So, what is wrong with Hardy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Hardy has tracked classes with an advanced level, why on earth is it not as good or better than deal? Totally honest question.

What some of us have been trying to say for ages is that for advanced kids, it is as good or better than Deal. The reply to that is aways "But the test scores." And the answer to that is that the test scores measure demography, not school quality.

The tracked advanced classes are a very very recent development, and last year the principal was honest with interested Mann parents and admitted that they would only have advanced classes if there were enough kids to justify it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it true Hardy turns no one down in the lottery?

Not sure about this year. Last year there was a waitlist but everyone on it got called eventually and they didn't quite fill the school.

It's political. Hardy serves as a safety valve for those trying to avoid truly crappy middle schools.

What surprises me is that folks will debate for months on DCUM about uniforms, IB numbers, SEM, etc.. yet fail to appreciate this obvious truth.

That's because it is neither obvious nor truth. If IB parents attend Hardy then there will be no room for OOB students. And nobody is trying to keep IB parents out. In fact, DCPS and Principal Pride have been doing backflips trying to get IB parents to attend.

But the unspoken corollary here is that IB families are unenthusiastic about joining a community comprised predominantly of OOB families avoiding their crappy local options.

BINGO

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Hardy has tracked classes with an advanced level, why on earth is it not as good or better than deal? Totally honest question.

What some of us have been trying to say for ages is that for advanced kids, it is as good or better than Deal. The reply to that is aways "But the test scores." And the answer to that is that the test scores measure demography, not school quality.

The tracked advanced classes are a very very recent development, and last year the principal was honest with interested Mann parents and admitted that they would only have advanced classes if there were enough kids to justify it.

Not true. Honors and accelerated math has been there for at least 5 years. Honors English and science (science from 7th grade) from last year.
Pre-algebra in 6th starting from the second term for eligible students was introduced this year. additionally, starting from this year geometry has been brought in house ( until last year the eligible students had to go to Duke Ellington for geometry).

Honors classes have been more than filled in 6th grade due to the high numbers of kids from feeder schools plus several other advanced kids from other schools (several from Brent). in fact two honors classes were created for both math and English.

[Anonymous]

Congratulations Hardy bashers. You've pushed the thread past the 30-page mark. Only 70 more to go to beat the other trash-Hardy-with-the-same-four-recycled-topics thread.

Keep up the hate!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Hardy has tracked classes with an advanced level, why on earth is it not as good or better than deal? Totally honest question.

What some of us have been trying to say for ages is that for advanced kids, it is as good or better than Deal. The reply to that is aways "But the test scores." And the answer to that is that the test scores measure demography, not school quality.

The tracked advanced classes are a very very recent development, and last year the principal was honest with interested Mann parents and admitted that they would only have advanced classes if there were enough kids to justify it.

Not true. Honors and accelerated math has been there for at least 5 years. Honors English and science (science from 7th grade) from last year.
Pre-algebra in 6th starting from the second term for eligible students was introduced this year. additionally, starting from this year geometry has been brought in house ( until last year the eligible students had to go to Duke Ellington for geometry).

Honors classes have been more than filled in 6th grade due to the high numbers of kids from feeder schools plus several other advanced kids from other schools (several from Brent). in fact two honors classes were created for both math and English.

Also, clearly there are plenty of kids to fill the classes. I would think Eaton parents should just devote time and energy to maintaing the honors track and then go en masse to Hardy and it will be a great school, likely then drawing in parents from K and M.

[Anonymous]

25% of last year's Mann's 5th grade are at Hardy this year.

So Mann is already on board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:25% of last year's Mann's 5th grade are at Hardy this year.

So Mann is already on board.

There you go!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:25% of last year's Mann's 5th grade are at Hardy this year.

So Mann is already on board.

There you go!

6 kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:25% of last year's Mann's 5th grade are at Hardy this year.

So Mann is already on board.

There you go!

Because most left in 4th and 5th. How many in Mann 3rd grade vs 5th?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it true Hardy turns no one down in the lottery?

