Parent-Teacher Conferences
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Descriptions, definitions, synonyms, organizer terms, types of
Parent-teacher conferences have historically been a scheduled annual event, where parent meets with a teacher and the teacher informs the parent of the child's progress or lack thereof. More recently, research has shown that parent involvement has a significant influence on student performance. The new focus is toward promoting a partnership between parents and teachers, where there is a cooperative relationship between the two parties working together to help the child achieve success. There has also been a trend toward student-led parent-teacher conferences, involving the student as at least a participant, and frequently a leader of the discussion.
Background
Over the last several generations, a boundary has developed between informal education of children at home and formal education of children in schools. While both parents and teachers strive for well-loved, well-educated children, at times, adversarial conditions are seen between home and school. Children must live their lives in both worlds. There are legitimate arguments on both sides. Teachers claim that home situations, including undernourishment, poor physical health, and children with their basic safety needs unmet, often prohibit effective education. Parents no longer view school as a safe haven for their children, but as a place where children are exposed to bullying, violence, and access to drugs. Statistics show that only 70% of U.S. schoolchildren will graduate from high school. Without effective collaboration between parents and teachers, these problems cannot be remedied. The teacher bears the responsibility of developing a positive relationship with parents to achieve the goal of successful education (Rosenthal).
Establishing a positive relationship with parents must be achieved at the beginning of the school year. Most frequently, teachers' first opportunity to meet with parents is at the parent-teacher conference, and these should be scheduled as early in the school year as possible, to develop trust between parents and teachers. It is a prime opportunity for teachers to gain cooperation of parents in the education of their children (Rosenthal).
Recently, an educational push has been towards student-led conferences. The (very) basic idea is that students would attend conferences with both teahcer and parents and would attempt to explain what is going on in the classroom. The teacher could step in and annotate the student-led discussion with praise and/or corrections. Would this impact parent/teacher relationships? Would this impact parent/child relationships? These questions are yet to be answered.
Application in classrooms and similar settings
Rosenthal recommends teachers follow these steps to open lines of communication with parents at the parent-teacher conference:
1. Speak the language of the family; use their words and definitions.
2. Understand the family's rules and rituals.
3. Try to keep jargon to a minimum - especially at first.
4. Monitor your own level of discomfort; do you resort to "the facts" when you become uncomfortable?
5. Try to build a collaborative, rather than an adversarial, system.
6. Ask the family to suggest solutions.
7. Recognize signs of a power struggle.
Often, the parent-teacher conference is the only contact between parents and teachers. Therefore, it is an important opportunity to establish a trusting and cooperative relationship. This is when teachers should find out who has primary responsibility for child-rearing and monitoring schoolwork, what is the style of parenting (authoritarian, authoritative, or permissive), and how the family approaches and deals with problems. A solution-focused parent-teacher conference is recommended. There are various strategies to accomplish goals shared by parents and teachers. These include behavior contracts, gathering information, establishing tasks for parents (such as observing specific behaviors) (Rosenthal).
Marilyn Haring, Dean of the School of Education at Purdue University contends that students should be a part of the parent-teacher conference. As early as third grade, she states, students should be present at the conference, and by junior high, students should be leading the meeting. Her reasoning is that parents and teachers are not "all-knowing" about a student's performance, and that the student will benefit by playing an active role, developing responsibility for their own success. She further contents that having the student present opens the dialogue between teachers and parents, and provides the student with a greater level of self-esteem (Add Students to Parent Teacher Conferences).
Evidence of effectiveness
The amount and degree of parent involvement is the most influencial factor in determining students' success in school, based on a 1994 United States Department of Education survey. However, in another survey of teachers, 63% indicated that parents are less involved in their child's school life than parents were ten years ago (Hunker).
Parent involvement, particularly at the middle level, is needed not only to maximize student learning through support, but to also imrpove school and community relations. Schools benefit from the resources offered through positive parent teacher interactions and realtionships.
Critics and their rationale
While research points to the strong influence parent involvement has on student success and achievement, there are still a large percentage of parents that do not attend parent-teacher conferences. There is also a direct correlation between poverty and failure to attend parent-teacher conferences. Unfortunately, those students at greatest risk (urban students living in poverty) do not have the parental support that would help them be successful at school (Parent Involvement In Children’s Education: Efforts by Public Elementary Schools, 1996). So all planning for best methods of conferencing, and most effective communication strategies are for naught when it comes to the students who stand to benefit the most.
