First-Quarter Grades Slipping? What Parents Can Do in the Next Nine Weeks
The first quarter report card lands in early November, and for a lot of families it is the first hard evidence that something is off. Progress reports hinted. The portal had a few zeros. But the report card makes it official, and it tends to arrive with a question attached: is it too late to fix this semester?
It is not. There's still time to improve the rest of the semester. Start by asking each teacher which assignments can still earn credit and when they're due.
The first report card is the earliest honest signal of the year.
Read the first quarter report card for the pattern, not the grade
Before deciding what to do, look at why the grade is what it is. In most cases, especially for students with ADHD, the pattern is one of these: missing or late assignments dragging down an otherwise fine average; strong test scores and weak homework grades; or a single long project that was never started. The report card alone can't tell you why the work went unfinished.
Pick one missing assignment and ask your student to walk you through what happened. Did they know it was due? Did they get stuck on the work? Did they finish it and forget to turn it in? If the material was confusing, subject tutoring may help. If they understood it but struggled to start, plan, or submit the work, executive function coaching may help. Some students benefit from both.
Three things to do this week
One plan for the week, checked off as the work gets done.
- List missing work by class. Write down every missing assignment, by class. Then have your student ask each teacher what can still be turned in and by when.
- Pick a homework start time together. Set one start time and hold it. Not a duration. A start time. The hardest part for a student with ADHD is starting, and a fixed time removes the daily negotiation.
- Choose a day for a five-minute portal check. Pick one day a week to check the portal together, calmly, for five minutes. The goal is to catch a missing assignment on Thursday, not on report card day.
What usually goes wrong in the first quarter
September is when the system for the year is supposed to get built: where assignments get written down, when work happens, how long-term projects get broken up. For a student with ADHD, that system often never gets built, and the student spends the first quarter improvising. By November, improvising has stopped working. The report card is not the problem. It is the first clear look at the problem.
When to bring in an executive function coach
If you and your student keep having the same conversation about missing work, ask what would make the next check-in easier. Some students find it easier to talk through unfinished work with someone outside the family.
An executive function coach meets the student weekly with the real work: the actual portal, the actual assignments, the actual planner. The coach gets the student started on what has been avoided, builds one plan for the week, and checks the following week whether it happened. For most middle and high school students, that outside accountability is what makes the second quarter different from the first. DES has done this since 2009, with coaches who are special education certified, full-time educators, in home or online.
Next steps
If the first report card confirmed what you suspected, the next nine weeks are the right window. Schedule a complimentary consultation with Aron Boxer, M.Ed., S.P.E., to talk through your child's report card and decide what support would help. We work with families in Greenwich, Westchester, Manhattan, and South Florida.
FAQs
Is it too late to improve grades after a bad first quarter?
No. The first-quarter grade may already be set, but there's still time to improve the rest of the semester. Start by asking each teacher which assignments can still earn credit and when they're due, then build a routine that holds.
Should I get a tutor after a bad report card?
Ask your child to walk you through one assignment that went poorly. Where did they get stuck? If the material was confusing, subject tutoring may help. If they understood it but struggled to start, plan, or submit the work, coaching may help. Some students benefit from both.
How do I know if my child needs executive function coaching?
If the student understands the material but the grades suffer from missing work, late starts, or unstarted projects, and conversations at home have not changed the pattern, executive function coaching may be a good fit.