Let's talk about the Freshmen Slump. No, I'm not referring to the college freshmen slump, rather your 9th grader's potential academic malaise.

When is the time in your teen's life when your diligent oversight is most important? The senior prom? When your child hops into a car with four other teens? During athletic competition? 

While all of those events are certainly demanding of your attention and yet still somewhat out of your control, I draw your attention to a macro picture of your teen, specifically, the 14 or 15 year-old kid who occupies your house and sometimes mopes.

Because we're talking about College Tips, this is totally relevant to long-range planning and no singular event. The answer is that most "damage" to a high school transcript occurs during the freshman year. Then your teen is stuck trying to climb out of that GPA hole for the next three years.

By the junior year, it becomes achingly apparent that one-third of your child's academic career was the statue and the freshman year was the pigeon. Simply put, your child will be unable to fully escape the C's, D's and F's of the first year. Policies in place demand your full attention regarding (non) grade replacement for repeating and only securing a halving of the GPA between the lower grade and the (hoped for) higher repeat grade.

Complexities aside, your full attention to the Parent Portal is required, and matters pertaining to two hours of homework per night should occupy all parental priorities with regard to your newly-minted high school freshman.

The stakes are very high. Admissions counselors at more prestigious schools do indeed look for an "upward grade trend" but why make them look for an awakening when actions taken today by parents of first-year students can begin to turn the table on admissions counselors who are considering denying your kid but looking for any reason to admit. An upward grade trend is pretty low on the totem pole for reasons to admit. And that conversation will always be coupled with a request for an explanation as college reps seek some horrific reason for the lower freshman GPA trending higher.

The best scenario is to have a great GPA from the freshman year through the senior year, obviously. So, all 500+ freshmen at IRHS need to score well in Biology, English, Algebra, Geometry, etc. That's why we have tutoring; that's why we have conference periods; that's why teachers are available via email to address the persistent issue of freshman failure.

This is all tied to transition issues from middle school-to-high school, hormones, being the newest kids on the block and higher expectations. The social dynamic is hairy for your 14 and 15 year-old kids. They now have to re-train their brains to focus on writing down assignments -- planner, anyone? -- and reading, learning how to type and turning in papers on time.

The good news? This modification to your teen's habits is going to happen overnight. You possess the ability to change the trajectory of your aforementioned early teen away from the video games, away from the friends, away from Facebook, away from sleeping in and away from weekends without addressing assignments.

The longest journey begins with the first step. If you have not gotten on to the Parent Portal, let that be your first step. That which gets measured, gets done. When you can see your teen's assignments and grades then you take the power and can ask the correct questions.

Not, "Do you have homework?" Rather, "I need you to get on your homework in Spanish. I see you took a C last week on an open book quiz and the next time you take a quiz, you're going to be prepared. Here, let me get out your book and turn on a light so you can conjugate verbs for an hour. You have a quiz next Wednesday and you're going to do great!"

Look for the parent portal link on IRHS's home page or email your child's counselor and we'll get Ms. Lazos, IRHS's Computer System's Operator, on that so you can monitor and change the trajectory. And yes, this especially applies to students in the lower 20 percentile as well. Those students too are still able to make the grade for university admissions. This is going to a partnership, yes, but it's also going to be a lot of you telling your child to study and prepare and being loaded for bear thanks to the Parent Portal.