About my daughter 9th grade failure...

[stanko76 45]

Hello to everyone.

Big problem. We got our immigration visas (F3) at april 2016. Our flight - july 2016.

My daughter (15) fail 9th grade and she will need to repeat 9th grade. We are from Serbia (Europe). When we move to new school in USA - what we must do and does she still need to repeat whole grade? Please, someone explaine the process ...

Thank You.

[Georgia16 2,858]

It depends on the School. We are in GA but from my understanding they will test her to see where she will be placed.

Mine is only going to start 5th grade so he was only placed after his age (Born before or after September) and then he will get support in English. They did tell us before they knew his age that he would be tested if he was in middle or high School.

Why don't you try and contact the school she will be attending and see what they say. I mean if they say she need it again then it'll be for her own best.

[Foreign Fantasy 52]

Yeah here you can fail a class and not have to repeat the whole year of school. Have her take the placement tests where the school assigns you to. I was placed ahead by a year when I arrived, Germany really pushes its kids well

[naire37 53]

Did her Serbian school tell her that she would have to repeat a grade? If so, they have no way of "telling" the US school this information, so don't worry about that, no one is going to "force" her.

However!

Try to think what's best for her, k? Moving to a new country is a lot of stress! I went into grade 11 (10th grade in Russia, 11th grade in US) when my family moved, and it was really, really, really *hard*, especially in biology and social sciences, because textbooks used so many words that I did not know! I was not learning biology, I was killing myself over dictionaries that year! And of course my grades have suffered for a while, until I could at least understand the words in the books.

The catch is that grades are extremely important in US highschool, as your GPA ("average grade") is what colleges look at when you apply. She will also need to learn a lot of English to get to a good college, take SAT / TOEFL tests. Having an extra grade may give her time to prepare.

So, I'd actually say that it's probably better for her to learn at a pace that is more comfortable, even if that means repeating a grade. It may mean difference between a good college and a bad one. Ask her what she'd like, and remember, going to school in US is doomed to be a lot harder for a while for her.

[Rc123rc 528]

The school district will give her a placement test and put her into the proper grade. My daughter was adopted and they placed her in the right grade for her age but she needed to take summer school and extra tutoring to make up the difference.

[Ontarkie 14,498]

~~Moved to Moving to the US and Your New Life, from General Immigration - Since this is not an immigration process related question but how to start with life in America kind of question.~~

[Ontarkie 14,498]

With my kids none of them were tested for where they would be placed.

They looked at the school records and placed where they would have been back home.

For the older two boys they looks at their course since they were in high school. Then they just let them know what they still needed for graduation. They entered grades 10 and 11, they do not do placement testing here.

[stanko76 45]

Correction: She is finishing 10th grade (in Serbia nobody count pre-school as grade - so she has: pre-school, 8 grades of elementary/middle school and she just finishing or not 1st grade of medical high school - all that in total is - 10 grades)

Thanks guys for info, so basically, it all depend from school to school and state to state (we are moving to Wisconsin, Milwaukee). So, when i register her in school based by our living district, they will test her and put her in right grade, right? Anyway i am bringing translated school ratings from 10th grade (1st grade of high school here in Serbia) and elemetary/middle school (8 grades) translated diploma, where she was great. We will see, if school demand that she repeat, than she will repeat..what can we do....

[caliliving 606]

Correction: She is finishing 10th grade (in Serbia nobody count pre-school as grade - so she has: pre-school, 8 grades of elementary/middle school and she just finishing or not 1st grade of medical high school - all that in total is - 10 grades)

Thanks guys for info, so basically, it all depend from school to school and state to state (we are moving to Wisconsin, Milwaukee). So, when i register her in school based by our living district, they will test her and put her in right grade, right? Anyway i am bringing translated school ratings from 10th grade (1st grade of high school here in Serbia) and elemetary/middle school (8 grades) translated diploma, where she was great. We will see, if school demand that she repeat, than she will repeat..what can we do....

FIrst year of HS is 9th grade in the USA....

honestly, if her english is not strong it may be best to do the full 4 years of HS here.. jumping right into 10th grade could be really hard!

but generally, they will look at the classes she has taken and they may give her some credits for the 9th grade.. so she would probably have a mix of 9th grade classes and 10th grade.. i wouldnt worry too much.. just give them her transcript and the school would say what classes she would get credit for.

what classes did she have trouble in? i would suggest doing them over.

