Students are taking charge at PTA talks

FOR years attendance was minimal at Tefft Middle School's annual parent-teacher conferences, but the principal did not chalk up the poor response to apathetic or dysfunctional families. Instead, she blamed what she saw as the outmoded, irrelevant way the conferences were conducted.

Roughly 60 per cent of the 850 students at Tefft, in this working-class suburb some 30 miles northwest of Chicago, are from low-income families. Many are immigrants, unfamiliar or uncomfortable with the tradition of parents perched in pint-size chairs, listening intently as a teacher delivers a 15-minute soliloquy on their child's academic progress, or lack thereof.

"Five years ago, the most important person, the student, was left out of the parent-teacher conference," Teffts principal, Lavonne Smiley, said. "The old conferences were such a negative thing, so we turned it around by removing all the barriers and obstacles, including allowing students not only to attend but also to lead the gatherings instead of anxiously awaiting their parents return home with the teachers verdict on their classroom performance." Recently, 525 parents attended parent-teacher-student conferences, Smiley said, compared with 75 parents in 2003. No appointments were needed, and everyone was welcome at the conferences this year, spread over two days that school officials called a 'Celebration of Learning'. Student-led conferences are gaining ground at elementary and middle schools nationwide, said Patti Kinney, an associate director at the National Association of Secondary School Principals in Virginia.

Although researchers have long hailed the benefits of such conferences, anointing students as the main stakeholders in their education, accountable for their performance during the school day and responsible for their academic future, their popularity appears to be increasing in part because of the rapidly shifting demographics at public schools nationwide.

The classrooms, after all, are where a community's changing cultural identity is often first glimpsed. "I think we're learning that every school has its own DNA, and there is not a prescription for conferences that works for every school," Kinney said.

At some schools, not only are students on hand for conferences, but their siblings are also welcome, as are grandparents, aunts and uncles, even family friends.

Bolstered by the success of student-led conferences at his Iowa school, principal Mark Heller realized that changing the model was not enough to accommodate families with limited English proficiency, many of whom work shifts at area factories. The traditional parent-teacher conferences without a student present are always available by appointment, and sometimes necessary, for example, to discuss a private matter concerning a non-custodial parent, a family crisis the child is unaware of or a special education diagnosis.

Still, Heller is convinced that a true dialogue concerning a student's academic progress is impossible without both the child and the parent engaged and present, and with the teacher on hand to share impressions and answer any questions the parents have about homework, standardised test scores, behaviour and other issues.

Heller's staff arranged meetings for 93 per cent of their 300 seventh and eighth graders, and 82 per cent of the families attended the conferences.

Inside her math classroom, Cierra, an honour roll student who dreams of attending Georgetown University, used a portfolio of her assignments, homework, quizzes and even standardised test scores to deliver a quantitative and qualitative snapshot of her progress and her goals.

Above all, she had the chance to introduce her mother, Scherre Issa, to her favourite teacher, Patricia Pluchrat. "At the student-led conferences, our children are learning to be organized and capable adults someday," Issa said. "When I was growing up, my parents went to my conference, and I waited at home, scared they would come back with some concerns. With this new kind of conference, there are no secrets. My daughter is learning that the teacher is not responsible for her learning. Cierra knows that she is responsible for her own success."

The New York Times