Hardy - extended day

[Anonymous]

DCPS's website indicates that Hardy is a limited participation in the 2016-17 extended school day program. http://dcps.dc.gov/page/extended-day

How does that work? Is it extended day for just some kids? Does everyone know who they are? Can students in extended day do extra curriculars?

[Anonymous]

Supposedly the school offers a optional "9th period" which was a big selling point of the principal when our DC was in 5th grade at a feeder ES. The 9th period was used to contrast the richness of academic offerings compared to Deal. However it does not exist (DC is in 7th grade now at Hardy). There is a list of extracurricular clubs but it's not finalized until long after the school year begins (so impossible to plan non-school lessons and activities around) and are subject to frequent cancellation and movement to another day.

[Anonymous]

What a disaster, and a shame. Is there a fix on the horizon?

[Anonymous]

No. Principal is just trying to survive parent unhappiness about being sold a bill of goods about bullying, behavior problems. Daily fires to put out. No intermediate or long-term strategy. Add to this very overcrowded classes in 7th and 8th grade. Unfortunately the problem seems to be with lack of strong leadership at top and trust in senior leadership team (which is mostly very strong). Teachers generally pretty good (with notable exceptions) when they are actually there. Definitely feel or DC is falling behind academically as teachers are concentrating on the bottom and the trouble makers.

[Anonymous]

What are the class sizes for 7th and 8th?

[Anonymous]

24-28 in all four my my DC's core classes (ELA honors, math honors, science, social studies). Higher numbers in 8th grade classrooms. Seemingly no strategic planning for influx of next year's 6th grade IB based on current 5th grade enrollment. Once through 6th grade, the honors classes are swamped - desperately need additional honors sections, or finally recognize that more of the student body is "honors" in comparison to past Hardy student body (e.g. able to accelerate through material at faster and more in-depth pace), and the residual student body is taught at the snail's pace students now plod through.

PE is well-known disaster start to finish in all grades, with intense locker room bullying during unmonitored dress-out/dress-in, teacher on phone throughout class, students doing what they want and not participating or outright ignoring teacher. Students are supposed to be having "health education" for nine weeks of each PE curriculum (new this year) but teachers are ill-equipped/-prepared/-trained to actually teach anything of substance beyond rules of volleyball or hollering at kids in a gym or on a field. Academic teachers definitely are making an effort but 7th grade ELA teacher departing mid-year for a different MS due to challenging commute, so an entire grade-level of students will be starting over with a new instructor weeks before PARCC. SocSci teacher is new and very earnest, having been a long-term sub all of last year, but lacking skills and experience to command classroom's attention (frustrating to DC who adores the 7th grade topic of ancient civilizations but behavior disruptions are constant). Student cell phone use rampant throughout the day and during class despite supposedly strict rules that the Administration makes a big show of enforcing (we have concluded teachers just look to other way?). Woe to the child that actually makes a complaint or identifies brawling girls during recess - will be tainted as a "snitch" for speaking up in the interest of helping foster a learning environment. Concerns elevated to school leadership routinely dismissed as typical middle school behavior and parents made to feel they should be helping toughen up their DC ("we're not in elementary school anymore") and not have concerns about the daily reports that come home. We went with that approach until bruises showed up on DC and DC was subject of taunting social media.

[Anonymous]

4:40 -- is your child still attending Hardy?

[Anonymous]

Extended day at Hardy was tentatively launched in Sept. 2014 (administered by a private provider, who had been selected by the Principal). Fewer than 5 kids/family enrolled. The program proved unsustainable and was halted after a few weeks. I do not think the Principal will attempt re-launching it. Interested parents should count their numbers and re-approach the same or a different company. I am sure the Principal/DCPS will make the space available if a sufficient number of interested families were committed.

The truth is that, after a few weeks of middle school, most families realize that their 6th graders are capable of going back home alone and stay home and do homework on their own.

Some Hardy students go to the Jelleff after school program or to the Georgetown Library and hangout with friends for some time before heading home. When my son was at Hardy, I could easily able to find information of the afterschool offerings at Jelleff and at the Georgetown Library from their respective website.

