Is this normal for a former public school students who just came to catholic high schools?

[Anonymous]

Catholic HS is much more difficult than public.

My kid easily earned straight A’s in mcps middle school and had to work very hard to earn all A’s and 2 B’s at an area Catholic HS.

I’m glad the school is challenging him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid came from MCPS to a Catholic HS and was way ahead in math and language. I even noticed at prize day in ninth grade that almost all recipients of the academic prizes came from public school.

That said, she did have some adjustment issues, esp, with sticter rules about turning in work.

What is prize day?

And how would you know which kids came from public and which didn’t? I teach in a Catholic high school and don’t readily know this information.

[Anonymous]

Catholic schools does not hand out As, they are earned. No retskes, no late work accepted. Welcome to accountability.

[Anonymous]

DS switched from public to Catholic for HS
and struggled a bit at first. At public, he took all honors classes and earned all As in 6th and 7th and all As and two B+s in 8th. He placed into all honors classes for 9th based on his HSPT scores and the school’s placement tests. He was well prepared in math and science but really struggled in English and history at first and earned a B in English and a C in history his first quarter. His English teacher worked with him a lot freshman year and gave him a lot of feedback on each of his papers. In history, he had been used to just memorizing a study guide and getting an A and DH and I had to teach him how to outline text. He figured it out and ended up getting B+s for the year in both of these classes and an A or A- in everything else and his writing improved pretty dramatically. Despite it being a bit bumpy at first, we’re really glad we switched.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid came from MCPS to a Catholic HS and was way ahead in math and language. I even noticed at prize day in ninth grade that almost all recipients of the academic prizes came from public school.

That said, she did have some adjustment issues, esp, with sticter rules about turning in work.

What is prize day?

And how would you know which kids came from public and which didn’t? I teach in a Catholic high school and don’t readily know this information.

NP but I assume prize day is the academic awards ceremony.

[Anonymous]

Yep this happened to us. It evened out. Truthfully I think a part of it is favoritism towards existing students if this school has a lower or middle school, which ours did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid came from MCPS to a Catholic HS and was way ahead in math and language. I even noticed at prize day in ninth grade that almost all recipients of the academic prizes came from public school.

That said, she did have some adjustment issues, esp, with sticter rules about turning in work.

What is prize day?

And how would you know which kids came from public and which didn’t? I teach in a Catholic high school and don’t readily know this information.

NP but I assume prize day is the academic awards ceremony.

Episcopal schools have "prize day."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What were the standardized test scores before?

DP: Both of my kids had 99th percentile SSAT and HSPT and still saw a significant drops in grades after the transfer. It's just a very different system of expectations that they have to figure out and get used to after nearly a decade of something quite different. They do figure it out though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What were the standardized test scores before?

DP: Both of my kids had 99th percentile SSAT and HSPT and still saw a significant drops in grades after the transfer. It's just a very different system of expectations that they have to figure out and get used to after nearly a decade of something quite different. They do figure it out though.

This is reassuring. Our DC had a 99 HSPT and so far freshman year has been HARD. He’s doing it but has ADHD and the homework is a lot

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is a former MCPS student, and at his old high school, he was a B+ / A- student. Well, after getting his report card, I see he is a straight B- / B student, with his best being a B+ in theology and an A- in English. This is concerning because humanities is his strong suit. Should I be concerned?

My kids had high grades in their well-regarded DCPS schools prior to moving them to Catholic schools and we were similarly surprised when we saw the initial dip in their scores. Part of it was due to a lack of preparation in certain areas, like writing and grammar, that Catholic schools tend to emphasize more. However, a large part was also due to the rule following as previous posters have noted. Late assignments, participation, minor behavioral incidents, not being able to redo quizzes or tests, etc. Those things add up. In the end they're much better off for it, but it took some getting used to.

This must depend on the particular Catholic HS. My Deal kid went to SJC and was straight A throughout (OK...did end up with an A- in a couple of classes), all Honors and then many APs.

Scored like 93%ile on the HPST. He didn't find it too tough to adjust to making sure his work was done on time because everything was in Canvas (and you knew what was due the next day) vs. at Deal you might have some in Canvas, some through Aspen, etc.