California Department of Education
Taking Center Stage – Act II

Accountability through student-led parent conferences

Many middle grades teachers find that student-led parent conferences are a powerful tool for helping students become engaged by taking responsibility for making progress toward grade-level standards, as well as helping to reengage families. When students take more responsibility for preparing for the conferences, they typically find that they have a higher stake in having their family members come to see their portfolios and to hear about their progress. Students also gain confidence in being able to articulate how they are doing in working toward proficiency on grade-level standards.

Student-led conferences usually entail the following steps:

  1. Students and parents/guardians learn about the conferences at the beginning of the semester.
  2. Students learn (using exemplars) how to score their work based on a grade-level, standards-based rubric (see Chapter 1, “Rigor,” for more about exemplars and rubrics).
  3. Teachers use the exemplars and rubrics to grade student assignments and provide information to help parents/guardians and students understand how to interpret the teacher feedback, grades, and scores (see the section on Grades and effective standards-based reporting in Chapter 1, “Rigor,” for more information).
  4. Teachers help students collect work samples that have been scored using a standards-based rubric.
  5. Teachers send a letter home that explains the student-led conference and provides parents/guardians a variety of times to choose from in scheduling their appointment.
  6. Students rehearse how to explain the standards-based report card and then the work samples and rubrics with their parent to show how well they are working toward the proficient level and above.
  7. Teachers coach the student/parent teams in setting short- and long-term achievement goals, including options for higher education.

In the Spotlight

Castaic Middle School (Outside Source), a Schools to Watch™-Taking Center Stage 2003 model, Castaic Union Elementary School District. Every spring for over ten years, Castaic Middle School has hosted an eighth-grade “Portfolio Day,” one of the culminating events of their middle school years. Students work hard all year preparing standards-based portfolios that demonstrate their achievement in the eighth-grade language arts content standards. Community members volunteer to participate as evaluators in mock job interviews, scoring small groups of students as they present their portfolios. Not only do students organize and share their work, but they also gain public speaking skills as they present their portfolios during a community ceremony for board members, parents, and classmates. Students can present their work in groups of three and may include topics related to outside interests. The portfolios are cumulative, showing work collected at the end of every trimester. Community members enjoy helping to prepare students for future careers.

Edna Hill Middle School (Outside Source), a Schools to Watch™-Taking Center Stage 2007 model, Brentwood Union Elementary School District. The Edna Hill staff members designed an Individual Learning Plan (ILP) for every student. Students use the ILP as a guide for leading their parent conferences.

McKinleyville Middle School (Outside Source), a Schools to Watch™-Taking Center Stage 2006 model, McKinleyville Union Elementary School District. Twice-yearly student-led conferences focus on the California standards in oral and written language. Students present accomplishments and future goals to their families, supported by work samples. Together they evaluate performance according to a rubric based on standards for each of their courses.

Rancho Milpitas Middle School (Outside Source), a Schools to Watch™-Taking Center Stage 2005 model, and a California Distinguished School 2005, Milpitas Unified School District. Every February, students at Rancho Milpitas conduct student-led conferences. They keep portfolios of their work that they present to their parents during the February conference. Parents have an opportunity to ask their children questions.

The following resources provide more information about student-led conferences:

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Accountability in preparing students for all course work

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Accountability for parents/guardians

Footnote
1R. J. Stiggins, Student-Centered Classroom Assessment. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1994.

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