From Middle School To High School
Moving from Middle to High School
Brought to you by National PTA
Moving Up
The
move from middle to high school is one of those times when your child
needs you most, but is often too embarrassed to ask for support. You may
have noticed that your child is beginning to push away from you. Try to
respect this. On the other hand, it's important to balance a respect
for your child's desire for independence with a very real need to stay
involved in his life and education.
Starting high school is a
major rite of passage for adolescents, says George White, associate
professor of educational leadership at Lehigh University in Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania, and a former middle-school principal. The social and
emotional fears that incoming freshmen deal with can have a direct
impact on their academic performance.
Changes at School
The
difference in size of your child's old and new schools can have a big
impact on her transition, says school psychologist Sal Severe, author of
How to Behave So Your Child Will, Too! Kids from smaller school
districts may face a kind of culture shock in large, regional high
schools. Larger class sizes, more students, a bigger campus, and
teaching styles more focused on the subject matter than the needs of
individual students can be difficult for incoming freshmen.
"Parents
should expect schools to provide a protective growth environment" for
incoming freshmen, George White says. The developmental divide between
ninth-graders, who could be as young as 14, and upperclassmen, who could
be over 18, can be extreme. Exceptionally bright ninth- graders can end
up in classes with much older teens and may be unprepared socially.
"There's a wide range of social development in high school. What you
have to have is a socially safe place for younger individuals."
Ninth-graders
also face a big step down in social status, going from the top of the
heap in their previous school to the lowest rung in high school. They
arrive as the new kids, the young ones, the ones who don't know what's
what and who's who.
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