Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not the end of the world, OP, even though it is a bad feeling right now. The school wants your child to succeed. I know several kids with lots of “Ds” in middle school that switched out at 9th from my kids Big3. In fact, one DC ended up at the same college as their friend that was counseled out! One counseled out kid ended up at a far better ranked college.

Look to Burke, Field, local public, Madeira and the various Catholic high schools. I know kids that switched to these schools successfully. Several also went to easier boarding schools to much success. Another tip - I wish we had considered schools without the athletic requirement because that made school work a lot more stressful for my DC once in high school.

I'm truly astonished at how much these "top" schools counsel out. It makes me very skeptical of these schools and unlikely to apply.

Why are you surprised? The start accepting kids in kindergarten. The can may guesses and try, but there really is no way of knowing if a six year old will be a good student when they are 14. They can easy create an easy lifer track in high school or just counsel out their mistakes.

How is it going on the social side? If you child is being bullied or finds the social environment demotivating in a huge way, then it can impact his studies.

Your student also risks getting labeled as an underperformer, which only makes it worse.

Talk to your child, and let your child do most of the talking. What is his or her experience going to this school every day? Does your child want to keep going there?

Let it comes from your kid's mouth, make it okay to say the truth out loud, since you are paying a lot of money for this experience and he or she may not want to disapoint you by saying it totally sucks there.

Anonymous wrote:It is not the end of the world, OP, even though it is a bad feeling right now. The school wants your child to succeed. I know several kids with lots of “Ds” in middle school that switched out at 9th from my kids Big3. In fact, one DC ended up at the same college as their friend that was counseled out! One counseled out kid ended up at a far better ranked college.

Look to Burke, Field, local public, Madeira and the various Catholic high schools. I know kids that switched to these schools successfully. Several also went to easier boarding schools to much success. Another tip - I wish we had considered schools without the athletic requirement because that made school work a lot more stressful for my DC once in high school.

I'm truly astonished at how much these "top" schools counsel out. It makes me very skeptical of these schools and unlikely to apply.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We experienced a similar drop in grades after switching from public school. We tried support and tutors, and finally did the testing. Turns out our kid has undiagnosed learning differences. I don't know how he passed any classes before this. Thanks for nothing, public school. Now that those are identified and supported, it is much better.

So you used tutors who didn’t realize there was an issue and you didn’t realize there was an issue until you finally tested but it’s all the fault of the public school? And this issue didn’t show up on any standardized tests?

The tutors and new teachers did notice; that's why we tested.

Anonymous wrote:We experienced a similar drop in grades after switching from public school. We tried support and tutors, and finally did the testing. Turns out our kid has undiagnosed learning differences. I don't know how he passed any classes before this. Thanks for nothing, public school. Now that those are identified and supported, it is much better.

So you used tutors who didn’t realize there was an issue and you didn’t realize there was an issue until you finally tested but it’s all the fault of the public school? And this issue didn’t show up on any standardized tests?

We experienced a similar drop in grades after switching from public school. We tried support and tutors, and finally did the testing. Turns out our kid has undiagnosed learning differences. I don't know how he passed any classes before this. Thanks for nothing, public school. Now that those are identified and supported, it is much better.

It is not the end of the world, OP, even though it is a bad feeling right now. The school wants your child to succeed. I know several kids with lots of “Ds” in middle school that switched out at 9th from my kids Big3. In fact, one DC ended up at the same college as their friend that was counseled out! One counseled out kid ended up at a far better ranked college.

Look to Burke, Field, local public, Madeira and the various Catholic high schools. I know kids that switched to these schools successfully. Several also went to easier boarding schools to much success. Another tip - I wish we had considered schools without the athletic requirement because that made school work a lot more stressful for my DC once in high school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would try SAES. It's tough(assuming your kid is a lifer) since you aren't really sure how they will be academically. Get poor grades will also impact admissions chances for college and I'm sure, the health of your kid. I would try throwing an app out(I know they are due soon) to a school or two now to alleviate this situation for next year

NP- We are in a somewhat similar situation with our DS- do you have personal experience with SAES? Considering the school and wondering why this would be a better fit. How do they help a child like this?

Sounds like an excellent thing to ask in the parent interview. Don’t move a kid only to have them struggle somewhere new. Make sure a school has a thoughtful way to deal with these challenges.

Had this situation with my DC many years ago at a Big 3. Had always done fine in school until starting there in 6th and then struggled in every way. Tried to move for high school but the schools he wanted would not take him because his grades were low. He could have gone to SAES, but decided to stick it out. The HS experience was much better, He was never a superstar, but the teachers were better and he was put at levels where he could succeed. He is very happy he did not move. We did speak to the MS learning specialist before HS started and she helped us plan. The school being supportive was a big part of him staying. I would say that you should ask for help before making a change. Also it can be really stressful when you child is struggling and you think they are the only one. They probably aren’t!

I thought private schooll is good for the not so brilliant student. Does the school not know how to teach?
Your kid will get lost in a crowded public where nobody cares, new kids are bullied and teachers do not have a lot of resources. C and D is not too bad. At a public high the grades will be D and E

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone been in this situation at a "big three"? Did your child end up staying or did they leave for a less academically intense school?

I am surprised if this is your situation at at “Big Three” that you have not already spoken with an academic support counselor. You should be getting early intervention before your kids ends up with Cs and Ds on their report card in MS.

At the very least you should be getting recommendations for tutoring and perhaps also an LD assessment.

If changing schools is the right choice for you kid, the MS principal/head in concert with the academic support team should/would be in contact with you to make that recommendation.

What high school wants a D student? Unless you mean they help you identify schools desperate for tuition dollars, how are they going to help with changing schools

Anonymous wrote:I would try SAES. It's tough(assuming your kid is a lifer) since you aren't really sure how they will be academically. Get poor grades will also impact admissions chances for college and I'm sure, the health of your kid. I would try throwing an app out(I know they are due soon) to a school or two now to alleviate this situation for next year

NP- We are in a somewhat similar situation with our DS- do you have personal experience with SAES? Considering the school and wondering why this would be a better fit. How do they help a child like this?

Is the kid on fin aid? Wondering if these kind of places council out fin aid kids faster instead of trying to support them?

OP what kind of school was your child at previously?

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