Hi, I’m a high school junior currently attending a public high school in california. I moved here from Japan this summer, and was enrolled as a junior even though I only did 3 months of sophomore year in Japan (school year starts in april there). Me and my family begged the school office to let me be enrolled as a sophomore, but the school refused because they are on a tight budget, and because I was born one month before the cut off date in California. Now, I have to take multiple courses at night school to make up for the year that I was forced to skip, and I don’t even meet UC/Cal State requirements because I didn’t take 4 years of English, 3 years of science…etc. I’m also not taking any AP/Honors classes this year because my counselor was concerned with my English skills. I know repeating a year in high school will look really bad on my college apps but I can’t imagine how worse it would be since right now I can’t even APPLY to the collleges that I want to go to!!
It seems really unfair to me that my options and opportunities for college has been narrowed down just because the school is on a tight budget!! Im a really hard worker and my grades are mostly As despite the fact that I’m still learning English. I really want to repeat because 1) I want to take AP/ Honors classes to prepare for college and increase my chances of getting into a good college, 2) I don’t want to go to night school because I already have so much on my plate (it takes me a long time to do homework since English is my second language, and also I play a sport) , and 3) I want to meet UC requirements because I don’t meet requirements for most of the colleges that I’m interested in.
Is it okay for my school to deprive me of opportunities like this?? What should I do to make my situation better??
Thank you very much for reading this, and it would help so much if you can reply. I hope you have a good day.
Go with your parents to discuss the issues with your school principal, if not satisfied take it up the chain to the superintendent. Your parents should be able to find the state regulations that most closely match your situation online. You cannot be deprived of a free and appropriate education (FERPA) because of budget. But there are high school credit and age regulations that may also be in play. Your English Language Learner (ELL) status should also come into play.
^^^Good advice! I agree that using FERPA is a good approach. Then you are couching your request as a legal matter not as one of personal preference. Schools have many students and can’t satisfy every student. They are inclined to follow the rules though. And, as noted, CA public education–high school and college–is EXTREMELY bureaucratic and rule based, with very little flexibility.
I don’t think it will “look really bad” to colleges if you repeat the year. You can explain the circumstances, and the admission officers would understand that. Many, many applicants have stories that do not follow traditional formulas. They know life happens.
Also, when it comes time for you to apply to college, whenever that is, you’ll have opportunity to discuss the circumstances of your high school education. When you do so, remember to stay positive. That’s very important. Don’t be hostile or blaming toward the school/school system. State the situation in even-handed terms, not blaming ones; state how you’ve approached it and have done your best given the situation in very positive terms; and emphasize how you’ll be going forward in a positive way. When you proofread, it’s a good idea to go through any and all essays just looking for negative, blaming phrases and thoughts and then turning them into positive ones.
This is always good advice–not just in college admissions. Positive is more pleasant. It will make you look above any challenges and the bigger, better person for it. That’s who admission officers want on their campuses. Good luck!
There are a whole lot of different issues here.
To begin with, when you apply to college you won’t be a student who spent four years in HS in CA. You will be a student who transferred in from another country, and who was placed as a junior. How your two transcripts (Japanese and CA) are evaluated will be up to the places you apply to. CA has lots of students similar to you who have moved there from all over the world. Contact the admissions office at the closest UC, and make an appointment to talk about your specific situation with one of the officers. In your personal case, the 4 years of English might not apply. Certainly any science you took while in Japan will indeed apply toward the 3 year requirement. You also can contact admissions at any of the other places you are interested in right now and ask them about your situation.
If you did not have your Japanese records formally evaluated before you moved here, do that now. The evaluations performed by https://www.wes.org/ are recognized by most (if not all) colleges and universities in the US, and are used by many high schools as well. When students arrive from other countries without a formal evaluation of their records, the high schools make their own best determination of what those courses are equivalent to. It is entirely possible that your placement as a junior was based not on your age, but rather on your high school’s evaluation of your courses and grades from Japan. Placing you as a junior with a couple of catch-up courses at night and/or in the summer may have been the best option available based on that school district’s placement policies.
Since you are ELL (in your school it might be called ESL or ESOL), you are entitled to language-learning support. Consult with the ELL coordinator at your school about your rights under federal law. When there are money issues, often ELL students with higher-level skills are pushed into on-level classes, rather than being placed more appropriately in classes taught by subject specialists who are also certified in ELL. Again, putting you into the on-level classes might have been the only decent option available in your school.
As an adult ELL teacher myself, I do question your placement into a bunch of evening classes in addition to your your regular load of daytime classes. Especially as you indicate that it is difficult to get through your regular classes because of language issues. Have you spoken with your guidance counselor and the ELL coordinator about how difficult this schedule is for you? Were the evening classes cleared by the ELL coordinator as well as by the guidance counselor? How many evening classes do you have now? Will you need to keep taking evening classes in order to graduate in the time frame that the high school would like you to? How many total evening classes will you need to complete? Do they add up to being just your “missing” semester, or will you be taking enough to be the equivalent of a full school year?