Students can also stay an extra hour in the Library , but back then Ms Pride was very clear in stating that this could not be considered a reliable after-school arrangement, due to capacity constraints of the library and unavailability of the librarian on some days after school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:24-28 in all four my my DC's core classes (ELA honors, math honors, science, social studies). Higher numbers in 8th grade classrooms. Seemingly no strategic planning for influx of next year's 6th grade IB based on current 5th grade enrollment. Once through 6th grade, the honors classes are swamped - desperately need additional honors sections, or finally recognize that more of the student body is "honors" in comparison to past Hardy student body (e.g. able to accelerate through material at faster and more in-depth pace), and the residual student body is taught at the snail's pace students now plod through.

PE is well-known disaster start to finish in all grades, with intense locker room bullying during unmonitored dress-out/dress-in, teacher on phone throughout class, students doing what they want and not participating or outright ignoring teacher. Students are supposed to be having "health education" for nine weeks of each PE curriculum (new this year) but teachers are ill-equipped/-prepared/-trained to actually teach anything of substance beyond rules of volleyball or hollering at kids in a gym or on a field. Academic teachers definitely are making an effort but 7th grade ELA teacher departing mid-year for a different MS due to challenging commute, so an entire grade-level of students will be starting over with a new instructor weeks before PARCC. SocSci teacher is new and very earnest, having been a long-term sub all of last year, but lacking skills and experience to command classroom's attention (frustrating to DC who adores the 7th grade topic of ancient civilizations but behavior disruptions are constant). Student cell phone use rampant throughout the day and during class despite supposedly strict rules that the Administration makes a big show of enforcing (we have concluded teachers just look to other way?). Woe to the child that actually makes a complaint or identifies brawling girls during recess - will be tainted as a "snitch" for speaking up in the interest of helping foster a learning environment. Concerns elevated to school leadership routinely dismissed as typical middle school behavior and parents made to feel they should be helping toughen up their DC ("we're not in elementary school anymore") and not have concerns about the daily reports that come home. We went with that approach until bruises showed up on DC and DC was subject of taunting social media.

1. PE: I disagree: one PE teacher, new this year and very young, is a disaster (does not control the class, and spends time at the phone). All other PE teachers are effective and committed. I believe this PE teacher has already been sanctioned and I would not be surprised if next year she moved to a different school (I am sorry for the next school) .

2. 7th grade ELA teacher. Finally she's gone. That's great news for the school. It took Hardy 3 years to clear the 7th grade ELA (as you all know, Ms Pride does not have the power to fire teachers). I am sure the replacement will be great. All teachers recruited by Ms Pride are outstanding teachers (6th grade science, 7th & 8th grade math, 8th grade social science to name a few).

3. Honors classes. Yes, definitely overcrowded. That's an area where I agree more effort should be placed at this point, as one class per cohort is no longer sufficient.

4. Discipline. The school has in each grade some 4-5 highly disruptive kids, and I'd say 20 kids with bad behavior. Plus some 40 "meh"/uninspired kids and an increasing set of 60-70 motivated, positive and nice kids, and a sub-set of 10 outstanding outliers. Kids tend to cluster in groups according to this categorization. Fights do happen , but they are mostly within-group. Normally "meh" and inspired kids are not involved or affected by this. Fewer times they are, eg. in cases when they report and are then tainted as snitch. In my view, the school would benefit if more trouble-makers (who are a few, and well-known) were expelled. However, as you know, DCPS schools have very limited independence on this regard. The policy should be fixed at DCPS level.

[Anonymous]

