There's a Plan for That

When you’re getting ready to go into conference time with parents, it’s important that you come prepared. If the only thing you show up with is your opinion, you’re in trouble. Not only do you need to go to the table with actual numbers, but you also have to understand what they mean. 

I’ll never forget, in my second year of teaching, I was in the middle of my 12th or so conference of the day, and a parent stopped me to ask what her students’ scores meant on a beginning-of-year test. And ya’ll, I had NO IDEA. I understood that the test was supposed to give us a ballpark idea of where the students were starting so that we could track growth throughout the year, but I had honestly never been taught or taken the time to ask what the goal was for grade level on that test. So when this parent asked, I looked utterly ridiculous because I didn’t have the information to explain what the numbers meant. If you, as the teacher, don’t have a frame of reference for the meaning of these numbers, you can bet that the parents have absolutely no idea what they mean. 

What I’ve found helpful when I’m getting ready for a conference is having a checklist of what information pieces I need and assembling it all in a data binder before the parents enter the classroom. On my checklist, I look for:

• All standardized testing data given so far (this includes data from previous quarters to compare for growth).

– A “cheatsheet” document for myself that includes the grade-level goal scores for each of those standardized tests, what score would be considered significantly behind, and what score would be considered significantly advanced for that test. 

– Student work examples of any concerns I may have noticed and want to bring to the parent’s attention. (Sometimes my concerns may be organizational—it’s okay for a look inside a student’s desk or cubby to be considered an example of student work in that instance.)

– Optional steps parents can take at home to help their child succeed. You could have some pre-generated suggestions for students who are significantly below grade level or slightly below grade level and some enrichment ideas for those above grade level. Having a list for yourself pre-made ahead of time can be very beneficial because you can provide the parents with ideas and action steps. 

The last item on my checklist is for you to develop a minimum of 2 strengths that you have noticed about their child. Remember that student who, to you, is just one of 20/30+ kids in your class is that parent’s whole world. 

You must have strengths prepared to talk about with parents because standardized testing data tends to be great at identifying weaknesses in an academic sense. For some kids, their parents have walked away from every single conference they have ever attended feeling discouraged and overwhelmed because all they heard was that their kid either “wasn’t enough in ____ area” or is “too much” regarding behaviors or emotional regulation struggles. 

We, as teachers, are here to form a partnership with parents to help them grow their children. Ultimately, they have to know that you see and value their kids in order for them to trust and put stock in your data and suggestions. 

As you are having your conference with parents, it’s important to remember that education is FILLED with acronyms. Just on one paper of testing data, you’ll see words like EVAAS, EOG, NWEA, I-Ready, Check-ins, and mClass… and that’s just a few potential acronyms parents might see. It’s overwhelming, and more importantly– these words don’t mean much of anything to most parents without perspective. Remember, these parents have every ability to read the numbers on the paper in front of them; it’s your job to help frame the perspective of what they are and what they mean. That means when you move on to talking about a new test, give a short background on what kind of test it is and what type of information the test is looking at. How that data is used, and its impact on the student in school can also be helpful for parents to understand. 

It’s also essential to open the floor for parents to ask questions that they may have about student progress as well as to provide feedback on things they have seen and noticed with their children at home. For example, Susie might have a low score on a standardized math test. You might have some student work examples that you’ve pulled from math where it’s apparent that Susie is struggling with word problems in class. Take the time to ask her guardian about whether they are seeing the same struggles at home. If they aren’t, what are they noticing instead, or what tactics have they tried that seem to be working more effectively at home? 

Asking these kinds of questions can be especially helpful when discussing negative behaviors that you have noticed in the classroom. Are these also happening at home? What are some strategies that are in place or have been tried at home to help mitigate them? Sometimes, consistency of having the same or similar expectations across the board can make a world of difference. 

Ultimately, at the end of the day, when you walk away from a conference, you want to make sure that parents have an understanding of the academic and social/emotional progress that their student has made or has not made up until that point in the year, as well as action steps for how to proceed in the future. Remember, teachers aren’t here to tell you, “I think Susie is having a hard time in math.” Instead, teachers are here to show you, “Based on this test and the evidence in this student’s work, I’ve noticed that Susie is struggling to do _____ in math. To help her overcome these challenges, we want to focus on _____________”.