Struggling 10th grader
My 16 year old is in independent studies at Berkeley High. However, he is not getting the support he needs and is falling behind. Going back to Berkeley High is not an option. Right now we are looking into different options, such as online school or alternative (not too crazily expensive) high schools. Has anyone ever had this dilemma? I would be really appreciative for suggestions!
Mar 5, 2017
Parent Replies
Our son, who is now 20, also struggled in school, mostly because he was not motivated to do the work. We turned to lots of resources to help him - counseling, tutoring, behaviorial assessment, etc. Nothing helped, so we decided to have him test out of high school and go to work. He took the CHSPE in March of his junior year and then got some part-time jobs, he's now at junior college. He learned a lot from being in the work force, and he gained from not being in an environment where he was struggling and failing.
Look into Mentoring Academy on College Avenue in Oakland. My son is a student there, and we had a similar experience at his public school (Not BH). But, I know of a few students at Mentoring that came from Berkeley High.
Mentoring is a small high school that has helped a lot of kids for whom school wasn't working. John Muster the head of school has created a wonderful and caring environment that meets the needs of students. Our family has been very happy here.
Try seeing an Educational Therapist in the area who specializes in working with teens.
Our son spent a semester at Tilden Prepatory Academy in Albany (http://www.tildenprep.com/), which has middle through high school level courses. Each class is one-on-one, so students go at their own pace -- that's the ULTIMATE in support! My son was in 7th grade and recovering from an illness (in fact, I credit Tilden Prep not only in catching him up an entire academic year in 4 months, but also with decreasing the stress level so that he was able to fully recover). We were so impressed with the teachers -- they were really knowledgeable and motivating, and many of them had advanced degrees from, e.g., UC Berkeley. Perhaps these great people teach here because they don't have to have urban high school classroom management skills, they just have to love teaching, learning, and knowledge! My son (now a sophomore in high school) still talks about things he learned from his teachers there. Students go there for a variety of reasons, and include musical prodigies and Olympic athletes (who need a very flexible schedule), students recovering from viruses and concussions, students with learning differences, and students who are so bored out of their minds in a traditional high school that they start falling behind. In addition to the one-on-one teaching, there are also group activities, clubs, state-approved PE classes, etc. It was a godsend for our family; I can highly recommend it.