A parent teacher conference helps to communicate to parents the areas their child are excelling in and to give them specific ideas of how to improve upon their child’s performance in school. Teacher parent conferences should be used as a platform to make a lasting bond with the parent to increase the likelihood of academic success for their child. Teacher parent conferences should not be used as a venue to acknowledge the flaws and inabilities of students, but as a stepping stone to foster improvement within each child. A few helpful hints for teachers to follow when conducting teacher parent conferences are listed below.

Acceptable behavior during teacher parent conferences:

• Greet parents with warmth and admiration. They are taking time out of their busy schedule to meet with you.
• Summarize the positives before beginning on the particular problems the child is exhibiting in class.
• Formal dress should be worn during teacher parent conferences. This will reflect the meetings importance and help win respect from parents.
• Always have a clear cut plan of action for improving the success of the child.
• Present their child’s classroom work to them during the conference. This will give them a visual representation of the corrective action needed.
• Set goals for improvement
• End the teacher parent conference on a positive note and ask for assistance from the parents.

Teacher parent conferences can be an uncomfortable situation for many parents. However, establishing an honest and productive relationship with your child’s teacher can help increase the likelihood of academic success for your child. Strong parent involvement will send a positive message to your child. Always take into account that parents may have hard feeling from their own schooling experiences or do not speak fluent English. In this situation, a teacher parent conference can become overwhelming for parents. Parents should follow a few helpful hints to make sure a teacher parent conference will be beneficial to their child.

Before the teacher parent conference:

• Schedule an appointment with the teacher.
  • Teachers should make special accommodations for working parents.
  • Prepare a list of questions to ask the teacher.
  • What are the areas my child is struggling in?
  • Is my child completing their assignments on time?
  • What are my child’s strengths?
  • Is my child misbehaving in class?
    
• Talk with your child before the teacher parent conference.
  • Specific concerns of your child
  • Questions or concerns regarding the teacher

During the parent teacher conference:

• Establish rapport with the teacher
• Ask questions concerning your child
• Listen carefully to the positive and negative suggestions from teachers. Don’t take criticism from teachers personally during teacher parent conferences. They want to see your child succeed.
• Develop an action plan
  • Action plan should include steps to resolve and improve upon the student’s performance in class.
  • Make sure there are specific goals and objectives for the student to meet in the future.

After the teacher parent conference:

• Keep in touch with the teacher regarding the progress of your child.
• Send a thank you note to the teacher to thank them for taking the time to meet with you.
• Watch the behavior and progress of your child.