Moving from Australia to the US and need help with schooling

[USAschoolhelp]

I'm planning a move to the USA with my job. I'm currently in Australia where the school year runs from January to December.

My DD is starting year 5 in a few weeks. If we move to the US this summer would she go into year 7? (She was born in October 2011).

How strict are the year groupings? Would there be a lot of variation in age in a year group like there is in Australia?

I know it will depend on the school, but how hard is that step up likely to be? DD is fairly bright, but has low self-esteem.

I don't think there's a US national curriculum, but is there anywhere I can look online to see the kind of work expected at each age?

Thanks

It depends where you're going - different rules by state and even by school district.

I live in NYC and any advice I have would be useless even 25 miles away.

Where I live they're fairly flexible about which grade your child goes into so there's about a 2-year range of ages and a wide range of abilities in each grade.

They don't particularly like putting incoming international students into a year above their age range where I live because of the social struggles it can cause, but it's not unheard of.

The challenge your daughter will face is that she'll be behind on some subjects and ahead on others. It isn't the end of the world but it is an extra challenge.

I'd look at where she is in terms of math, and try to put her in the right grade and level for that. They spend a LOT of time in math class at middle school (ours at least), and it can be really boring to be in a math class that's too easy.

Are you moving permanently? I'd say a move back with a 14/15 year old would be much harder, and I'd try to avoid that.

She'd be going into 5th grade, assuming she will be 11 in October. That's the last year of elementary in the US before they start middle school . There is some flexibility I think with year groupings, you'd need to contact your local school district to ask.. Each state has its own education department and then each school district kind of chooses its own curriculum.. though there are some State and National standards in math and literacy I think! You may find your DD is ahead in some areas like math .. if she is they may put her in grade 6 just for math lessons but keep her with her peers for the rest.

This does depend on area. The most common cut-off date is September 1st, i.e. you would be 6 by then to start in grade 1. So someone turning 11 in October would be in grade 5. There will be summer kids who are held back so someone born in october would be near top of the cohort but not very top.

HOWEVER there are parts of the US, especially the Northeast, where the cutoff is later and she would go into grade 6. In NYC it is Dec. 31 and iron-clad.

Since she'll be in year 5 in Aus I don't think they'd want to move her up if their usual cutoff is 9/1.

Another wrinkle: How schools are arranged locally. The most common pattern for public schools IME is K-5 for elementary and 6-8 for middle school. (Many private schools are K-8 but may separate the kids internally.) If she struggles socially I would not move her up to 6th grade and have her be youngest in the year. Middle school is a huge change. Keeping her in the top grade of elementary school, if this is how it's done in your area, would be best. Many American elementary schools are quite large by UK standards (not so sure about Australia)--4-6 classes per year. And the middle school will take from several elementary schools and have several hundred children per year, with changing classes etc. It was a huge change for my DC.

There is no national curriculum but the Common Core State Standards website will give you an idea of what they are expected to learn.

Interesting how different they are. Our local school system has the same number of kids per grade right through. But the jump from elementary to middle still feels like a big change.

Middle school was the crappiest stage of school for all of my kids, especially grades 5 and 6.

In our district she would have started kinder just before she turned 6 as her birthday is after the cutoff.

My DS is 11 and has started middle school (grade 6) as his birthday is just before the cutoff. When she gets to middle school if she’s doing well or if she starts in it when you move and you think she’s ahead she can be more challenged by doing pre Advanced Placement classes. It’s basically accelerated learning.

My DS is 11 and has started middle school (grade 6) as his birthday is just before the cutoff. When she gets to middle school if she’s doing well or if she starts in it when you move and you think she’s ahead she can be more challenged by doing pre Advanced Placement classes. It’s basically accelerated learning.

My daughter's middle school experience would have been so much better if they'd offered something like this...

Thanks so much everyone. This has put me at ease. Year 5 sounds good (as this is what she is now, so hopefully it would a similar level). She'd definitely do better socially as one of the oldest, rather than youngest.

Some schools are huge here, but we chose one that was smaller as it suits her better. There are only 2 classes per grade.

I need to check out the Common Core State Standards website now.

Thanks again

As many have said, it depends where you go.

If Chicago area, she would be in the last year of elementary school, with middle school grades 6, 7, and 8 ahead of her. They like to keep age cohorts together in middle school in my area.

In high school, she would be in class with kids of different ages, depending on size of school and what sort of tracking system the school does. English generally has an honors sequence that progresses over four years - that's the only subject where she would be likely to be in class with peers all the way through. Also PE. This is because of Drivers Ed in sophomore year.

She will be asked to do testing to determine placement and to set learning targets no matter where she goes.

If you're going private (this usually means RC, Lutheran or Montessori in the Chicago area) you may find the school you choose goes from K-8, ages 5-13/14. Private schools tend to be smaller (usually max 500 students) and there would be two classes per grade.