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

Correction: She is finishing 10th grade (in Serbia nobody count pre-school as grade - so she has: pre-school, 8 grades of elementary/middle school and she just finishing or not 1st grade of medical high school - all that in total is - 10 grades)

Thanks guys for info, so basically, it all depend from school to school and state to state (we are moving to Wisconsin, Milwaukee). So, when i register her in school based by our living district, they will test her and put her in right grade, right? Anyway i am bringing translated school ratings from 10th grade (1st grade of high school here in Serbia) and elemetary/middle school (8 grades) translated diploma, where she was great. We will see, if school demand that she repeat, than she will repeat..what can we do....

Also get a copy (US embassy in Serbia education division should be able to help) of a key of how Serbian grades translate to the US, as the same percentage grade can mean something vastly different in the US vs elsewhere due to different grading systems.

I do agree with the others who say that if she has some trouble with schoolwork and will be now doing school in a second language, it would not be a bad thing if she repeats a year. Also, the US high school system itself works differently to many others in terms of how you choose classes, etc. But the school will have a counsellor to help explain and navigate this with you.

But the school will certainly assess her and advise you on where to place her. We had one daughter skip ahead and one pushed back (both by 6 months as there is a Jan-Dec school year where we come from); the one pushed back is still a year or more younger than the others in her grade though. The school should look at her holistically - grades and age - and place her where they think she'll do best, and as someone else mentioned she may need a bit of language or subject tutoring at first.

Edited June 17, 2016 by SusieQQQ

[N-o-l-a 7,168]

Correction: She is finishing 10th grade (in Serbia nobody count pre-school as grade - so she has: pre-school, 8 grades of elementary/middle school and she just finishing or not 1st grade of medical high school - all that in total is - 10 grades)

Thanks guys for info, so basically, it all depend from school to school and state to state (we are moving to Wisconsin, Milwaukee). So, when i register her in school based by our living district, they will test her and put her in right grade, right? Anyway i am bringing translated school ratings from 10th grade (1st grade of high school here in Serbia) and elemetary/middle school (8 grades) translated diploma, where she was great. We will see, if school demand that she repeat, than she will repeat..what can we do....

How old is she?

Honestly it is better to go into an earlier grade when the English isn't fluent. My daughter ended up repeating a grade once we got to America because her English was lagging and it affected her English based schoolwork. Even though she started out speaking English, she went a while in basically Danish immersion, and then back to English. They treat her at school like an ESL child even though we've been back in America for 3 years because it does affect her schoolwork still.

[canadian_wife 1,829]

In Georgia (and in many other states) testing is not done for international students simply due to cost. What will likely happen is that her transcripts will be evaluated. States have certain requirements for graduation. She may be placed in a mish-mash of classes (9th grade literature, 10th grade math, 9th grade science...etc) depending on her transcripts and the state requirements for graduation. I am not sure what you mean by 'medical high school' but that is not a common term in the U.S.

If her English is not good she will likely be placed in an ESOL program where she will learn ESOL and take some classes with the regular school population.

It is super important that you contact the school now to see what they need and begin researching their state graduation requirements. See what they need to graduate and compare them to what your child has already received credit for in your home country.

Good luc

[NikLR 13,232]

At age 15 in the USA she will be in 10th grade. (If she was born here that's how she'd be placed generally speaking unless she had learning disabilities or is a genius.) People also do not count kindergarten as a grade here.

How well does she speak English? She may need ESL classes even if the actual school work wouldnt be too hard for her

[Foreign Fantasy 52]

In Georgia (and in many other states) testing is not done for international students simply due to cost. What will likely happen is that her transcripts will be evaluated. States have certain requirements for graduation. She may be placed in a mish-mash of classes (9th grade literature, 10th grade math, 9th grade science...etc) depending on her transcripts and the state requirements for graduation. I am not sure what you mean by 'medical high school' but that is not a common term in the U.S.

If her English is not good she will likely be placed in an ESOL program where she will learn ESOL and take some classes with the regular school population.

It is super important that you contact the school now to see what they need and begin researching their state graduation requirements. See what they need to graduate and compare them to what your child has already received credit for in your home country.

Good luc

Over there in high school you are already specializing in something, its not like here in the USA where you learn all subjects even through college until you decide. Just an fyi