Anyone have experience with this? Our district is switching to this model of conference. In the past, I had no problems taking the lead with ineffective instruction. Now they want the child to run the conference.

Both of my children are not feeling challenged in math and the eldest is afraid to say something during this type of conference in front of her teacher for fear of retribution.

Maybe it's not a problem. Just not sure as we have not seen this before and can find very little info from other parents online (mainly reviews from schools saying how great it is).

I think we have this and it was idiotic. The student fills out a form ahead of time stating what they would like to improve on, lists a couple ways they could do this, what they need, etc. The whole 10 min. that we had with DD were spent trying to get her to say something meaningful, that I did not have any time at all to discuss my REAL concerns or ask any questions. I suppose it is a good opportunity for a child to make it known that they want more challenge in a certain area, and it could lead to a discussion about that, but I just don't think the odds of that going anywhwere are going to be very high. I really wanted to just talk to the teacher and ask some questions with DD and DS left in the hallway, but it wasn't possible so nothing of real significance was discussed at all.

I bet a lot of schools are going to this "model" so that the teacher is essentially off the hook. I think it might work Ok for Jr. High or high school, but for elementary, it's a disaster (or at least, that was my experience with it--that I walked away from the conference feeling like it went no where and I still had no idea what was going on in school).

Younger children are wise to keep from saying anything controversial in a parent-teacher meeting. They're at the mercy of both parties, they are uninformed about their rights, and they have no idea what reasonable options are available to them.

ETA: It might be nice if the school administrator who concocted this nonsense showed similar wisdom.

We have fall teacher-led and winter student-led. The student-led is watered down like more of a 'here's what I've been doing thing.' Not that I don't love seeing my kids work on their self-advocacy and understanding their strengths and goals in that context, but the same anxiety issues pepper them, and having a teacher ask 'what can I do to help you like math more' is like an elephant on the shoulders of an empathic girl who loves her teacher and doesn't like to make anyone feel bad.

Student -led conferences in elementary school make no sense. We had them for a year or two in 7-8, but that's gone now. But even worse, and doing this with student-led is really crazy, is the 5-minute "speed-dating" conference night.

Keep in mind, though, that you should ALWAYS be able to schedule a private conference with your child's teacher at a mutually convenient (or inconvenient!) time.

Thank you. This confirms what I was somewhat feeling before going in. I have read from some reviews from educators that it is useful to "take unnecessary pressure off of the teacher by focusing on the student".

When your kids are in the 98/99th percentile on NWEA you don't have an issue with the student's performance, you have a curriculum problem that can't be addressed by showing they are performing excellent at grade level work. I'm going to have a hard time seeing how this type of conference will be beneficial.

Fun question. I love strategic thinking.

This looks to me like a very weak and obvious attempt at disempowering “pushy” parents.

The most effective strategy might be for your children to be brutally honest while still respectful. The innocent desire of a child can perhaps be more powerful than anything you could have said.

You and your children could also perhaps turn this into a leadership game/practice when planning for the conference—less pressure if the focus is on the game and getting better each time.

My dd's 9 yo (current 4th grader) school does student led conferences. I've learned that if I have something more important to discuss I schedule a separate conference, which they recommend.

I honestly didn't like them at first, I viewed them as a complete waste of time and didn't feel they were beneficial. But then I saw how much my dd enjoyed showing me her work, their work on the walls, how the classroom is organized and functions (there is a portion of the conference where she gives a tour of the classroom) and I changed my opinion. It gives my dd a sense of pride and she enjoys it. I think it also gives them a more active and responsible role in their learning.

That said, last year was a rough year in terms of dd being challenged in her self-contained gifted class. She was bored in math and hated school. At spring listening conferences dd and I sat down with her teacher and dd put the teacher on the spot. The students are supposed to write down anything they want to talk about about a week before the conferences and dd was QUITE prepared. She had prepared a list of things to ask and had rebuttals prepared for the teacher's answers, she was like a lawyer. It wasn't at all disrespectful, she just questioned how math was being taught and why she was being made to repeat things she already showed mastery on... Etc... I was floored and at one point I think I was turned and looking straight at dd with my mouth open (we sit side by side with the teacher across the table). Dd was advocating for herself and was doing an amazing job of showing the flaws in the math program. I honestly came in to that listening conference expecting to hear the usual song and dance. And to this day I'm sure the teacher thinks I put dd up to it.

Sadly nothing really came of it, the teacher's answers were basically non-answers and I knew things wouldn't change. I felt so proud of dd but at the same time so sad for her because she didn't get any answers or the change she was hoping for. I did tell her that she did so well advocating for herself and that just because it didn't change anything that she shouldn't stop advocating for herself.

Three years ago if somebody were to tell me that dd would speak up to an adult and express how she feels, or question them, I wouldn't have believed them. My kid used to stare at the wall with her back to the class and never participated. In addition to the benefits she gets from her G&T class, I think the way her school involves them in the learning process and encourages them to be responsible for their learning has made a difference with her. She's much more confident and outspoken.

I don't think typical "parent/teacher conferences" are long enough to discuss serious concerns, anyhow, so I don't see a big problem with the student-led variety.

At least that is true in our district--they are scheduled back-to-back, in 15 minute intervals. You might have 10 solid minutes, at best.

Many students love showing their parents what they've been doing in class.

