P/T Conferences

The principal at the high school recently asked us staff how we felt about intervention conferences. I selected "other" as my option and 1 million thoughts began to swirl in my head, and, as a natural response, I found myself curiously researching articles on effective, research-based models of parent-teacher conferences.

My initial thoughts were that they seem like a great idea and of course I'd like to meet with parents of struggling students! The unfortunate problem about intervention conferences is that it's often "too late in the game"....not so late they can't pass, but late enough most students give up. Or, the parents you most need to see on that night can't make it whether it's because they have a night job, can't find a sitter, or some other reason. Who knows what that reason is but whatever it is - few families attend and therefore it's highly ineffective for a majority of people.


Then, I started thinking about general conferences. Having been an elective teacher, we'd see fewer parents than the core classes on open conferences night. Other teachers would have lines waiting to speak with them and, if I was lucky enough, I'd have one family waiting. If only it was because I was such a fantastic teacher and ALL of my students were passing.....NOT the case! Again, it was the parents of students who were very successful in my class that attended conferences, generally. Yes, I did see a few families of struggling students throughout the years but on the whole - it was parents who remained engaged in the process and see their student succeed.


Yes, I want to see those parents! But, PLEASE I want to see parents who are less engaged in the educational process. I'm going to make a crazy statement here but I think ALL parents want their students to be successful, both in AND outside the classroom.

So, how do create a system where parents are excited, engaged members of our student population and educational community? How do we, as teachers, maximize our time so we are working with ALL parents? How do we inform the parents on where students are falling on the standards continuum? How do we teach parents about test numbers and what all that educational jargon means?

So often, for ease of scheduling, district assign a few dates a year to have conferences. Yes, it's easy. Yes, it gets everyone on the same page. But does it differentiate for our parents? I don't know how this decision is made. Thinking about the ever changing demographics throughout the country, Shakopee included, doesn't it make sense to have the clients decide the when, where and how it's done? I'd LOVE to find a way that works for everyone but mostly for our parents.

How do we educate our PARENTS to be better educators? We know the theory behind what we do but they don't have that piece of information. Why not share our knowledge about best practices with someone who can continue it at home? AND, how do we, as a school community, continue the parent engagement throughout the school years, even as the child graduates?