Canter and Canter (1976) suggest that the mistakes most made at parent teacher conferences are:
• Teachers apologize for bothering parents
• They downgrade problems
• They belittle themselves
• They do not clearly state their needs
• They downgrade the consequences of the child’s behavior
Alternative explanations due to Diversity considerations
Students of minority cultures are more at risk for academic failure. Since there is a direct correlation between parent involvement and a child's academic success, it is important that teachers respect and understand familial and cultural differences of students and their parents, to establish positive communications (Peel).
Teachers must work to achieve open lines of communication with families from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. It is important to learn about families' cultures to build trusting relationships. The teacher can research various cultures, and develop a respect and understanding the unique traditions of each culture. Speaking a few simple words, such as hello and goodbye in the parents' or students' native tongue can demonstrate respect. Interpreters may be necessary at parent-teacher conferences and at other parent-school gatherings. Some parents may have good command of spoken English, but be unable to read English. This must be taken into consideration when communicating between home and school, and letters may need to be translated into the native language. It is also helpful to form groups of parents who speak the same native language, so they can communicate and share information with one another. Teachers also need to recognize that the degree of school and student involvement expected from parents various between countries (Conderman).
Signed "life experiences", testimonies and stories
Parental support plays an integral role in any healthy music program so therefore contact with parents is very regular. My school has P/T Conferences twice a school year and parents chose whether or not they want to attend. It always amazes me that year after year the parents of the most successful and well behaved students are the ones who attend and the students who are struggling or are discipline problems, more often then not, attend a conference. Maybe if they took a little more investment in their child, a different attitude might prevail. -J. Daeschler
I think every first-year teacher is nervous upon entering their first parent-teacher conference. I know I was. Part of this is natural, but I agree with what was said above. I really feel that teachers are now in the middle of an arguement of who is to balme. Schools don't trust that parents are doing what they are supposed to do and vice versa. I think it is very important that we make connections and ties to parents that dispell fears and reservations about trusting and getting involved in a postive way.--KK
To help me survive my first parent-teacher conferences, I used the forms and worksheets provided by H. Jerome Freiberg and Amy Driscoll in Universal Teacher Strategies: Third Edition (2000, p.173-175). They gave me some excellent pointers on how to prepare, what to discuss, and how to wrap up, which included some follow-up procedures.
For the second round of conferences this year, I tried the student-led conferences with my 2nd Graders. I thought that they would be too young for this, but it went really well! It took a bit more time in terms of planning as we had to rehearse and practice what the students would show their parents, but the actual conference time was a lot less stressful for me. I got a chance to step back and watch what the students choose at the "most important" elements of our room (and they weren't always the same as what I would have picked). I think I needed the more traditional parent-teacher conference early in the year, but I do like doing the student-led later in the year. --Annie Craig, 2nd Grade Teacher
Successful teachers in my acquaintance seem to have systematic routines for parent communication that begins with the initial conference. They proactively keep parents informed via phone calls and newsletters of the classroom activities, policies and goals. They plan "surprise" contacts to let them know of a specific accomplishment of their child. They make it a point to call with good news and not just the problem behaviors. Linda Diekman
I always felt very comfortable during parent teacher conferences because I was prepared and it wasn't the first contact I had had with the parents. Through weekly notes, phone calls (good and bad), and being involved with the community, I felt that I had a good relationship with most of the parents of my students. It didn't hurt either when I started getting the students of my former students. The only problem I had with parent teacher conferences was getting in touch with those parents that seemed to be never home, or never communicate back to me through notes. Sharon Morrisette
