Burke or Hardy for middle school

[Anonymous]

My DC is not very sporty, but likes science and art. DC also does well in smaller less chaotic environments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC is not very sporty, but likes science and art. DC also does well in smaller less chaotic environments.

well, it's very hard to make the soccer team at hardy and everyone can make football and lacrosse, you just have to be willing to have the tar beat out of you by every other team, and so no one takes it very seriously.

[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.

This was not my daughter's experience. The teachers are good. Both my daughters excelled at Hardy and were well known and challenged by their teachers. The teachers don't always have a lot of patience for those who misbehave, and kids with learning disabilities are not always well served. My eldest daughter has gone into to high school with straight As and very high standardized test scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

This was not my daughter's experience. The teachers are good. Both my daughters excelled at Hardy and were well known and challenged by their teachers. The teachers don't always have a lot of patience for those who misbehave, and kids with learning disabilities are not always well served. My eldest daughter has gone into to high school with straight As and very high standardized test scores.

Each teacher has 150 students—they know the kids who sit in the front row and raise their hands and they know the kids bringing weed to school. Our kid was neither and we were flat out told by one teacher, "I don't know him, he doesn't speak up and I don't have time to get to know every kid."

[Anonymous]

Hardy. Also note, hardy's demographics are still changing. It only went majority in-boundary in 2020. it now is 65% in boundary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Please note that DCPS schools are not typical of US public school education. The quality of education is consistently subpar compared to the nation.

[Anonymous]

Our son goes to Burke and it’s been an amazing experience for him. He loves it there. There are no grades until 8th grade, so I wouldn’t call the academics rigorous in middle school. The writing instruction exceeded what my oldest got at Deal and probably the math instruction wasn’t as good. But, my oldest is more of a math kid, so that could explain the difference too. The school is tiny and my son loves that. He has close relationships with his teachers, who seem really invested in their students, and he’s made a great group of friends and is incredibly happy at the school. He also especially loves the arts program and has found that the performing arts classes have brought out a whole new side of him that none of us could have expected. But, it’s not really for everyone. The sports teams can struggle because they don’t cut anyone. It can be hard socially if you can’t find people you really like. It’s not full of kids/families that are striving as hard as some do at the better regraded privates.

[Anonymous]

Burke is the best option .No regrets.

[Anonymous]

We thought the academics at Burke were pretty weak, unfortunately. We wanted to love the school but it really doesn’t cater to kids that are above average. It provides tons of support for kids who need it. My kid flew under the radar there, just like they did in public school. We opted to save $200k on high school and go back to public.
There are about 8-9 kids who are not staying for HS, FYI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We thought the academics at Burke were pretty weak, unfortunately. We wanted to love the school but it really doesn’t cater to kids that are above average. It provides tons of support for kids who need it. My kid flew under the radar there, just like they did in public school. We opted to save $200k on high school and go back to public.
There are about 8-9 kids who are not staying for HS, FYI.

The academics at Burke are definitely not worth the tuition price.

[Anonymous]

My kids have had a great experience at Hardy. YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids have had a great experience at Hardy. YMMV.

+1

[Anonymous]

I agree that Burke's MS academics could be stronger, although the school emphasizes soft skills such as collaboration, risk-taking, and self-advocacy. IMO, the academics follow a clear mission and purpose and are still significantly better than what students would receive at Deal or Hardy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that Burke's MS academics could be stronger, although the school emphasizes soft skills such as collaboration, risk-taking, and self-advocacy. IMO, the academics follow a clear mission and purpose and are still significantly better than what students would receive at Deal or Hardy.

YMMV and based on what parents I know who have had actual kids at both Deal and Burke, this is not universally true at all. 25% of my child’s MS class did not stay for HS, which included many of the highest performing kids in the class. This is not to say any of them are geniuses or would be considered that in a bigger pool, but that many in this set of families did not think it was worth the price tag at all. (Nonetheless we have warm feelings about the school and our kids had lovely experiences. Just not academically rigorous. )

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that Burke's MS academics could be stronger, although the school emphasizes soft skills such as collaboration, risk-taking, and self-advocacy. IMO, the academics follow a clear mission and purpose and are still significantly better than what students would receive at Deal or Hardy.

Better, maybe, but not "significantly" better and certainly not $50k annually better.