Effective teachers know that establishing partnerships with parents and maintaining positive communication throughout the year is key to fostering good behavior and promoting students’ learning! Parent-teacher conferences provide a great opportunity to reach out to parents and convey your expectations as well as solicit their assistance in achieving learning goals for their children. Check out the following handy tips to help make your parent-teacher conferences successful!


Before the Conference:

	Scheduling When scheduling parent-teacher conferences, recognize that many parents work outside the home and/or have multiple children for whom they will need to attend conferences. Use the Parent-Teacher Conference Time printable to help. Do your best to try to accommodate busy schedules and time commitments. If possible, offer some conference time slots before and after school or even during the lunch hour. For students with siblings at your school, you may want to coordinate with other teachers to schedule conference times that are close together so as not to further inconvenience parents’ schedules. These simple considerations will go a long way toward establishing positive parent relations.
	Reminders About a week before scheduled conferences, you may want to send home reminders of conference times and dates. Be sure to include your name, room number, and directions to your classroom from the parking lot. See the printable Parent-Teacher Conference Reminder. Be sure to include your name and room number. Also, specify the length of the appointment and politely request that parents arrive on time so as to allow enough time for the conference without running into another parent’s scheduled conference time.
	Student Notes For each student, make a note of what you want to accomplish for her parent-teacher conference. Are there problems that need to be addressed? Choose one or two items on which to focus and do not complain about the student. Present the parent with your observations and, once it is clear that they understand the problem, quickly move on to discussing how you would like to solve the problem. Invite parents to offer suggestions on what they think will work best and incorporate those suggestions into your plan.
	Seating Give careful consideration to the seating arrangement for the parent-teacher conference. No matter what issues you need to discuss, you want to convey to parents that you are on their side in guiding their child toward appropriate behavior and effective learning. If possible, arrange for all parties to sit at a round table rather than remaining behind your desk, which can inadvertently cause some parents to feel uncomfortable or intimidated.
	Student Portfolios Throughout the first month or two of school, collect samples of each student’s work to keep in student portfolios. Then, during conferences, simply take out that student’s portfolio and encourage parents to look through their child’s work. This will allow parents to see firsthand the progress their child is making! You may also want to have students write a personal welcome note to their parents that will be the first thing they see when they open the portfolio.
During the Conference:
	Being Positive Open each parent-teacher conference with a friendly smile and a kind word about that parent’s child (e.g., “Beckett has such a great sense of humor!” or “Elizabeth is so eager to help other students!”). Beginning the conference on a positive note will help parents recognize that you appreciate these unique qualities in their child, and it will set the tone for mutual respect and cooperation.
	Listening to Parents About Their Kids Invite parents to tell you about their child’s strengths, weaknesses, talents, interests, personality, and learning style. Listen attentively, as some parents may reveal information or observations about their child that may provide you with special insight or understanding into his thinking or behavior.
	Sharing Observations When sharing your observations of a student’s behavior problems or learning difficulties, be direct and give specific examples. For instance, rather than make general accusations such as “Johnny constantly steals things from his classmates,” it is better to offer concrete evidence, such as, “On Monday, Johnny took a pencil from Mark’s desk, and last week he took a keychain out of Ashley’s backpack.”
	Looking Ahead In addition to offering your own suggestions for parents to implement at home, ask parents for suggestions that can assist you in dealing with learning difficulties or behavior issues in the classroom. Try to reinforce that you are interested in partnering with them to solve any issues their child is facing and to make his social and academic experience at school more successful and rewarding!
After the Conference:
	End Positively Be sure to look the parent in the eye, smile as you offer a handshake, and thank her for coming to speak with you. A gesture as simple as this will remind parents that you view them as partners, and that you respect and appreciate the vital role they play in their child’s education.
	Follow Through If certain action items were agreed upon as a result of the conference (e.g., you agreed to contact the parent at the end of each week to report on a student’s classroom behavior, or parents agreed to initial their child’s homework assignments to show that they are aware of what is being turned in each day, etc.), remember to follow through. Parents will be more likely to support your discipline or academic plan if they see you investing time to carry out your end of the arrangement to help their child succeed.
	Follow-Up Calls Even if no specific plan of action is taken as a result of the conference, it is important to follow up with a phone call or note to update parents on problems or issues that were discussed. Use the thank-you note printable to help. If you take the time to inform parents when their child’s academic performance or behavior improves or declines, it will give them the incentive and opportunity to praise or correct their child as needed.
Additional Tips
Be Proactive Avoid the temptation to wait until scheduled parent-teacher conference time to raise a concern about a student. Instead, contact parents at the first sign of trouble so that they can be instrumental in helping to correct the issue before the situation is out of hand. When you do this, parents will view parent-teacher conferences as an opportunity for problem solving, rather than as an unexpected attack on their child’s behavior or academic performance.
Share the Positive If possible, make it a point to touch base with the parents of each student in your classroom to communicate something positive about their child long before scheduled conference time (e.g., make a quick phone call to Susie’s parents to convey how pleased you are that she got an ‘A’ on her math quiz, or send a brief note home with Johnny that expresses how proud you are of the way he helped another student clean out his desk after school). Parents who already feel that you have taken the time to notice and comment on their child’s positive attributes or actions will be less likely to go on the defensive, and more eager to partner with you to solve problems in behavior or school performance.