Our district has been leaning towards student-led conferences instead of the more traditional parent/teacher conferences. The students actually are the leaders of the conference. They are in charge of sharing their progress with their parents, telling them both positive and negative aspects of their learning that semester. Although I have not done student-led conferences yet, I have seen very positive outcomes. At the junior high level, not many parents come to conferences, especially our spring conferences. But, with student-led conferences, the outcome has been overwhelming. I walked by a teacher friend's classroom at one point on conference night a few years ago, and she had a line of parents waiting to get in to her classroom that reached down the hallway! Whiles there are drawbacks to student-led conferences, such as taking time away from content to teach the students how to do a conference, the benefits seem to outweigh them. Amy Higgins
I always dreaded parent teacher conferences while I was a teacher. I only taught for two years after graduation so I was very young the first few encounters with parents. I remember the first semester that I had conferences was a nightmare! I really didn't have much coaching or mentoring. The first set of parents came in and the first thing they said to me was "we have a daughter your age." I thought to myself, yicks, these two could be my parents! I also remember a situation were a father was very upset that his son was getting a B in my class. The father was mad at me for not calling him to tell him. I can understand calling if a student was getting a D of F, but a B! - that is crazy. It is amazing how much parents can very from one set to the next. Some don't show to parent teacher conferences, or even know the grades of their child, while others are concerned with an above average grade. --Benish 20:44, 3 May 2005 (CDT)
Why do I do it to myself? Year after year I set myself up for disappointment. After a full quarter has past, I know which parents I'd like to talk to face-to-face. I send out letters and voice my concerns that a meeting is crucial to their child's success in my class. And who shows up? The parents of my A students. Oy!! M. Uhls
When I taught in our alternative high school, we would have zero parents show up to meet your teacher night but 100% show up for parent teacher conferences at the end of first quarter. How did we do it? We required it as part of the program. I would have students call their parents from school to set up a time. If they said no time was convienent or they had no transporation, I responded that I could meet them at their house...this always got them to find a time! Now that I teach regular high school classes, my conferences are hit and miss, although I had a line at my table most of the time, while other teachers had none. My trick? I offered students 5 points extra credit if their parent came and talked to me (as opposed to just coming and picking up their report card). E. Morrison
My school has student-led conferences right after students receive their report card for the first trimester. Several weeks before the date, letters are sent home so parents can request a daytime or evening conference. Then, teachers meet before school to coordinate conferences so that parents who have multiple children attending the school will be able to attend conferences back-to-back. Next, invitations are sent home to parents informing them of the specific times their conferences have been scheduled. Finally, a few days prior to student-led conferences, the teacher finalizes the agenda, reviews it with the students, and familiarizes them with the role they will have during conferences.
During conferences, only the child from that classroom and his/her parents are allowed in the room with the teacher. Siblings go to the cafeteria where volunteers provide books, videos, games, and puzzles to keep them entertained. This ensures that the child involved in the conference understands that this is a time to receive his/her parent's undivided attention.
Conferences are blocked in 45 minute sessions. While the teacher conferences with one student and his/her parents for 15 minutes at a time, two more students and their parents are in the room going through the outlined agenda. The agenda may include, but is not limited to, suggestions for the child to play math games with his/her parents, show work displayed in the classroom, review portfolio work, read from a book, or discuss academic and behavioral goals. When the teacher has finished conferencing with one family, he/she moves to the desk of another student and commences with another 15 minute conference.
The conference between the parent, student, and teacher has a sense of privacy because other families in the room are focused on their own child's work. During this conference, the teacher might begin by asking the parents and student if they have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding the recently sent home report card. Many times, the rest of the conference is spent addressing these report card issues. When there are few to no concerns to address, the conference focuses on goals for the next trimester. It is very important the teacher stays positive, pleasant, and prompt during the conferences since there are multiple families in the room. If parents have further issues they want to discuss, a follow-up appointment is made to address these issues at a future meeting.