Not sure about this year. Last year there was a waitlist but everyone on it got called eventually and they didn't quite fill the school.

It's political. Hardy serves as a safety valve for those trying to avoid truly crappy middle schools.

What surprises me is that folks will debate for months on DCUM about uniforms, IB numbers, SEM, etc.. yet fail to appreciate this obvious truth.

That's because it is neither obvious nor truth. If IB parents attend Hardy then there will be no room for OOB students. And nobody is trying to keep IB parents out. In fact, DCPS and Principal Pride have been doing backflips trying to get IB parents to attend.

But the unspoken corollary here is that IB families are unenthusiastic about joining a community comprised predominantly of OOB families avoiding their crappy local options.

BINGO

You know, of all the unspoken assumptions about Hardy, the unspoken assumption that all OOB kids are academically incomepetent is the one that bothers me the most. You all recognize that there are plenty of high-performing OOB kids that attend Hardy, don't you?

[Anonymous]

IB Mann here. I agree with the previous poster. The arguments against Hardy are, at times, comical. (Some are legitimate.) But to pretend like all OOB -- let alone OOB coming from Brent -- are deficient is pathological.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a current Stoddert parent who toured Hardy, and I was literally running for the exit.

I recently visited St Anselm's with high expectations (MS has been ranked "best MS in DC for 3 years in a row by a well-respected source), and I was literally running for the exit.

What didn't you like about it?

PP here: It seemed chaotic and loud in the halls. I wasn't impressed with the teachers, and the students could not have looked any more unenthused or detached from the classroom. After touring I understand why my two sons don't want to go to Hardy (based on their observations when they are in the building every Friday for Filmore.)

I visited the school several times (first time during the feeder school open house, and then for private meetings with the Principal and then during the school Science Fair) and had the opposite impression on each of the points you mentioned.

On the open house day, we witnessed students moving between classes at the end of each period (we saw two periods). Most of us were positively impressed by how quick this transition was. Yes, it was noisy since you have (at each floor) more than 100 students simultaneously moving to different classes, and going different directions ... It lasted just about 4 minutes and then all was silent again. Visiting parents asked the Assistant Principal (a guy who was at Wilson until last year) how come it was so quick and smooth? He explained that students have 4 mins to move between classes after the bell ring. If they take longer, they are marked as "tardy" (and large number of tardies will prompt the school to call for a meeting with the families; OB students with a large numbers of tardies in the first morning class, I think he said 30, may not be invited back to the school on the following year).

Inside the class, students looked very engaged and well-behaved. Class size was small to very small (15-20 kids). On the day of my visit, we checked on the 6th grade art class on the first floor, where the atmosphere looked "magical" (kids drawing and talking with soft voice, charismatic teacher), and then we went to a STEM 6th grade class on the second or third floor, where kids (about 15) looked very engaged and interacted with us in a polite way after the teacher had explained what they were doing on that day and during the year . The teacher herself impressed most of the parents.

On one of the follow-up visits, we arrived around lunch time , and as we were early for our meeting with Principal Pride, we sneaked in to take a look at the cafeteria in action. First we noticed a "self-serve" salad bar at the center of the cafeteria, where kids could pick fresh vegetables of their choice. Though several kids looked uninterested in raw carrots , cucumbers and coleslaw, I know that our DC will. That was a nice unexpected surprise. The cafeteria was loud-loud but the atmosphere was nice and disciplined. I noticed at least 2 adults supervising the cafeteria.

We went back to Hardy this time with our DC, together with another Stoddert 5th grade family, during the school "Science Fair" (about 1 month ago) in the gym. THE KIDS LOVED IT!! And that's when we made our final decision in favor of Hardy. The Fair was very well organized in the school gym (which is huge), projects were on average of high quality, presented through posters as well as in power point (!). We got to talk to the 6th grade science teacher (the kids seemed to adore him), with the STEM teacher we had met during the first open house, as well as with the 8th grade science teacher. Students body seemed racially very well integrated, with most teams made up of multi-racial members. The 6th grade science teacher explained to us that the teams has formed spontaneously. Principal Pride was there too, we told her that we had made up our mind and will join the school for next year....She looked sincerely thrilled, welcomed us an gave the girls a hug!!

