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<p>This is the excerpt p3t is referring to, I believe.
It’s important point. what does a grade reflect? mastery of the materials? effort? neatness of presentation? Behavior in class? Often, in middle and high school, a grade reflects all four. In the case of the OP’s son, a placement test would probably ascertain whether he should repeat or not.</p>
<p>All of my kids did the private K-8 with 15 kids in their graduating class to large public high school with 550. Academically, they were ahead of the game, but you definitely need to make sure to be in touch the the guidance counselor and find out about any orientation sessions being held for the public middle schoolers and crash those. Academics are really the least of it, though.</p>
<p>Each kid went into the situation only knowing one or two people in their grade, but we were pleasantly surprised at how strong the HS was at emphasizing icebreaker type things for the first week or two in order to bring together all of the kids who had entered. The suggestions about finding a sport or club are good ones. If your son has the opportunity to participate in any summer programs in town, that could also be a way to start building a social network. And the nice thing is, with facebook, he can still be in touch with his old classmates so won’t feel totally isolated in a new place.</p>
<p>Actually sounds a little like going off to college, now that I think of it.</p>
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<p>Ok, that explains it. Finances can definietly be an issue. The reason I asked is because while it does depend on the private school (especially if it is just K-8 vs K-12), students will gather the most benefits of a private school education in high school and in the college guidance process. But i understand your circumstances.</p>
<p>One thing to keep in mind though if you don’t get anywhere with the public HS. While the deadlines may have passed for some private school re-enrollments, I would haard a guess that if you check, it more than likely isn’t too late at a lot of private schools to still apply for next year.</p>
<p>In any case, hope you can get things worked out at the Public - but if not, you still may have time to explore alternatives.</p>
<p>Good luck</p>
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<p>They were at my S’s private school. His first grade report in 4th grade (his first year at the school), did not contain a single A. I was panicked, because I was accustomed to the lax grading at his previous public school. I made an appointment with the head to talk about the report, and she looked at it and said, “What do you want to talk about?” I said, “His grades!” She looked puzzled and said “He is doing just fine for a boy here; these are typical grades.”</p>
<p>Anyway, there a lot of unknowns when making the transition, including different grading standards, but I think its important to keep in mind that if your kid is lazy and not performing up to his potential in 8th, there is no reason to assume he will change when he gets to h.s. But he might, like my S did. I did not want to take the risk of putting S into a difficult class when I had no reason to believe it would make him try any harder.</p>
<p>The public hs my daughter went to attracts a lot of kids who went to exclusive private K-8 schools. It’s very much an inner city public school but one that also has a history of excellent academics and sending a lot of kids to prestigous colleges. The biggest shock these kids experience is the minimal hand-holding available at the public school. Parents have to play a much larger role in getting the kids placed in the appropriate classes, ensuring bureaucratic accuracy (issues with credit, paperwork, etc.) and receiving good college counseling.</p>
<p>As I said, we all speak from our own experiences. My S has always been a kid who rises to challenges and under-performs when not challenged.
Regarding grades: you would know best what grades are considered average in your school.
My own experience is that unless a student is really struggling or misbehaving, teachers don’t think there is any cause for concern. A C or even D student who is quiet will not raise a flag even if that student is bored out of his skull because he is not sufficiently challenged, or is struggling but not asking for help. One my S’s friends was one of the smartest kids I knew. But he was a genius at evading school work and getting out of classes he considered boring. So he got grades that he in no way reflected his intelligence (but they certainly reflected his lack of effort). He woke up finally in the second semester of 11th grade–too late to make a real difference in his transcript.</p>
<p>^^^^</p>
<p>I am curious what you think the school should do with kids like this. For what it is worth, I have a friend whose son is a NMSF, but doesn’t have the GPA to earn the HOPE scholarship in GA (3.0) and he is a prestigious private school. He did take rigorous classes, just didn’t do the work! At some point, kids have to rise (or not) to the occassion. Most will have a job or two that is boring, a horrible boss, etc…</p>
<p>Again, I’m speaking from my own experience, so I don’t know how much one can extrapolate:what one person finds boring, another can find endlessly fascinating. But even when there are boring bits, if the overall project is interesting, then a student will do the work.
When my S was allowed to do a more challenging project, I don’t think that the “work” was necessarily less tedious. But he was doing it to learn something new, not to demonstrate something that he had already mastered. He spent a lot of time on a fruitless search for some materials but this does not seem to have fazed him at all.
Not all rigorous classes are taught in exciting ways, and different kids react to teachers and teaching methods differently. My Ss had some of the same teachers and had very different interactions with them. Both, however, did their best work when they were held to high standards. It was not a matter of grades. S1, for instance, was told to re-write his first history essay in 9th grade. The teacher could have accepted that first draft and given S a B, but obviously wanted to give S a chance to do better. S was not very happy about it at first, but eventually rewrote the paper and could see for himself how much of an improvement he was able to make by following the teacher’s comments. That teacher was considered a real tartar by all the students. But when S1 graduated, he told me that he’d learned the most from that teacher. Did I say that my Ss were in a public school?</p>
<p>My son is much like Marite’s son. He does his best work when challenged. He is promising to step it up in HS. For the last two days, I have tried calling HS’s GC, but only got an answer machine. If I can’t reach her tomorrow, would it be better to leave a message or send an e-mail? I do want to meet with her.</p>
<p>Do leave a message. GCs have to deal with many issues at any given time and even when they are in their offices, they cannot always answer a call right away.</p>
<p>I waited a day, no call back, and tried calling assistant principal for guidance, who wasn’t available. So I left a message for her as well, and she didn’t call back either, so I shot an e-mail to GC. I hope I’m not rushing things! I want to meet with her before we sign up for classes. Is it usually so difficult to get in touch with GC?</p>
<p>I used to just show up at the school. Often the GC was too busy at that very moment, but my presence there caused her to have the Guidance Department secretary pen in an appointment for me very soon. I just stood there and smiled until it all happened.