I have found student-led conferences to be enjoyable because it emphasizes to the child and parent that the child plays an active roll in his/her education. Finally, it helps the child become a goal setter and problem solver. -T. Pearl
I have found at the high school level parent-teacher conferences do not have the effect they did in grammer school. I have 125 students and during conferences I average about 10-15 parents. The students of parents that attend are generally A-B students and not the parents that I really need to meet. l. gowler
As a son of two teachers and as a student, I have seen both sides of parent-teacher conferences (many, many times). Like L. Gowler said above me, I too think that high school conferences are far less effective, at the very least because of the high volume of students for each teacher. I have never encountered a student-led conference, though the idea intrigues me. I always felt that the parent-teacher conference left something very important out of the whole meeting (especially at high school ages), the student. -Matt Munley
As a math teacher in a high school with a large Hispanic population I had difficulties to communicate with the parents during the conferences in some cases. I used the student as a translator for that purpose and it worked, but I could not call it "led by student”. The idea of having together the student and the parent for a conference may be a wrong one some times but is interesting. It happened to me that either the student did not translate properly (in order to cover some issues that were getting him or her in trouble) and I had to call an other teacher who was available, or the student was disrupting the conference and I had to remove him/her from the room (the parents did not seem to control the student well). Generally, the parents that I really wanted to see did not come for the conference (excepting those whose children disrupted the conference) and that is where the missing piece is and extra credit points helped but only for some students. A.Rosu
Although my school does not have parent/teacher/student conferences, sometimes the students do come along with their parents and join the parent(s) and I for the conference. I think this is beneficial because the student is present and is able to give his/her feedback regarding progress made in the class. This is also a good time for a student to talk to me about any concerns with the class. As long as we continue to have a good turnout with the parents at conferences and we most always do, of course not every parent shows up and not always the ones of the students we really need to see, I think parent/teacher conferences will be fine. The students coming along is always encouraged; however, I do not foresee my school making a change in the way conferences are currently set-up. ~K. Kleckauskas
For many teachers, Parent-Teacher Conferences are extremely stressful. They are time-consuming, require a lot of talking and listening, as well as extend an already long day. It is an exhausting process; yet, they provide the teacher and parent/guardian(s) with some extremely important information and beneficial contact time. I think the key to good Parent-Teacher Conferences is for the teacher to be prepared. I always have anything and everything I will need during the conference out and on a table. This may include: a students' portfolio, report card, behavior plan, IEP, PEP, notes/observations, etc. I also make sure to have paper, pencils, and even some content material on display. Having materials ready and easily accessible helps keep the conference moving, while keeping it informative. -D. Jacob (June 2006)
As a teacher, parent teacher conferences are always a stressful part of the year. I think the only way to alleviate this stress is to be proactive. The conference should not be the first time a parent talks to a teacher. It is important for a teacher to establish a positive relationship with parents before they ever step into the conference. Furthermore, the more prepared a teacher is, the smoother the conference will be. It is important to start the conference by letting the parent know that you care about their child, even if their child is "Little Johnny the Hell Raiser." Parents must hear positive things about their little angels before they are open to here about areas that need improvement. Some of the best advice I've been given about conferences is to remember that many parents that come to your door were not successful in school and did not have good relationships with teachers. In turn, they are coming in with their guard up. However, if they see you as an advocate for their child, they will be more willing to hear what you have to say and will look at your statements as supportive, not judgmental. -- Amanda P.
I always dread parent/teacher conference time simply because I teach electives (band, music appreciation, stage craft) and parents automatically think that's an easy A. Therefore, if their child is getting a B, and I have not called to inform them of this they get upset. I could understand if their student was getting a D or F, but not a B. While dealing with problem behaviors I learned to have the student call home and explain to mom or dad why they were getting in trouble. I then speak with the parent. This is a technique I learned from my cooperating teacher while student teaching. I find it greatly reduces the "story telling" kids tend to resort to when explaining what happened to their parents. - C. Cyrus
At our school we use student-led conferences. These seem to work out very well. The students are able to communcate with their parents and inform them of academics and behaviors in the classroom. By having the students there all issues are addressed and can not be denied later (when a parent normally comes home and asks their child about something discussed at parent teacher conferences). Our students set goals at the beginning of the year and then these goals are discussed with the parents and teacher. - R.U.
Our parent teacher conferences are done in the gym and all the teachers are corraled together and the parents come in and speak for a minute or two to their son of daughter in the classroom. Being an elective like art, many parents don't understand that we grade students on a rubric and like two testimonals before they think their child should receive an A. With our setup, I feel there should be a more effective way to have conferences. C. McCulley
We run parent teacher conferences as a 7th Grade Team. In a previous district we had to do conferences on our own and it made it easy for parents to tell the teacher "my child is only struggling in your class" when we knew that wasn't true. Having a team conference allows teachers to talk before the parents arrive about what they want to cover and it makes it harder for the parents to play the teachers off on each other. I feel that when possible all conferences should be done with some type of support system. It makes it much easier on teachers, but can bee seen as intimidating to parents. B. Moore
Parent teacher conferences used to be an opportunity for parents to learn what their student's grades are. This concept is changing now that grades are posted online and updated weekly. Now teachers have to go beyond "your child has a B" because parents already know this information. Analyzing grades has become a higher priority. Is it due to lack of effort, illness, is this a positive grade for the student? Another observation I have about conferences is that for a week afterwards students put forth more effort in their work and their behavior is better. But students quickly slip back into their old habits. How do we help students maintain their improvements that came as a result of conferences? -R. Fruin
I am a second grade teacher and my district does not use student-led conferences, though I think they are a great idea. I attempt to avoid any surprises at conferences by sending out weekly reports expressing students' grades and behavior. Around two weeks before conferences, I send home a short questionnaire to be filled out by parents. This allows parents to voice concerns or questions they wish to be addressed at conferences. This helps to assure that I address all concerns/questions - M. Flessner
I have taught high school for four years, and have noticed a trend in parent conferences: parents ask for a grade report, then ask either "Can my student make up the work?" or "Can you e-mail me every week to tell me how my student is doing?" The first question frustrates me, because the student could just as easily ask me that question every day when I see her in class. The fact that a 16 year old has to have his mother come in and ask for his homework seems distressing to me, since I feel that a large part of my job is to teach the students how to be ready for post high school life. As a result, I always tell the parents that, if their student comes to talk to me about making up work, then your student and I can work something out. I hate to be evasive, but my assumption as that mom won't be calling college professors to ask for her son's homework, and I need him to be prepared for that. As for the second question, the answer is basically a variation on a theme. I ask the parent if his daughter could ask me every week for a report. I really struggle with e-mailing parents every single week. I hope this doesn't sound heartless, but again, I feel that the students need to start being responsible for their education. I will bend over backwards to help the students, but I will be very cautious about enabling them any more than they have already been. Luke A.
