So how many IB are going to really be at Hardy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hardy sparks such ire because:
- a lot of the IB families go private but really can't afford to. The rise of Hardy is threatening their stream of logic . . .
- other IB families think that if they diss hardy enough they'll get a new middle school . . . Which is not happening
- some charter school boosters don't want a successful hardy to siphon off a lot of high testing Latin/basis students.

So there you have it. The vast reasonable majority (based on my key playground observations) are relieved Hardy is on the upswing and hope it succeeds.

How about the fact that most parents in the IB community just don't feel that Hardy is up to the standards that they would expect of a middle school? I mean Deal may be the best general middle school in DC but it's not Exeter, so how hard is it to be as good as Deal? But Hardy still lags significantly behind so IB parents consider it to be a "bad deal" (pun intended_.

Yeah, we get it. But it remains a mystery why those parents seem more focused on beating Hardy up and spreading false rumors and misinformation then in investing the time and effort to bring Hardy up to their standards.

Maybe because they don't want their kids to be guinea pigs while Hardy struggles to improve. Middle school years are so important, and after 2 or 3 years the kids are gone. That's not enough time for incremental change to produce tangible improvement.

[Anonymous]

It's the paradox of improving schools. If more IB families invested in the school than the school would improve faster. But many familis (understandably) is risk adverse about send their kid to a school that is still improving. So improvement comes slowly and is most achieved by OOB students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hardy sparks such ire because:
- a lot of the IB families go private but really can't afford to. The rise of Hardy is threatening their stream of logic . . .
- other IB families think that if they diss hardy enough they'll get a new middle school . . . Which is not happening
- some charter school boosters don't want a successful hardy to siphon off a lot of high testing Latin/basis students.

So there you have it. The vast reasonable majority (based on my key playground observations) are relieved Hardy is on the upswing and hope it succeeds.

How about the fact that most parents in the IB community just don't feel that Hardy is up to the standards that they would expect of a middle school? I mean Deal may be the best general middle school in DC but it's not Exeter, so how hard is it to be as good as Deal? But Hardy still lags significantly behind so IB parents consider it to be a "bad deal" (pun intended_.

Yeah, we get it. But it remains a mystery why those parents seem more focused on beating Hardy up and spreading false rumors and misinformation then in investing the time and effort to bring Hardy up to their standards.

Maybe because they don't want their kids to be guinea pigs while Hardy struggles to improve. Middle school years are so important, and after 2 or 3 years the kids are gone. That's not enough time for incremental change to produce tangible improvement.

It's fine if you don't want to send your kids to Hardy because you're afraid. Clearly the school isn't going to work for parents who feel their kids would be "guinea pigs." They can do whatever they like. But their willingness to spend hours and hours on this thread rehashing all the reasons that they hate it is bizarre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hardy sparks such ire because:
- a lot of the IB families go private but really can't afford to. The rise of Hardy is threatening their stream of logic . . .
- other IB families think that if they diss hardy enough they'll get a new middle school . . . Which is not happening
- some charter school boosters don't want a successful hardy to siphon off a lot of high testing Latin/basis students.

So there you have it. The vast reasonable majority (based on my key playground observations) are relieved Hardy is on the upswing and hope it succeeds.

How about the fact that most parents in the IB community just don't feel that Hardy is up to the standards that they would expect of a middle school? I mean Deal may be the best general middle school in DC but it's not Exeter, so how hard is it to be as good as Deal? But Hardy still lags significantly behind so IB parents consider it to be a "bad deal" (pun intended_.

Yeah, we get it. But it remains a mystery why those parents seem more focused on beating Hardy up and spreading false rumors and misinformation then in investing the time and effort to bring Hardy up to their standards.

Denying that problems exist doesn't get them solved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's the paradox of improving schools. If more IB families invested in the school than the school would improve faster. But many familis (understandably) is risk adverse about send their kid to a school that is still improving. So improvement comes slowly and is most achieved by OOB students.

All schools should be improving constantly. Good schools that are not "still improving" risk being left behind. So that's not the issue. The issue with Hardy is that most IB parents avoid it.

[Anonymous]

15%. Profiles came out today. Discuss.

[Anonymous]

Not much to discuss. It does not seem that Hardy attracted the number of IB students they'd hoped for. Am I wrong?

[Anonymous]

As expected, IB percentage is going up, albeit slowly. It will go up again next year, and a bit again as the first of my kids joins in 2 years. We are 100 percent onboard with Hardy, as is a large chunk of our cohort at Stoddert.

[Anonymous]

I am sure Pride is disappointed along with a lot of IB parents who had high hopes.

[Anonymous]

Can we now put this thread to rest until next year? I think this horse has been beaten to death several dozen times over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not much to discuss. It does not seem that Hardy attracted the number of IB students they'd hoped for. Am I wrong?

The number of IB went up from 13% to 15%. That is "true" IB and does not include OOB from feeders. Slow but steady progress. It is not over the 'turning point yet" but presumably everyone IB who thought it was acceptable at 13% will still do so now that it is 15%, and probably a few who thought it not acceptable at 13% will consider it acceptable at 15%. So the number should go up next year (it would go up anyway due to the cohort effect, but even more because more pick it) Will it be 70% IB by the time your snowflake 3rd grader is ready to attend? No, but that probably does not really matter to DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am sure Pride is disappointed along with a lot of IB parents who had high hopes.

What is disappointing? The % IB increased from 11% to 15% in one year. Considering that that was all in the 6th grade. that is a 12% increase in the 6th grade - or about 16 new IB kids. That's a pretty good number, especially considering that last year was the first year that Pride was there to actively recruit parents, and had already lost a lot of kids who never even made it to 5th grade because they bailed for charters. If she continues making this kind of progress, I would expect Hardy to hit its tipping point within 2 years.

[Anonymous]

Yup. This is the progress any cold-calculating supporter of Hardy expected. Similar growth in IB next year, again with the 6th grade being decidedly more IB than other grades. Big bump come in two years. We will all consider that the tipping point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yup. This is the progress any cold-calculating supporter of Hardy expected. Similar growth in IB next year, again with the 6th grade being decidedly more IB than other grades. Big bump come in two years. We will all consider that the tipping point.

Good for you! Keep dreaming (or keep the dream alive)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sure Pride is disappointed along with a lot of IB parents who had high hopes.

What is disappointing? The % IB increased from 11% to 15% in one year. Considering that that was all in the 6th grade. that is a 12% increase in the 6th grade - or about 16 new IB kids. That's a pretty good number, especially considering that last year was the first year that Pride was there to actively recruit parents, and had already lost a lot of kids who never even made it to 5th grade because they bailed for charters. If she continues making this kind of progress, I would expect Hardy to hit its tipping point within 2 years.

So how many IB kids, total, are in 6th grade this year? The school-wide increase is due solely to the increase in 6th grade enrollees; but DCPS does not provide the per-grade numbers (not surprised. morons.). It would be nice to know the rate of increase in the slope.