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Is Your Child Struggling?

asking for help

Is Your Child Struggling?

It's to be expected... your child will encounter a time when he/she struggles in school. Should you have a concern, here are the steps to take to help empower your child to be a self-advocate. This process will teach your child how to get organized, how to follow up, and how to arrange meetings with adults, which can often be an intimidating task. 

Help your child with learning how to overcome obstacles. Start with having your student resolve the issue 1st.

  1. Go through their online grades with your child. Find out what they are missing and why.

  2. Refer to the teacher's syllabus for their grading structures.

  3. Refer to the teacher's website for resources and info.

  4. Have your student write a list of questions down to ask their teacher the next day.

  5. Come up with a plan with your student as to when to speak to each teacher. Students have 8 minutes between classes, so they have plenty of time to either ask their specific questions or to schedule a meeting with the teacher for a later time. 

  6. Follow up with your student when he/she gets home. Ask them about every teacher and assignment written in their plan. If they didn't get to it, follow the same process the following day until your student has addressed all of his/her questions or concerns with the teacher.

  7. Check your student's grades again in one week.


Still not seeing any progress? Contact the teacher 2nd.


  1. We welcome parents to email the teacher with your questions. Assume good intentions from the teacher - quite often they have already given your child the information and resources they need, but your student may have missed or forgotten and needs some guidance and support.

  2. When the teacher replies, do not fix the problem for your child. Instead, take the information that the teacher provided and give it to your child to follow up with.

  3. Follow up daily until your student has completed the steps he/she needed to do.


Still not seeing any progress? Contact the counselor 3rd.


  1. Still not getting anywhere? Send your child to the counselor to see if their counselor can provide some insight on how to overcome their struggle. Typically, counselors already know the teachers and their systems, so they can provide some helpful tips and tricks to get them through their struggle.

  2. Continue to encourage your child to work the issue with the ongoing support of the teacher and the counselor.