I find it very helpful to have the student present at the conference. The parents are usually caught in the middle and come to the conference believing the one-sided story they've been told. When the teacher presents her side of the story, there is no one to respond. With the child present, the conversation can be brought full circle. It is true that parents of at-risk students do not come to conferences as often as others. This is due to many factors including fear of the educational system. The parents have had bad experiences with schools or are uneducated, and too often feel helpless or embarrassed. Unfortunately, there are parents who are just disinterested. I had one boy for seventh grade--twice. I was the one who insisted on retaining him because he lacked basic math skills and was reading at the third grade level. During his first year in seventh grade he had made tremendous reading progress, and I wanted him to make as much progress as possible before heading to a high school with a 50% drop out rate. I didn't meet his mother until the end of 3rd quarter of his second year with me. The only reason I met her was because the school started mandating that parents pick up report cards from the teachers. By the way, the student thanked me for retaining him. T. Stilts
I, too, find it helpful for the student to be at their conference (or in my case, IEP meetings). This gives the student more accountability and really, it is THEIR meeting. A problem I have with parents sometimes is their desire to want what is "easy" for their child, while the district recommends a challenge, and placing the student where it is appropriate. It often ends in opposing viewpoints, but is always important to document these views. - J. Grady
My school has parent-teacher conferences once per year and these are held after the first nine weeks. I don't really believe that this is a fair amount of time to accurately give a parent a decent snapshot of their child's progress or behavior in class. I think it takes at least nine weeks to get to know all thirty of my students and if we have a conference after the first quarter, we should have one for the end of every quarter. This would allow us to keep very close communication with the parents and also have no gaps in their child's education. It would be a great way to track progress and find any weaknesses in a timely manner.
I find that after the parent-teacher conference, I usually understand the things about my student that didn't make sense before. I also feel that a student will not be successful (in primary grades especially) if they have little or no support at home. I think that because parents are a child's first teacher that it helps their second teacher to bridge the gap and continue the work the parents have done with regular communication. Maybe in this day of technology, the conferences could be held electronically, allowing busy parents the opportunity to meet more regularly with the teacher and allowing the children more successes. D. LePla
References and other links of interest
Add students to parent-teacher conferences. USA Today, 129(2664), (2000), 6.
Conderman, G. (2001). Enhance the involvement of parents from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Intervention in School and Clinic, 37(1), 53.
Canter, L., & Canter, M. (1976) Assertive Discipline - a take-charge approach for today's Educator. Los Angeles, CA: Lee Canter and Associates.
Hunker, P. G. (1997, August 26).Schooling parents: adults can learn to take part in education of their offspring. The Washington Times, pp. 1.
Parent involvement in children’s education: efforts by public elementary schools . (1996). Retrieved Mar. 17, 2005, from Instititute of Educational Sciences, National Center for Educational Statistics Web site: http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/frss/publications/98032/.
Peel, B. B. (1995). Making the right connection: conferencing with parents of different cultures. Education, 115(4), 575+.
Rosenthal, D. M. (1996). Building successful home/school partnerships: strategies for parent support and involvement. Childhood Education, 72(4), 194+.
