In a previous blog, I offered tips for a successful parent-teacher conference. These conferences are designed to facilitate communication between a parent and their child’s teacher. What if students were given the opportunity to participate in or take the lead in parent-teacher conferences? It has been done in several school systems and the results show that when students lead these meetings their overall performance in school improves. A student-led parent-teacher conference encourages students to participate actively in the evaluation of their academic progress. This in turn forces the students to think about and use their own initiative to improve their learning.
Gustine Middle School in Gustine, California, for example, implemented student-led parent-teacher conferences, according to a paper published in The Clearing House. During the conference the student leads the meeting using a portfolio which includes samples of his completed work, along with written self-reflections. They also talk about their perceived strengths and weaknesses as well as goals for the next grading period.
Several independent research studies concluded that student-led parent-teacher conferences caused students to take more responsibility for their own learning, increased the parental attendance rates and overall these conferences seemed to contribute to the success of the schools. The overall experiences were positive for all involved.
In the Gustine example a lot of planning went into getting ready for the first conference, including preparing the portfolio (they used a three-ring binder), writing the self-reflections and informing the parents of the upcoming meeting. They also paired up with another student and practiced what they would say and each student offered feedback to their partner on their performance.
One of the parents summarized the benefits of such student-led conferences as follows:
Students take ownership of their learning.
Students share with teachers the burden of explaining to their parents, if necessary, reasons for poor performance or behavior.
All of the students’ teachers are available in one area for private conferences, if necessary.
Parental attendance rates are higher.
Students are not waiting at home wondering what their teachers are saying about them.
This seems like a wonderful idea for the middle and upper grade levels. If you are active in your child’s school perhaps you might want to drop this idea into the suggestion box.