any advice on transferring schools?

[RCT]

just wondering if any of you educators might have advice about our move and transferring ds's school records and getting in registered at the new school....should I expect him to be retested for the 2nd grade since we are going into another state? dd will be regisitering for Kindergarden...what should I expect there? any advice or helpful hints would be greatly appreciated.... tia

[MaryL]

Hmmm....I believe that when you register at the new school they send a request for records to your old school. I don't believe that your ds should need to be tested for entry to 2nd grade. I think his last report card is the paperwork that shows what grade he is to be placed in. As for dd, ask the school if there was a kindergarten screening (round-up) that you missed. Maybe the teacher can meet with you before school begins...that would be very helpful. Take your dks over to the school a few times. I would imagine that the principal should be able to give you a tour, and help you feel welcomed.

[JAK]

Just take ds's last report card and that should be fine for getting him in 2nd grade. Make sure you have your old school's phone number, address and FAX number (if they have one). You will probably just need to fill out a form stating that it's ok for your old school to send your ds's records to the new school.

Each school
is different when it comes to Kindergarten. Just make sure you have her birth certificate and shot records. Most schools also require a physical before entering Kindergarten. Since school doesn't start until Sept in CA you shuld be there if they have an open house before school actually starts.

[Lynda-WA]

When we transfered mid-year from CA to WA, his last teacher filled out a letter of transfer (official form) that would go with his records. She advised that I take them my copy and let them make a photo copy even though it would come with the rest of the records. The reason was that transfering records can take some time and aren't received until after the child is already in the new school. She also said to make sure I knew the address and phone number of the old school. When we got to his new school I filled out a form in the office giving them permission to get DS's records. His new teacher looked at the letter of transfer I had. It details what math and reading programs and how the child is doing. Turns out they both used the exact same reading program but since the new school ran the entire class at the same pace it didn't matter that DS had already completed past his new class. He had to re-do it.

The next move was in between schools. We bought this house before the end of the school year so I headed down to this schools office. They wouldn't send in the form until the following year because even though we owned this house we weren't going to physically move into it until a couple of days after the school shut down.

All I plan on doing when we move is to bring in the old school's info for the new school. That and an official copy of the kids' birth certificate and shot records. CA and WA each have different shot requirements and different state forms that they keep on file documenting the shot records. Since I'm moving within state this time I'm going to get a photocopy of each kid's shot records form to take up there and transfer. For DD they had me fill it in myself when she started K. Some of her shots were listed by technical names so I didn't know what they were for. I needed to have a nurse friend interpret them for me and one even she didn't know!I had to look it up on the internet! Don't want to go through that all again! Also, DS needed to have a form filled out by the doctor to start K in CA. I don't think he needed it to start 1st grade in CA. None of the schools have paid any attention to DS's last school's info for placement in grade or teacher assignment. I simply filled out a form stating which grade and they did class assignement based on which teacher had the least number of kids.

BTW - DS started kindergarten in CA in July. He was in an all-year school. I'm not sure when the last track started since he was in the first track of the year. I'm guessing 3 months later? When he was starting K, 3 of the tracks from the previous year's K were still finishing. There is an overlap. The cut-off for starting K was having a birthday on or before 2 December.

[JAK]

Originally posted by Lynda-WA

BTW - DS started kindergarten in CA in July. He was in an all-year school. I'm not sure when the last track started since he was in the first track of the year. I'm guessing 3 months later? When he was starting K, 3 of the tracks from the previous year's K were still finishing. There is an overlap. The cut-off for starting K was having a birthday on or before 2 December.

I forgot about year round schools! My nieces (in CA) start in July too.