The gizmo will ease your transition and buy you time. That got us to 7th for a phone. You can track her on a map, set up a boundary (if she leaves a geographic area, it pings you), she can text and call up to ten authorized contacts. And it is a watch so she can't really lose it. Peace of mind for walking home without the worry about Internet, social media, group texts etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Academically I can see the student work posted on the bulletin boards. Every kid in the class has a book box and they're all lined up on a shelf above the cubbies, so you can easily see what the kids are reading.

In middle school or high school? That seems odd. I don't think they even have known "reading levels" after third grade or so. Maybe this is the wrong thread.

My DS talks to his close friends about things like grades and test scores, where they were applying to college, etc., so I know some of that stuff. And it's pretty easy to observe that most teens have phones.

Every middle school I know of, both public and private, administers diagnostic reading inventories a minimum of two times a year. It is an important part of measuring reading progress. I don't know of any high school, either public or private, that administers reading inventories.

Anonymous wrote:This is the OP, thanks everyone, most of what you have all said makes sense. I appreciate all your responses. I only have a 1st grader but our current plan is for her to walk to middle school so our thought is to get her one for 6th. Its definitely not happening before that. She does have an old phone that she can call me on thru messenger using our wifi but thats all it does.

Why in the world are you in a forum about tweens and teens? You're trying to plan your phone buying FIVE YEARS IN ADVANCE?
Be skeptical about listening to anyone who says they know private academic information. Kids definitely talk and sometimes teachers advance things but I've found that the information can be inaccurate a lot and people have their biases.
Obnoxious parents I know always assumed one child I know was not very bright, but he got into a MS magnet. Another child I know tells everyone he gets certain scores and grades but he's giving out the wrong information on purpose. His parents told us he does this to mess with the other kids and parents who are nosy.

Anonymous wrote:This is the OP, thanks everyone, most of what you have all said makes sense. I appreciate all your responses. I only have a 1st grader but our current plan is for her to walk to middle school so our thought is to get her one for 6th. Its definitely not happening before that. She does have an old phone that she can call me on thru messenger using our wifi but thats all it does.

Parent your own kid and don't worry about what another parent does or doesn't do with their kid. Nothing wrong with a child having a phone in middle school or earlier if it helps the parent. The phone isn't the issue as you can limit apps and internet.