PP here - yes DC is in 7th grade. We feel we had done an enormous disservice to DC by not realizing until late January of 6th grade how bad the situation is and then too late for 7th grade private school admissions (not that we can afford it, so looking for higher-paying job with less flexibility to make switching a viable option). We are adding enrichment coaching, creative writing and art. Hoping the coaching helps push DC to go beyond the low bar set for students in the overwhelmed classrooms - e.g. no regular 5-paragraph essay writing, big complaint of parents.) We may have an option for an 8th grade private though it would mean a long commute and lots of catch-up on material presented to current 7th graders. Upcoming sibling (5th grade feeder) is applying only to private schools though Basis would likely be a good fit for this particular DC so we will enter the lottery. Leadership at Hardy needs radical change if the promises and vision sold to feeder school families over the past three years are to be realized. It's too bad a mid-year shakeup can't happen - or could it? These are such important years, and for kids applying to privates for 9th, there could be some real issues about readiness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP here - yes DC is in 7th grade. We feel we had done an enormous disservice to DC by not realizing until late January of 6th grade how bad the situation is and then too late for 7th grade private school admissions (not that we can afford it, so looking for higher-paying job with less flexibility to make switching a viable option). We are adding enrichment coaching, creative writing and art. Hoping the coaching helps push DC to go beyond the low bar set for students in the overwhelmed classrooms - e.g. no regular 5-paragraph essay writing, big complaint of parents.) We may have an option for an 8th grade private though it would mean a long commute and lots of catch-up on material presented to current 7th graders. Upcoming sibling (5th grade feeder) is applying only to private schools though Basis would likely be a good fit for this particular DC so we will enter the lottery. Leadership at Hardy needs radical change if the promises and vision sold to feeder school families over the past three years are to be realized. It's too bad a mid-year shakeup can't happen - or could it? These are such important years, and for kids applying to privates for 9th, there could be some real issues about readiness.

Plenty of writing practice at Hardy in 8th grade (Ms Punwani, outstanding teacher). 7th grade ELA always been the weakest link. We welcomed the news that the current 7th grade ELA teacher is leaving. I agree with PP: Ms Pride has a solid record of being able to recruit strong and committed teachers. She has our trust.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP here - yes DC is in 7th grade. We feel we had done an enormous disservice to DC by not realizing until late January of 6th grade how bad the situation is and then too late for 7th grade private school admissions (not that we can afford it, so looking for higher-paying job with less flexibility to make switching a viable option). We are adding enrichment coaching, creative writing and art. Hoping the coaching helps push DC to go beyond the low bar set for students in the overwhelmed classrooms - e.g. no regular 5-paragraph essay writing, big complaint of parents.) We may have an option for an 8th grade private though it would mean a long commute and lots of catch-up on material presented to current 7th graders. Upcoming sibling (5th grade feeder) is applying only to private schools though Basis would likely be a good fit for this particular DC so we will enter the lottery. Leadership at Hardy needs radical change if the promises and vision sold to feeder school families over the past three years are to be realized. It's too bad a mid-year shakeup can't happen - or could it? These are such important years, and for kids applying to privates for 9th, there could be some real issues about readiness.

This is not Hardy's priority, and it shouldn't be. Its job is to prepare students for Wilson's 9th grade.

[Anonymous]

Hardy seems to be doing a poor job at preparing kids for 9th at Wilson, private or anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hardy seems to be doing a poor job at preparing kids for 9th at Wilson, private or anywhere.

Not really. 9th graders who applied to private schools last year (or to financial support in independent schools) scored high/very high (80 and above) at SSAT, most of them without any tutoring/parental support (except for the math test preparation after school class offered by the Chair of the Hardy Math Dept.).

If SSAT is a good indicator of academic performance (which I think it is), I can say that my DC and his friends were more prepared than his ES friends who were at Holy Trinity ad British School for middle school (I only have first-hand information on friends'scores in these two schools). DC was accepted to 3/3 independent schools we applied to, and was offered partial tuition support to one of them.

Of course we are talking about good/very good students. I really cannot talk about average students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here - yes DC is in 7th grade. We feel we had done an enormous disservice to DC by not realizing until late January of 6th grade how bad the situation is and then too late for 7th grade private school admissions (not that we can afford it, so looking for higher-paying job with less flexibility to make switching a viable option). We are adding enrichment coaching, creative writing and art. Hoping the coaching helps push DC to go beyond the low bar set for students in the overwhelmed classrooms - e.g. no regular 5-paragraph essay writing, big complaint of parents.) We may have an option for an 8th grade private though it would mean a long commute and lots of catch-up on material presented to current 7th graders. Upcoming sibling (5th grade feeder) is applying only to private schools though Basis would likely be a good fit for this particular DC so we will enter the lottery. Leadership at Hardy needs radical change if the promises and vision sold to feeder school families over the past three years are to be realized. It's too bad a mid-year shakeup can't happen - or could it? These are such important years, and for kids applying to privates for 9th, there could be some real issues about readiness.

This is not Hardy's priority, and it shouldn't be. Its job is to prepare students for Wilson's 9th grade.

Be reassured that straight-A Hardy students won't face any readiness problems. They are ready for magnet schools, top privates and beyond.