Family-Teacher Conferences are soon!

ATTENTION Parents of Elementary and Middle School students: Family-Teacher Conferences are near! They will be March 8-12 and will be conducted via zoom or phone.

Communication between family and school needs to be strong and it takes collaboration from both sides. Participating in a parent-teacher conference tells the teacher that you support your child's learning. Participating in the conference helps you learn about best ways to support your child and advocate for their academic success.

Steps to a successful family-teacher conference: here are some suggestions.

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Learn about your child's progress. It's important to find out how your child is progressing academically as well as how he/she interacts with his/hers peers, if he/she participates in class and if he/she is well behaved. Listen carefully to what your child's teacher says, and ask yourself if you note similar patterns at home. If your child is in middle or high school, ask about whether he/she is on track for college.

Share your insights with your child's teacher. A conference is a good opportunity to hear from your child's teacher, but it's also a perfect time to share your perspective. Remember, you know your child best. You can give the teacher valuable information that could help your child learn more effectively.

Be informed about the achievement scores for your child's school. If the scores are strong, ask how the school is working to keep students on track. If the scores are low, ask what the school is doing to raise achievement and how you can support learning at home.

Discuss your child's strengths and challenges. Through comparing areas where your child excels with areas in need of improvement, you can identify ways to support your child's learning at home.

Ask questions. This is one of the most important aspects of a successful conference. Here are some key questions to get you started:

• How much time should my child spend on homework each night?

• Does the teacher's estimate match with what you see your child doing at home? If it doesn't, share your observations with your child's teacher to generate possible solutions.

• How can I reinforce classroom lessons?

• Ask the teacher about activities, games or other strategies that you can use to further your child's learning outside of class time.

• How can I stay connected?

• Find out ways to keep track of your child's progress, assignments and activities at home. Is there a system in place for parent communication or involvement? Discuss the best ways to stay current.

Plan. Make a plan as to how you will maintain continual communication. If your child needs to improve in a certain subject matter make a plan detailing what will take place. Determine what you can do, what the student needs to do, and what the teacher will do.

Follow up. Implement your end of any agreement. Keep in touch with the teacher. If the plan does not seem to be working or if new problems develop, call the teacher and ask for another meeting. Ask for additional help if you aren’t getting results.

Remember: If you are having trouble accessing the conferences, need tech help, can't reach the school, etc. you may go to the Student and Family Resource Link. They are there to help! https://www.sfusd.edu/services/family-supports-services/family-resource-link

In high school, there is not a set time to communicate with teachers but parents can reach a teacher directly in a few ways.

If the parent or guardian has set up a ParentVue account, they can check their child’s grades, attendance, and from their child list of classes, they can email teachers directly. ParentVue also has an option to set up email & text notifications if grades fall below a certain level that the parent can choose. There is another option to connect with teachers by visiting the school website and searching under the staff or the departments tab. Additionally, families can call the school number and leave a message and someone will get back to the parent or guardian.

Lastly parents can reach out to the academic counselor and the counselor can facilitate a meeting with the teacher. If the student needs support over several classes, the counselor can coordinate a Student Success Team meeting (SST) where parents/guardians, student, teachers and the counselor can work on strategies to support the student’s academic success.