Finding the Right Words in Parent-Teacher Conferences

In a bonus, free, online June edition, Educational Leadership revisits teacher learning from different angles. "But What Do I Say?" looks at learning how to conduct parent–teacher conferences—important opportunities to work with students' guardians as part of the school community. Teachers are often unprepared for the variety of situations they'll encounter in conference, the authors say. Syracuse University's semesterlong Parent/Caregiver Conferencing Model program helps pre-and inservice teachers move beyond winging it and develop strong communication skills to connect school and home.

The model borrows from the medical school practice of using standardized patients—actors performing specific symptoms, giving doctors and nurses opportunities to practice their diagnosis and communication skills. At Syracuse, standardized parents perform in a range of specific scenarios—a mother concerned about students bullying her son for his perceived sexuality, parents who disagree with the content of assigned readings, a parent whose autistic child is about to enter an inclusive classroom for the first time, and so on.

While the standardized parents are trained in exactly what to say in the conference, the teachers in the program are not. Their simulated conference is taped, and then, in debriefing, they discuss the interaction as a class and focus on one area to improve in the next rehearsal.

Go to the article to view a video of a simulated conference, and find out what students and directors in the program learned about teacher–caregiver communication, and the guidelines they developed to improve it.

What guides you in conferences with caregivers? What's been the biggest challenge?