In the US, students are allowed to remain in high school until they have completed the minimum graduation requirements for that state, or until the end of the school year in which they turn 21. So if you need to take a bit more time to graduate than your school thinks right now, they cannot obligate you to graduate until you have actually met the CA graduation requirements. That said, guaranteeing you a free and appropriate public education does not mean that your high school is obligated to provide you with anything more than the minimum coursework needed to meet state graduation requirements. They are not obligated to allow you to stay an extra semester or year so you can take a couple AP classes that you want.
AP classes aren’t necessary for college admission. Neither are honors classes. You transferred in from a school in another country. Your applications will be evaluated with that in mind. Don’t twist yourself all up just because US students you know are taking a whole bunch of AP classes. You aren’t them. They aren’t you.
Are you a US citizen or legal permanent resident alien, or do you have some other immigration status? What status do your parents have? Why are you assuming now that you will want/need to go to college in the US? What steps could you be taking in order to be able to apply to universities in Japan?
FERPA stands for Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. "Free and appropriate education " is FAPE. I do not know what the CA requirements are, but I think taking multiple courses at night is difficult. I am not sure whether you can use FAPE to argue to repeat 11th grade, in my experience (and I am not in CA), school administrators have their own “understanding” of FAPE.
However, without taking the night courses, will you have enough credit to fulfill the high school graduation requirement in 2019, if not, I think you may argue that you need to take another year and if it were me, I would drop the night courses now… Seriously, what was the reasoning for the school to declare you “junior”? I understand many 10th graders are taking classes that are normally taken by 11th graders.
Thanks everyone for giving advice! I talked about it with my counselor, and she told me that under no circumstances will they let me repeat junior year. But, they gave me 10 additional credits for electives so that I can drop a course. Now I only have two 3-hour night classes every week which makes the workload manageable.
I appreciate all the legal advice that was given to me, but my family and I are not planning to fight back the system since it could be too expensive and time consuming. We live in the center of Silicon Valley, and there is a very well resourced and funded community college in our city, so I have an option to go there and then transfer to one of the colleges that I want to go to.
I know that it’s not the path that I originally wanted to take, but all your advice made me widen my perspective, thank you:)
I do not understand, Are you required to take the night classes in order to graduate?
Yes, why do you ask?
I can’t see a reason why a public high school can require you to take night classes, in addition to your day classes, in order to fulfill the graduation requirement. Who are teaching those night classes? Who is paying for those night classes? How may classes are you taking in the day time in addition to the two classes at night?
If it were a requirement to graduate, and if it were me, I would just drop those night classes and stay in the high school for another year.
I do not know much about CA, may be @ucbalumnus can help
You are in Silicon Valley, did your parents check out the private schools? Usually, they can tailor your coursework.
Most states require only a certain number of hours or mastery of a subject. You can exhibit this in a variety of manners ; a proficiency test, SAT Subject tests, taking the climax class of a series (e.g. if you passed Calc BC in 9th grade) , or some other method defined by the school showing that you have clearly mastered the subject and be eligible for graduation. Schooling in Asia is a generally a lot more rigorous so you may only need extra instruction in certain subjects. Many of those do not need to be taken in a linear fashion, you could concurrently take, say, physics & chemistry.
Many students utilize dual-enrollment or early college schemes to have the public school system pay for part of their college if they are academically advanced.
May be I am confused…I read that the OP, due to his/her birthday, could not enroll as a sophomore (??), but OP does not have enough credits to graduate, hence has to take night classes (Posts #6, #7) in addition to his/her day classes, but OP really wants to study in the day even it means taking another year. I just do see how the school can make OP taking night classes to fulfill the graduation requirement.
Night school is free and a local public high school teacher teaches them. Im taking 6 classes at school, and the maximum number of classes that we can take is 7, but we can only take one class per subject (one math course, one English course…etc). My school has an extremely large student body which is continuing to increase at the moment, so I highly doubt that my school wil change its mind about not letting me repeat. We are not going to fight back because we know that the school office is just following rules and not much more can be changed.
Is there any approved policy that students are required to use night classes to fulfill the graduation requirement? Do students have a choice in say, taking 3 courses during the day, then 3 courses at night. I find it odd or may be I do not know anything about CA requirement. Are the night schools set up for this purpose?
You kept on saying repeating and repeating 11th grade. IMO, it is not a matter of repeating a grade, but just to find out the requirement for fulfilling the graduation requirement in a public school.
You said it is the rule, can you find the published rule that a student who does not have the credits, through no fault of their own, to fulfill the graduation requirement, has to take night classes to complete the graduation requirement?
I am not suggesting you to fight back. I am not even sure “fighting” is the right word.
You asked the following questions
Best of luck.