So, what can I say, maybe you visited the school in a bad mood or with a negative attitude.. I would suggest that you take a second look, maybe during one of the baskeball games, which your boys might find more interesting than the Fillmore art program...

Thanks for the long reply, I was actually asking about the impression given about St. Anselm's. My family and I love the Abbey community and program, and I'm curious if it was a bad tour or shadow visit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a current Stoddert parent who toured Hardy, and I was literally running for the exit.

I recently visited St Anselm's with high expectations (MS has been ranked "best MS in DC for 3 years in a row by a well-respected source), and I was literally running for the exit.

What didn't you like about it?

PP here: It seemed chaotic and loud in the halls. I wasn't impressed with the teachers, and the students could not have looked any more unenthused or detached from the classroom. After touring I understand why my two sons don't want to go to Hardy (based on their observations when they are in the building every Friday for Filmore.)

I visited the school several times (first time during the feeder school open house, and then for private meetings with the Principal and then during the school Science Fair) and had the opposite impression on each of the points you mentioned.

On the open house day, we witnessed students moving between classes at the end of each period (we saw two periods). Most of us were positively impressed by how quick this transition was. Yes, it was noisy since you have (at each floor) more than 100 students simultaneously moving to different classes, and going different directions ... It lasted just about 4 minutes and then all was silent again. Visiting parents asked the Assistant Principal (a guy who was at Wilson until last year) how come it was so quick and smooth? He explained that students have 4 mins to move between classes after the bell ring. If they take longer, they are marked as "tardy" (and large number of tardies will prompt the school to call for a meeting with the families; OB students with a large numbers of tardies in the first morning class, I think he said 30, may not be invited back to the school on the following year).

Inside the class, students looked very engaged and well-behaved. Class size was small to very small (15-20 kids). On the day of my visit, we checked on the 6th grade art class on the first floor, where the atmosphere looked "magical" (kids drawing and talking with soft voice, charismatic teacher), and then we went to a STEM 6th grade class on the second or third floor, where kids (about 15) looked very engaged and interacted with us in a polite way after the teacher had explained what they were doing on that day and during the year . The teacher herself impressed most of the parents.

On one of the follow-up visits, we arrived around lunch time , and as we were early for our meeting with Principal Pride, we sneaked in to take a look at the cafeteria in action. First we noticed a "self-serve" salad bar at the center of the cafeteria, where kids could pick fresh vegetables of their choice. Though several kids looked uninterested in raw carrots , cucumbers and coleslaw, I know that our DC will. That was a nice unexpected surprise. The cafeteria was loud-loud but the atmosphere was nice and disciplined. I noticed at least 2 adults supervising the cafeteria.

We went back to Hardy this time with our DC, together with another Stoddert 5th grade family, during the school "Science Fair" (about 1 month ago) in the gym. THE KIDS LOVED IT!! And that's when we made our final decision in favor of Hardy. The Fair was very well organized in the school gym (which is huge), projects were on average of high quality, presented through posters as well as in power point (!). We got to talk to the 6th grade science teacher (the kids seemed to adore him), with the STEM teacher we had met during the first open house, as well as with the 8th grade science teacher. Students body seemed racially very well integrated, with most teams made up of multi-racial members. The 6th grade science teacher explained to us that the teams has formed spontaneously. Principal Pride was there too, we told her that we had made up our mind and will join the school for next year....She looked sincerely thrilled, welcomed us an gave the girls a hug!!

So, what can I say, maybe you visited the school in a bad mood or with a negative attitude.. I would suggest that you take a second look, maybe during one of the baskeball games, which your boys might find more interesting than the Fillmore art program...

Thanks for the long reply, I was actually asking about the impression given about St. Anselm's. My family and I love the Abbey community and program, and I'm curious if it was a bad tour or shadow visit.

Not the PP, but I also left the St Anselm's tour with a very negative feeling about the idea of my kid in that school.

