Adding Students to the Parent-Teacher Conference

Jesus Rodriguez sat with a folder on his lap, flipping through pages of notes as he readied himself for his presentation. Self-assessment is a difficult proposition for anyone, but for students of Red Bank School District it’s about to become a regular part of their education process.

Rodriguez is a 10-year-old fourth grader at Red Bank Middle School. This week he’ll lead a new kind of parent-teacher conference, one that eschews the traditional conversation between teachers and parents in favor of one that’s led by the student.

Educators say the new system, which is only being implemented in the fourth grade this time around, is designed to engender a greater feeling of responsibility among the students, and establish real, reachable goals.

“Self-reflection is a huge part of the process,” Fourth Grade math teacher Stacy Sherwood said. “By having the students more involved, it just builds that extra step in the education process.

“It’s very empowering to them.”

Instead of teachers telling parents how their children are doing and what subjects they may need improvement in, the students will lead the discussion. For Rodriguez, who has recently grown a bit concerned after he failed to get perfect scores on recent assignments – we’re talking scores of 99 instead of 100 – the conference will give him an opportunity to tell his parents how school is going and to set goals.

While Rodriguez is an excellent student – his primary goal is to work on his writing and to develop catchy ledes to draw people into his stories – Sherwood said most students, even those who may be struggling in specific classes, are embracing the new system.

Part of the process is about developing goals and taking ownership of the educational process. With the help of teachers, students are developing individual goals, some which are reachable in just a few short weeks.

What educators think will work best is the immediacy of it all.

Before the process started, Sherwood said asking a student how they were doing might prompt a confused look, after all, she’s their teacher. With these new strategies in place, and with students developing their own goals, the teacher is no longer the only one they have to answer to.

They are that much more invested in the education process, she said, and now the students are learning that they are accountable for their own education.

Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction John Bombardier said the goals aren’t the broad, “I want to do better in school,” sort, but rather tightly focused and particular to specific areas, like language arts or math.

“We want (the goals) to be timely and realistic,” he said. “We didn’t want something that would end at the end of the year or the end of next year, but at the end of the month.”

Rodriguez and his fellow students are employing acronyms like SMART, an idea culled from the business world, to set goals. Double-checking his notes, SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely.

“My SMART goal is to start my stories with a catchy hook,” he said. “I want to practice writing my stories at home and read them to my brother or sister.”

The goals also encourage students to work outside of school.

Students who take an active ownership role in their education are more likely to work towards setting and achieving goals, even when they are not in the classroom, she said.

“These are individual goals, not something he’s going to be doing in school, but something he’s taking upon himself to do out of school,” she said.

Red Bank has taken several initiatives to improve and innovate the educational process in the district. It’s not a matter of teaching quality, or the curriculum, Superintendent Laura Morana said, but better identifying the areas where students might struggle.

Earlier this year the district unveiled a new report card system to its schools that provides much greater detail about student performance, rather than simply letter grades.

“This is the very first time the children are going through this,” Morana said. “They’re learning strategies.”