. Nothing to write home about but also not at all dangerous, scary or subpar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reviving this thread since we have the same question. Any perspectives from parents with recent Hardy or Burke experience?

My child graduated from Hardy this past year and overall had a very positive experience. If your kid is motivated and advocates for themselves with teachers Hardy is a great choice. We were impressed with Principal Westover and overall she has had a positive impact on the school. There may be more disruptive students in Hardy than at a private school, but learning to deal with these issues is a valuable life skill as well.

[Anonymous]

I've always had the impression that Burke is the private school for kids who can't get in to the more well-known private schools, though it has comparatively expensive tuition as the more well-known private schools ($50k!) and less-good athletics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These are obviously two very different options - one a free public school, the other an expensive private.

My child went to Hardy and thrived -so I would say Hardy.

Another thing to keep in mind - once you go private, you probably are not going back to public (I know that in theory you could, but realistically, nobody does). But you can start at Hardy and if you are unhappy, move to Burke or elsewhere for private mid-year or in 7th grade. Or you can go private for high school, which a good number of Hardy families do.

So given all that, why not start at Hardy?

Can you say more about the academics at Hardy?

Hardy has three tiers of acceleration in math. All sixth graders take "accelerated" 6th grade math. The top 20% of that class can take algebra in 7th and geometry in 8th. (My kid is on this track and had a solid experience in algebra, despite a mid year teacher change.) The kids who don't do algebra can do accelerated 7th grade math, and then algebra in 8th, or else regular 7th grade math followed by regular 8th grade math. This year, for the first time, they're offering a physics elective for 8th graders who took algebra last year. (I assume this is with an eye toward these kids getting through Physics C level AP coursework in high school, which requires more than one year of physics.)

TL; DR, if your kid likes math and quant-y STEM, Hardy has good menu options.

Our family also appreciates that Hardy offers a fairly obscure language (Italian) with one of the best foreign language teachers in all of DCPS. Orchestra and band are great; other performing arts rather less so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've always had the impression that Burke is the private school for kids who can't get in to the more well-known private schools, though it has comparatively expensive tuition as the more well-known private schools ($50k!) and less-good athletics.

Most of the kids and parents who apply to Burke didn't apply to those "well-known" schools. Someone said it much better up thread, 8 years ago. Burke is the private school of choice for people who dislike private schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've always had the impression that Burke is the private school for kids who can't get in to the more well-known private schools, though it has comparatively expensive tuition as the more well-known private schools ($50k!) and less-good athletics.

Most of the kids and parents who apply to Burke didn't apply to those "well-known" schools. Someone said it much better up thread, 8 years ago. Burke is the private school of choice for people who dislike private schools.

And not everyone cares about athletics. I don't send my kid to Burke, I send them to another private school with less competitive, but plentiful, athletics. I want them to play lots of sports, but I don't care if they play at an elite level or if it leads to a college career. I do know that a standout athlete will have a sports future whether they got to Gonzaga or Burke, but there's no point in planning for their college career if they can't make it through highschool and if they like school at Burke it's the place to go.

My kid did not like school at Hardy, but it was an adequate education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've always had the impression that Burke is the private school for kids who can't get in to the more well-known private schools, though it has comparatively expensive tuition as the more well-known private schools ($50k!) and less-good athletics.

Most of the kids and parents who apply to Burke didn't apply to those "well-known" schools. Someone said it much better up thread, 8 years ago. Burke is the private school of choice for people who dislike private schools.

And not everyone cares about athletics. I don't send my kid to Burke, I send them to another private school with less competitive, but plentiful, athletics. I want them to play lots of sports, but I don't care if they play at an elite level or if it leads to a college career. I do know that a standout athlete will have a sports future whether they got to Gonzaga or Burke, but there's no point in planning for their college career if they can't make it through highschool and if they like school at Burke it's the place to go.

My kid did not like school at Hardy, but it was an adequate education.

"Standout athletes" are not going to choose Burke over a more athletics-focused school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've always had the impression that Burke is the private school for kids who can't get in to the more well-known private schools, though it has comparatively expensive tuition as the more well-known private schools ($50k!) and less-good athletics.

Most of the kids and parents who apply to Burke didn't apply to those "well-known" schools. Someone said it much better up thread, 8 years ago. Burke is the private school of choice for people who dislike private schools.

Yet still have no issues dropping $50k annually on a private school tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've always had the impression that Burke is the private school for kids who can't get in to the more well-known private schools, though it has comparatively expensive tuition as the more well-known private schools ($50k!) and less-good athletics.

Most of the kids and parents who apply to Burke didn't apply to those "well-known" schools. Someone said it much better up thread, 8 years ago. Burke is the private school of choice for people who dislike private schools.

And not everyone cares about athletics. I don't send my kid to Burke, I send them to another private school with less competitive, but plentiful, athletics. I want them to play lots of sports, but I don't care if they play at an elite level or if it leads to a college career. I do know that a standout athlete will have a sports future whether they got to Gonzaga or Burke, but there's no point in planning for their college career if they can't make it through highschool and if they like school at Burke it's the place to go.

My kid did not like school at Hardy, but it was an adequate education.

"Standout athletes" are not going to choose Burke over a more athletics-focused school.

Why would you ever think they would?

[Anonymous]

OP, does your kid want a small school or a larger school? I think that will be one of the biggest differences. Burke is tiny in middle school. That's great for some kids, but others might want a bigger social pool.