Every thing about the school (from the pictures on the wall, talks with current parents, and the administrators and teachers we met during the visit) is about nurturing and preparing great leaders, not good citizens. However, as it often happens, many individuals just do not have the talent to be leaders (in business, politics, academia) or fail to build the necessary skills. In these cases you can just end up with individuals who are schooled to elitism, who lack a sense and interest in social cohesion, or won't be able to figure out their place in society..Have you ever met this type of persons (who show a disconnection between their projection of themselves, and how the most of society sees them?) . Well we think this type of school just nourishes this type of personality.

We visited several other private schools (in addition to Hardy). In schools like GDS, Holy Trinity (with a religious "accent" if you wish) the drive for academic excellence is conceived and passed to the students as an instrument to become successful contributors inside the society. Not to rule or dominate the society.

Bottom line, our choice for next year will be between GDS, Holy Trinity and Hardy. We might end up at Hardy (very impressed especially with the science and math depts.) , as our DC is very advanced and would most likely end up in the honors/accelerated tracks. We value diversity in general, and for his growth, and we do not see how it would "damage" our kid, especially in the presence of diversified tracks for math & English (not worried about standard classes for science and social studies). We might reconsider private schools for HS.

We still have one year to decide, but we definitely crossed out St Anselm's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:25% of last year's Mann's 5th grade are at Hardy this year.

So Mann is already on board.

There you go!

6 kids?

A) Yes, 6 kids. But this is still 25% of last year's 5th grade cohort. What would you expect? From 0% to 100% ? I think that a jump from 0% to 25% after just one year of Ms Pride's era is a great success.

B) True that several students left the school after 4th grade. But when you talk to them (siblings are still at M.), you just realize that a good share of the families (which on average have $$ millions in wealth, just see the median price of houses in Wesley Heights and Spring Valley) left in 4th grade because parents we uncomfortable with the idea of one entire 5th grade year in a 20 x 20 feet trailer, with no toilet (toilet is actually inside the trailers, but kids do not use it because due to poor insulation and being nested inside such a small space, they say you hear and smell everything).

Everybody knows (and it's already been included in next year's programming) that just with the new building, the 5th grade retention will increase by more than 50%.

This is to say that exodus from Mann in 4th grade (cutting in half the school population) is only partially a brain drain for what were considered as "better" private/charter schools. It is also due to a significant "trailer drain" of families who do not see their kids spending one year in a claustrophobic trailer, where you get wet if you need to reach the main building to pee when it rains.

With two 5th grade classes, academic year 2016-2017 will see a larger than ever wave of Mann students to Hardy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:25% of last year's Mann's 5th grade are at Hardy this year.

So Mann is already on board.

There you go!

6 kids?

A) Yes, 6 kids. But this is still 25% of last year's 5th grade cohort. What would you expect? From 0% to 100% ? I think that a jump from 0% to 25% after just one year of Ms Pride's era is a great success.

B) True that several students left the school after 4th grade. But when you talk to them (siblings are still at M.), you just realize that a good share of the families (which on average have $$ millions in wealth, just see the median price of houses in Wesley Heights and Spring Valley) left in 4th grade because parents we uncomfortable with the idea of one entire 5th grade year in a 20 x 20 feet trailer, with no toilet (toilet is actually inside the trailers, but kids do not use it because due to poor insulation and being nested inside such a small space, they say you hear and smell everything).

Everybody knows (and it's already been included in next year's programming) that just with the new building, the 5th grade retention will increase by more than 50%.

This is to say that exodus from Mann in 4th grade (cutting in half the school population) is only partially a brain drain for what were considered as "better" private/charter schools. It is also due to a significant "trailer drain" of families who do not see their kids spending one year in a claustrophobic trailer, where you get wet if you need to reach the main building to pee when it rains.

With two 5th grade classes, academic year 2016-2017 will see a larger than ever wave of Mann students to Hardy.

So your point is that Mann numbers are bound to go up because students who would not have been interested in Hardy are leaving Mann early because they are trailer-averse?