Secondary School Placement

Our graduates move on to a variety of schools after Sage: public and private, boarding and day, co-ed and single sex, urban and suburban. Our secondary school placement process is designed to help students and their families make thoughtful and deliberate choices regarding their next school experience. Just as making the choice to come to Sage was challenging and exhilarating for parents, the secondary school choice can sometimes feel daunting to students and families alike.

Sage’s placement process aims to help students and parents move smoothly through the initial brainstorming to a final decision.

Our philosophy
There is no one school that is perfect for everyone. Living in the greater Boston area, we are surrounded by a multitude of independent, public, and parochial school options – some of the most competitive in the country. Some families hear this and immediately switch into hyper-drive, already feeling overwhelmed or daunted. On the other hand, at Sage, we encourage students and families to maintain their perspective, looking instead at the numerous options that lay in front of them. We believe the key is in the right “fit.” It’s not only about the amenities, or the college acceptance rates at certain schools, or names. While these things rightfully have their place, and will inevitably have some degree of influence, at it’s core, the process and choice are about fit. All schools have a unique environment. Finding the environment that “clicks” for your family, is the key to finding the school that will bring out the best in your son or daughter. That, balanced with factors such as appropriate academic rigor, structure, or extracurriculars, leads to happy students.

How do we do this?
Our Secondary School Placement Coordinator assists 7th and 8th grade students and families with this process. Below, you will find some details about the timeline, but first let’s address the question many parents have. Shouldn’t we start sooner? No. At Sage, just as we avoid “teaching to the test,” we do not advocate grooming students for school admissions. It is impossible to find the right high school fit for your child if he/she is in the 4th grade. Children grow, change, and blossom every year. A sixth grader, still adjusting to Middle School, cannot possibly imagine what he or she might want from their high school experience. While parents may be at that point, students of this age are not developmentally ready to project that far ahead. We want students to strive to do their best and to develop themselves and their passions during their stay at Sage. When the time comes, a student confident in who he/she is will surely communicate this to potential schools. For parents who would like to give their children a boost earlier on, the best things to do are to regularly get their children to school in a timely manner and to encourage their children to pursue and develop their own interests.

Timeline
Spring of the 7th grade

  • Parent meeting with School Placement Coordinator for an overview of the process
  • Individual parent meetings with Secondary School Placement Coordinator to discuss academic, extracurricular, and social preferences or expectations
  • Secondary School Placement Coordinator assists families in creating an initial list of schools to consider

Fall of the 8th grade

  • Secondary School Placement Coordinator meets with families to provide a more detailed “to do” list
  • Families schedule visits and tours of prospective schools
  • Secondary School Placement Coordinator helps students practice their interviewing skills
  • Students take the Secondary School Admission Test (SSAT)
  • Students receive assistance in managing the paperwork involved
  • Sage hosts a panel of representatives from various area secondary schools to address topics of interest

Spring of the 8th grade

  • Secondary School Placement Coordinator assists students/families in making a decision, if they would like to discuss options after receiving admission decisions
  • Students are encouraged to attend re-visit days, and visit their local public school
  • Secondary School Placement Coordinator works with schools and families to facilitate a smooth transition

Our secondary school process is designed to help families navigate the transition between Sage and high school. We care greatly about our students and want them not only to be happy and successful while at Sage, but also to be well-prepared – both academically and socially – for their future school experiences. We want our students to feel good about their next school placement, to be academically challenged, and to continue to grow.

Sage graduates thrive in the right school setting. Our goal in regard to placement is not to create a list of the “top” schools in the northeast, but rather to create a list of the “right” schools for our diverse students.

The class of 2012′s average total SSAT score was 96.6%.

Sage graduates have recently been accepted to the following independent schools:
Beaver Country Day School
Bishop Feehan High School
Boston College High School
Boston University Academy
Brooks School
Buckingham Browne & Nichols
Cambridge School of Weston
Commonwealth School
Concord Academy
Dana Hall School
Emma Willard School
Groton School
Hotchkiss School
Lexington Christian Academy
Lincoln School
Loomis Chaffee School
Middlesex School
Milton Academy
Miss Porter’s School
Moses Brown School
Newton Country Day School
Noble & Greenough School
Northfield Mount Hermon School
Phillips Academy Andover
Phillips Exeter Academy
Pomfret School
Portsmouth Abbey School
The Rivers School
Roxbury Latin School
St. Mark’s School
St. Paul’s School
St. Sebastian’s School
Taft School
Thayer Academy
Walnut Hill School
Westover School
Wheeler School
Winsor School
Worcester Academy
Xaverian Brother’s High School

Sage graduates have also attended the following public secondary schools:
Acton-Boxborough High School
North Attleboro High School
Boston Latin Academy
Foxboro High School
Hopkinton High School
King Phillip Regional High School
Lexington High School
Mansfield High School
Medfield High School
Medway High School
Millis High School
Needham High School
Newton South High School
Sharon High School
Walpole High School

Colleges Sage alumni have attended:
Brown University
Carnegie Mellon University
George Washington University
Harvard University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
McGill University
New York University
Ohio State
Princeton University
Sacred Heart College
Savannah College of Art & Design
Simon Frazier University
Simon’s Rock College
Stanford University
Tufts University
United States Air Force Academy
UMASS Amherst, honors program
UMASS Medical School
University of Miami
University of Rochester
Vanderbilt University
Westpoint
Wheaton College
Worcester Polytechnic Institute