Moving to the USA during the middle of the school year

[Gamimo 0]

Hi all.

I'm DV Lottery 2015 green card winner. My CN is really low and if all will be good I will go to USA in the middle of the school year (December/January/February) probably to Illinois. My daughter is 16 years old (98'). She speaks English good (no fluent) and she has good grades here in Poland. How look this procedure and what with exams which students write in the middle of the school year? I think she will be a Junior, is it right? I know, it would be better to move before new school year starts, but my interview is in October and I have to go to USA in 6 months.

Edited August 17, 2014 by Gamimo

[canadian_wife 1,802]

Start now, figure out what school district you will move in to and contact the board. Make this transition as easy as possible for your daughter

good luck

[Udella&Wiz 325]

I agree with the previous response, contact the school board of the county where you'll be moving to. They can help you with what they need to assess her once you arrive. You will need previous transcripts translated into English and it helps to have previous academic report cards or whatever is used to provide school grades in Poland. They probably won't enroll her until you arrive and prove legal residency, at least that's what they did for my daughter.

We arrived in Nov and my daughter who was in grade 10 in Canada was also placed in Grade 10 here. We worked with the school counselor to ensure they mapped her credits from her previous Canadian high school towards an American high school diploma. She came out fairly even and they enrolled her in appropriate classes. If your daughter's English needs improvement, they'll enroll her in some ESL(English as a Second Language) classes which will be very helpful to her in the long run,

They won;t shove her into exams for classes she hasn't been in so don;t worry. Some schools are semestered (2 per year) and some are terms (3 per year)...terms seem more common in the area we're in. No matter what it will be difficult for her ina new school with no friends etc....but they'll probably buddy her up with someone to help her around school the first week. She'll fit in eventually, just be patient.

My daughter had a difficult transition but it worked out.

[Gamimo 0]

Aww thank you all for responses. I will contact with school.