Reply to What can a K-8 do to Keep Students through 8th?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Help parents feel really confident that if they stay through 8th the school will help them get into the HS they want.  [/quote]

THIS! They leave early to avoid the additional competition of all the 8th graders applying out to high school at the same time.[/quote]

Unless the HoS has blackmail material on high school admissions officers, [b]there is nothing they can do to make parents feel that graduating 8th graders will get the high school that the want[/b][/quote]

Agreed. Worse is that these parents simply refuse to accept the truth about their kids. 'The high school that they want' is likely not the high school they deserve/can handle. Every kid is not an academic star, no matter how much tuition you've paid. Complaints about teaching quality or the school's quality is far less a factor in a desired HS rejection/wait list status, than it is contributed to the kid. Aptitude is largely genetic, and parental enabling or facilitation of laziness combine to result in that desired HS being out of reach. It is what it is! Some of those parents cannot be satisfied because they are delusional -- harsh but true.

IMO, it would be helpful for K-8 schools to approach outplacement in a similar fashion to HS college counseling.[b] Meaning, that in grade 7, begin meeting with parents about *REASONABLE* expectations and HS options they should target. [/b]Help parents understand what schools appear to be best fit in a customized way. K-8s could strengthen existing relationships/linkages with certain schools and arrange tours and/or events at those 'next step' schools to give students exposure to those schools and staff.
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That sounds like inviting disaster. If you impress upon families how hard admission is, then you make it even more likely that they jump for k-12 or 3-12 whenever they can rather than wait and face longer odds. For the kids who you counsel to be more realistic, their families still may jump to the schools you identify as reach but possible to get a leg up. If you want real fun, tell a great student they don't have much of a shot at the school they want because their a few of their classmates' parents went there. That kid is going to apply out ASAP [/quote]

I'm the PP you responded to, and I do not understand your post. I mentioned beginning the counseling process in [u]grade 7[/u]. Any families still in a K-8 during grade 7, is either intent on graduating next year, or already intent on leaving applying out that fall (which is when the suggested counseling would initiate). So the whole fleeing disaster you describe is null. 
Lastly, I did not imply K-8s should "impress upon families how hard admission is". What I referred to was communicating realistic and appropriate HS fits for each child. That is not the same, and believe me, everyone already know how hard the admission landscape is (nothing new disclose). It's about informing families of right fit for their child/children.
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