La la la.</p>
<p>Both of my kids attended parochial K-8 and then a decent but not stellar suburban public high school. I agree with the recommendation to get involved in cross country and/or music. </p>
<p>The other thing that makes a huge difference is to be involved as a parent. If your high school has some sort of parent booster club, join it–it tends to be the parents of kids who are leaders in some way at the school, and you will learn what is happening at school, among students, etc. as well as having a lot of fun working on activities that raise money for activities. If they don’t have a booster club then PTSA is probably the way to go, although I found those parents kind of annoying because they were usually there to push their own agendas on the school. Your PTSA may vary. </p>
<p>If your student is unmotivated, there is a risk that he will underperform in public school because as many have said, there is minimal handholding, and a kid who does the minimum may slip through the cracks. Find out what programs are available to that kind of student or consider hiring a tutor to keep him on track with assignments. </p>
<p>The final thing to say about the transition is that it can be a huge opportunity for a B student in private school to shine, as their academic preparation may have been better, and they are used to a school environment where they were expected to do the work and to behave–unfortunately that’s not universal in public school. Your student may get a lot of positive attention from teachers if he is basically a good kid who does his work and contributes something intelligent to class discussions, or can write decently. </p>
<p>It was our experience that the kids grew tremendously in maturity when they were with a more diverse (in terms of economic privilege) group. At their private school, everybody was very affluent. At public school kids would admit they had to work if they wanted to drive, because their parents couldn’t afford to pay for their insurance. It was really healthy for my kids to see that not everybody has a vacation home!</p>
<p>A lot of people are mentioning joining band and cross country, so I asked my son and he says he’s not good in running. I don’t know if that’s important to be good as a freshman. As for music, he does not play any instrument so it’s probably out. I’d like him to try at least one sport and one club.
He is a very well behaved and polite, and is contributing to the discussions in his current school. I do hope he steps it up as he says he would, he says he understands that Bs are not the grades he wants on his HS transcript.</p>
<p>There are many other EC’s your S could do. Those who advocate running are probably suggesting that a sport would help him find the motivation/energy to make more of an effort in academic fields. Sports need not be team sports. S1 began taking karate classes in k-8. Many parents said the classes were extremely good for their sons’ self-discipline. He also joined a discussion group.
S2 did no athletics (he liked hiking on weekends, however). He joined a couple of academic EC groups that became his social scene as well. He made some very good friends in them. What is important is to look beyond pure academics into opportunities to have great ECs and make new friends.</p>
<p>I agree, ECs are important in so many ways.</p>
<p>^^Right. There are generally clubs for every language, there’s the school newspaper (a huge time sink but rewarding as well, I am told.) There is usually a Key club or other social service organization.</p>
<p>And if a club doesn’t exist, an on-the-ball student can start one for extra points on that HS resume!</p>
<p>Just wanted to update. All my efforts to meet with GC ended up in her sending me an e-mail inviting us to the Guidance night. Not exactly what I asked for, but I figured she’s not going to see me until we sit thru the guidance night no matter what, so I’m planning to call again or show up after this event. My son is doing great in his Bio Honors class now, so it’s going to be very boring for him to sit in regular Bio class for a year. I would prefer he tests out of the Bio or at least takes Chem Honors at the same time to keep him interested in science. If he takes Bio again, then Chem, then Physics, then there’s only one year to take an AP level science class. Would it close some doors in the admissions, if my son wants to be an engineer? Should he try to take some science classes online thru CTY?</p>
<p>If he doesn’t play an instrument but wants to engage in music, he might be eligible for Chorus. The voice is an instrument. </p>
<p>Has he had any school music classes that taught him to read notes, scales and rhythms? If not, these are things that can be self-taught by computer programs over a summer; it’s just a code language. Or he could get a vocal coach over the summer, enough to teach him to read music and sing on key, while standing alongside others to practice and perform in a chorus.</p>
<p>See if they also begin music training in h.s. Our public h.s. offered the non-band instruments (piano and guitar) to students who for whatever reason missed starting a band/orchestra instrument in middle school.</p>
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<p>Sometimes, upperclassmen can create schedules that make room for two sciences in the same year. This can be done, for example, if the student completes foreign language early (by dropping it after level 3) or if the student takes some of the non-academic courses required for graduation in summer school. A student who does this might be able to take AP Bio and Physics in the same year, for example. (AP Bio generally does not have Physics as a prerequisite.) So your son may not be limited to one AP science.</p>
<p>I don’t think having too few AP sciences closes doors in admissions to engineering, though. </p>
<p>For an engineering applicant, probably the most important subject is math. If your son can get into a math sequence that will allow him to take a year of calculus in high school, that would be helpful if he applies for engineering.</p>