Today in Education: Parent Conferences 'Adults In the Child's World Working Together.'

From the first day of student attendance through graduation, mileposts dot the calendar and give each school year rhythm.  Arguably, the most significant event will arrive soon.

With the end of first quarter in sight, teachers today have their eyes fixed on parent conferences.  And they’re feeling an all-too familiar uneasiness: Will the parents I need to see most show up?

Ironically, many parents with students who need help, redirection, or just a little more of the right kind of attention will not attend.  Fall conferences arrive early enough in the academic year that, if students need help, there’s time for teachers and parents to collaborate on a solution.

In District 218, including , we will host fall parent conferences on October 27.  Most area districts sponsor their parent conferences around the same time.

Despite communication tools such as e-mail, parent conferences remain vital.  Just listen to what teachers have to say.

“Parent involvement is a very important part of education and will allow teachers, students, and parents to make great gains in the development, progress, and opportunities that are best for the student,” says Amanda Grunauer, who teaches social studies at Shepard.

Teachers learn, too, from seeing moms and dads. 

“It helps to meet with the parents and learn what might be happening at home,” says Shepard math teacher Ann Chang.  “For instance, there have been times when a parent will inform me that the student is frustrated, yet I do not see that frustration in class.  It helps me to get a better sense of how I can help the student or at least let the student know I am available if they need help.”

Teachers view parents as their partners, and conferences provide a great forum.

“We can help each other as concerned adults,” says Nicole Petrauskas, who teaches English at Shepard.  “As teachers, we can find out what is going on at home and perhaps come up with a better plan for explaining something based on what the parents know about their child’s learning styles. Parents, on the other hand, can be the supportive driving force teachers need to encourage students.”

All teachers can share stories about how communication helped turn around a student’s year.

“I e-mailed a parent about their child’s progress in my class. It was actually a glowing e-mail where I only focused on the positives of the student – his grades were not mentioned,” Petrauskas says.  

When mom arrived at conferences, she had a story to share.

“She had shared the e-mail with her son and even printed it out to keep him motivated. He usually struggled, but his grades leapt up from a ‘D’ average to a ‘B’ average. She told me the e-mail gave them both the confidence they needed to see that he could accomplish anything with just a little positive reinforcement,” Petrauskas says.

Chang relates another experience that started with an uncomfortable moment but ended well.  “One time, a father came, accompanied by his son, and I handed over the grade sheet and said to the father, ‘I know you've already seen this.  Do you have any questions?’”

The father said he had not seen the grade sheet.

“I replied, ‘Oh, yes, I think you did.  You signed it.’  All this time, the son is sinking further down in the chair, and by the time I handed the sheet to his father, he was almost under the table.  The father told me that the signature on the form was not his and even signed his name on the paper so I would have an example for future reference.  Then he turned to his now red-faced son and said, "We'll talk about this later."  From that moment on, that young man was one of my best, and most respectful, students!”

Like her colleagues, Grunauer also knows the feeling when parents don’t show.  “At conferences, you always want that ‘one kid’s’ parents to show, and they don’t,” Grunauer says.

Grunauer found perspective from a book.  “What works is the idea of ‘we need to make every parent feel so special that they will want come back.’ Parents expect the best for their children and want to know that their children are being treated greatly.  Parents also want to be treated well and therefore, we should make the parents feel comfortable. Parents want to know that they are just as important as their child,” Grunauer says.  

If she could talk with parents who choose not to attend conferences, here’s what Chang would say: “Obviously, there are some parents I really would like to meet who do not attend.  I would encourage them to come by saying, ‘This is so very simple.  Invest an hour or two in your child, and it could make a world of difference.  The idea that you took the time and effort to meet your child's teachers and to discover your child's personality outside of your home can effect a change in his/her attitude, behavior and work ethic,’ Chang says.

And what’s the message to kids when parents and teachers work together?  “When the adults in the child's life are working together to help the student achieve success, the student has few excuses to fail,” Chang says.

Who could argue with that?   

For more, please visit:

http://www.ncpie.org/

http://www.hfrp.org/