How to Help When Your Teen Is Failing High School in Ontario

Every parent wants to see their teen succeed in school. From grades to extracurricular activities, a student’s high school experience can determine their post-secondary prospects. For this reason, it can be very stressful and discouraging to see failing grades on your child’s latest report card. 

As a parent, what can you do to help your teen when they’re failing? How can you set themselves up for success in high school and post-secondary? This article will walk you through how to talk to your teen when they’re failing school, and what academic options are available to boost grades. 

Is Your Teen Failing School in Ontario? 

Is your teen failing school? The best way to find out how they’re doing is by checking their report cards or contacting the school for more information. Otherwise, a teacher will likely reach out to you personally if your teen is failing their class. 

Failing a class in an Ontario high school is serious, especially required courses like Math or English. Your teen will not be given any credit for failed classes, which will affect their ability to graduate down the line if not resolved. 

Some common reason for underperformance in high school include:

1. Learning Challenges or Undiagnosed Disabilities: Not every student learns the same way. Conditions like ADHD or dyslexia can disrupt your teen’s ability to learn in the classroom, take tests, and complete assignments. High schools will help with this by offering accommodations for students who have learning challenges. 
2. Mental Health Issues: Mental illness is real, and can be a serious issue when it comes to your teen’s academic performance. Anxiety, stress, and depression are incredibly common, and seriously affect motivation, attendance, and concentration. 
3. Bullying or Social Pressures: Negative social experiences can cause your child to lose focus and motivation, making them struggle in school. 
4. Excessive Screen Time or Distractions: Technology in the classroom, most often phones, are major distractions to your teen’s learning. Constant technology-use at home also contributes to the issue, causing your child to miss homework, get less sleep, and struggle with focus on school days. 
5. Frequent Absences or Skipping Class: While some absences may be justified, missing school constantly does not give your teen the time they need to complete schoolwork and understand academic concepts taught in class. 
6. Lack of Motivation: We often see students feel disconnected and uninterested in their courses. Your teen might fail to see the importance of high academic performance in high school, or feel it doesn’t align with their goals. 
7. Poor Time Management or Study Skills: Sometimes, your teen might not struggle with any of the above issues. They put the time and effort into school, but still find themselves struggling to succeed because of poor organization, time management, or study skills. They might accidentally forget about schoolwork, miss deadlines, and fail to effectively study for exams. 

How to Help When Your Teen Is Failing High School in Ontario

 

What Not to Do

Academic performance can be a sensitive subject, especially if there are other underlying issues affecting your teen’s academic capabilities. That’s why it’s important to be mindful when speaking with your teen about poor academic performance. Avoid getting angry and punishing them immediately before you get to the bottom of what is wrong. Here’s what to do first if your teen is failing school. 

Communicate with Them

The first step is to get to the root of the issue by creating a calm, no-judgement space for your teen to talk. Ask open-ended questions like “how do you feel about school lately?” or “is there something going on?”. This can give you real insight into how your teen feels about school, whether they’re interested in their courses, or are feeling overwhelmed.

It’s important not to immediately jump to conclusions and start giving solutions. Let them talk and really listen. While not every child will want to speak up, showing your teen that you’re on their side might help them feel more comfortable opening up and talking about their experience. 

Connect with the School

Connect with some of your teen’s teachers to get further insight into their behaviour in class and how it is affecting their grades. A teacher can help guide you through their performance and where they most need to improve to boost their grades. They’ll also give you the tools you need to help your child succeed, such as the opportunity to retake a test or other academic resources. 

Make a Plan Together

Collaborate with your teen and their teachers to create an effective academic plan designed to boost their grades and help them pass. No plan looks the same — it’s tailored to your child’s specific struggles, strengths, weaknesses, and needs. This plan will involve reactive and proactive steps to help your teen get and maintain passing grades in their classes, such as completing missing assignments, re-taking tests, and planning out study time. 

Depending on your teen, this plan may also involve student accommodations, tutoring services, extra-credit work, and even studying alongside you to help with focus and comprehension. Don’t be afraid to get creative with your child’s routine and experiment with how to best tackle missing and incoming assignments. Give your teen the chance to share their thoughts and what techniques they find the most effective for them.

Explore Tutoring Services

Tutoring is a highly effective service designed to help your child with their learning comprehension, study habits, and ability to complete assignments. We’ve found that many students appreciate the 1-on-1 support tutoring can provide, as it’s an opportunity to learn at your own pace. 

Affordable Academic Tutoring for High School Students in Ontario

Pathways Education understands the challenges that come with keeping up with high school courses. Our expert tutoring program was developed specifically for Ontario students in need of personalized 1-on-1 academic support.

Our tutoring services are about more than just helping with homework. We provide targeted reviews and tailor our tutoring to specific subject areas your teen struggles in. Along with assignment help, our tutors will give students an understanding of key course concepts needed to succeed. 

Why Parents Choose Pathways:

• No long-term contracts, making our services flexible and commitment-friendly
• Only need to book a 4-hour minimum tutoring session to get started
• Customize sessions to fit your schedule and your teen’s learning pace
• Sessions can take place at your home, a public library, or our office
• Our programs are tailored to each student based on individual needs and goals
• A session includes our Key Math Assessment to identify strengths and learning gaps

Whether your teen is falling behind or looking to get ahead, our tutoring services ensure your teen receives focused attention and complementary resources for all their academic needs. 

Book Your First Tutoring Session