I went through this with Katie (now 16) when she was in middle school. She finally got to a grade where she couldn't talk her way out of missing assignments and it caught up to her fast. I did the same thing - talked through her grades with her and made her responsible to try to fix it. When that didn't work I either went in for parent - teacher conference night or I contacted the teacher via e-mail for clarification on what happened. Trying to fix it for him will probably not help, but finding out what happened will clue you in to where the problem is at specifically. Then you can help him figure out how to fix it (if he can) and then make him do the work.
I will tell you in our experience it took time for Katie to take responsibility for her actions. Knowing we were checking her grade (remembering to do that was the hardest part) and having her explain what was going on each class helped her learn how to manage herself. Once she knew we were on top it she realized she needed to be too. It took us all through middle school to work it out. At least in 6th grade his grades don't count for high school yet. So right now you are training him to manage himself. As long as he can do that before he leaves for college you're doing great.
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