The Howard Gardner School

An amazing, small, progressive school for kids who are bright but falling through the cracks elsewhere. My kid was super-​smart but barely passing in the overcrowded high school with overworked teachers. We couldn’t get a response, homework was outrageously time-​consuming (and pointless), and life was just bad… Then we discovered The Howard Gardner School. Wow. I firmly believe this school and its amazing, loving staff saved my kid’s academic life. There are some planning and communication issues (which are to be expected from creative teachers, and are not as bad as in the public schools), they finally got the new building built, and the new middle school is going though its growing pains. Just being honest. But overall, this is a *fantastic* experience for kids who want to learn, who like to learn, but aren’t learning elsewhere. They built boats and tested them. They did water quality testing in the Chesapeake Bay. They did exit polling on election day. They camped on Chincoteague (or was it Assateague?). They did a scavenger hunt in the museums. They made movies, and art, and music, and interviewed interesting people, and took time to think — really think — about things like justice and freedom and the importance of the environment. The cool stuff you wish all teachers could do, they do! The staff is energetic and creative and focused on each individual learner. The weekly trips foster independence and a very thorough understanding of public transportation (thank you!). And the internships were the icing on the cake, which gave my kid the impetus to try new things and become a responsible, hard-​working, reliable, focused member of her college community and the larger society.