Five Resources for Parent-Teacher Conferences

For many educators, spring conferences are coming up soon -- if they haven’t already -- and it can be a stressful time of the school year. With summer on the horizon, spring conferences sometimes get squeezed into the end-of-year schedule. To help parents and educators prepare for parent-teacher conferences, we've rounded up a variety of Web resources.

From ideas for highlighting student progress, to questions every parent should ask, these are some of our favorite articles and resources that cover parent-teacher conferencing. Hope you all have a great rest of the school year!

• Parent-Teacher Conference Tip Sheets for Principals, Teachers, and Parents: The Harvard Family Research Project produced these tip sheets with English and Spanish versions. The three sections on each sheet are written specifically for parents, teachers, and principals, and they are available for free PDF download. Another insightful resource from the Family Research Project is, "Academic Parent-Teacher Teams: Reorganizing Parent-Teacher Conferences Around Data.”
• Guide to Parent-Teacher Conferences from Scholastic: This collection of resources for educators focuses on measuring student progress and conducting meaningful conferences with parents. Scholastic also features a great parent-specific resource, “Make the Most of Your Teacher Conference,” which offers ideas for what to do before, during, and after conferences.
• Parent-Teacher Conference Resources from Reading Rockets: This Reading Rockets article highlights literacy questions every parents should ask, from suggestions for getting students reading at home to understanding your student's reading level. There are also some great links to other Reading Rockets resources, including PTC tips for parents of English-language learners on sister site ¡Colorín colorado!
• TeacherVision’s Parent-Teacher Conference Resources: TeacherVision hosts a wealth of resources for parent-teacher conferences. There are conference forms, curated resources for getting parents involved, and a list of some of the best articles on parent-teacher conferences. Printables are also available, including conference documentation forms, a prepared conference thank-you, and other great resources.
• New Teacher Survival Guide Video: The Parent-Teacher Conference: This Teaching Channel video is great for new teachers, offering preparation ideas, a first-hand look at conducting a conference, and some great tips and strategies from parent relationship expert Diane Feinstein. There’s plenty of interesting tidbits packed into this ten-minute video, making it a perfect for educators of any experience level. This is a must-watch.

Parent-Teacher Conference Reading List

• Tips for Parent-Teacher Conferencing (Edutopia)
• Making the Most of Parent-Teacher Conferences (ASCD)
• How to Ace Parent-Teacher Conferences (Wall Street Journal)
• Seven Ideas for Meaningful Parent-Teacher Conferences (Education Week Teacher)
• 5 Tips for a Better Parent-Teacher Conference (Schools of Thought -- CNN)