Same experience here. We've had them since our kids were in early elementary (across several different schools). At first I felt they were ridiculous and frustrating - for *me* - I was going into the conference expecting to have a talk between parent and teacher and an opportunity for me to ask for things to happen in the classroom. That really isn't what the student-led conference is about - it's an opportunity for your child to reflect on their work and show you what they've done, which work they've enjoyed, what they would do differently or hope to do more of etc.

I do believe that over time, being involved in their conferences and having the experience of learning how to put together a portfolio and then presenting it to their parents, combined with the self-reflection on their work, was a genuinely good thing for my kids. I'd also add that while there were some comments above about how it takes responsibility/work/burden/etc off the teacher, that never seemed to be the case in our conferences. The student was "leading" but the teacher was still involved *ahead* of the conferences in helping students learn how to think through what they'd worked on, choose which pieces they wanted to share, and think critically about how to present the work. The teachers were also definitely a part of the conference - if I had a question about anything that either my child showed me or talked about or anything else related to school, I could ask it. If my child stumbled or got lost or wasn't sure what to say next, the teacher was their to guide them.

One other note - conferences are *short* - even if you are going into a traditional parent-teacher conference, there is rarely (here) time to talk about anything meaningful in depth or past the cookie-cutter report on your child. And your conference is only one conference out of many the teacher has to get through and check the box off for. Any time I've had something "more" or "different" I've needed to ask for or talk to a teacher about, the most direct and effective way to accomplish it was to schedule a meeting with the teacher outside of conference days.

So, fwiw, I wouldn't be worried about the conferences. OTOH, if I had an issue I wanted to address with the teacher, I wouldn't wait for the conference, I'd ask for a meeting with the teacher. Depending on what I wanted to discuss and the age/personality of my child, I'd either ask the child be included or ask for a separate meeting that was parent/teacher only.

Best wishes,

polarbear

Really?? That makes me so sad . . . I was hoping that if the child was allowed to be in charge, and did take charge, the teachers would definitely listen and change follow. I suppose I forgot that most of the world sees a child as something less than a person where I see a full individual . . . Most concerning. I need ponder the matter more for an effective strategy that drives change.

It was sad.

Honestly it was just this teacher in particular. She really shouldn't be working with gifted students and that is all I'm going to say about that. Lol

I think there are some benefits to letting the child have a part of the conference, but in most schools, that one conference is all there is. We have a second scheduled, but it is near the end of the year and by then it's too late for any real changes to happen. I would guess that with the majority of students, either the parent or the teacher has some sort of concern, but it is left unaddressed when the conferences are structured this way. The parent probably walks away thinking things are fine when they are not. Even before we had these types of conferences, I felt like so much of it was scripted, where the teacher talked about things that so far down the priority list of concerns (like test scores), that there was no time for any questions at all after all of that. I guess it is up to the parent to schedule a separate, longer conference, but if every parent did that, the teacher would be swamped.

Thought I'd add.. We will have listening conferences next month but I've already scheduled a personal teacher-parent conference with the teacher to discuss how math is going for dd, even though dd isn't even complaining about math yet. Past experience has taught me not to wait and to be proactive earlier.

You've received great thoughts already. I'll just add a few links to the Davidson Database as a roundup of resources for helping a child develop self-advocacy skills (some of which may be helpful for a student-led conference):

1) Self-advocacy for gifted teens and tweens: How to help gifted teens take control of their classroom experience
Archived on WayBack Machine -
https://web.archive.org/web/20160507035437/http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10849.aspx

2) Self-advocacy: The Power of Speaking Up
Archived on the WayBack Machine -
https://web.archive.org/web/20170919025332/http://www.mtagate.org/uploads/1/1/7/4/11741428/fisher_selfadvocacy.pdf

3) Davidson Discussions (youtube video), Self Advocacy

4) Four Simple Steps to Self-Advocacy
Archived on WayBack Machine -
https://web.archive.org/web/20160413004205/http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10458.aspx

5) Other Resources listed on the Davidson Database
Archived on WayBack Machine -
https://web.archive.org/web/20150321123707/http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10761.aspx

6) Blog post July 2017, for parents
Archived on WayBack Machine -
https://web.archive.org/web/20171005170716/https://freespiritpublishingblog.com/2017/07/20/empower-gifted-learners-to-advocate-for-themselves/

7) Blog post Sept 2017, for teachers
Archived on WayBack Machine -
https://web.archive.org/web/20180224153324/https://freespiritpublishingblog.com/2017/09/19/3-things-gifted-students-wish-their-teachers-knew/

8) New Book, Oct 2017 - The Power of Self-Advocacy for Gifted Learners, Teaching the 4 Essential Steps to Success
Archived on WayBack Machine -
https://web.archive.org/web/20171005170718/https://www.freespirit.com/teaching-strategies-and-professional-development/power-of-self-advocacy-for-gifted-learners-deb-douglas

Our school does them, it's a TAG school. It's actually adorable. DD will sit in the teacher's seat and go through papers that she personally selected for each subject and tells us what she was learning and why she was proud of the work she had done. Once she had said her piece, she went into the hallway and we had a chance to speak to the teacher alone.
We've had a couple of issues at the school. In third grade, dd was failing math and the school wanted her to move back a year in math to be on grade level. We did not find this to be acceptable after talking with dd and how she felt about the work. We hired a tutor and got her up to par pretty quickly. The school admitted they were wrong and apologized.
We also had trouble with one of the specials teachers, half dd being stubborn and half the teacher being stubborn. This was never resolved.
I find that conferences are a better place to sit and listen and that making appointments when we have longer than 15 minutes is best for real issues.

That is good to hear. In such a situation it might be best to bypass the teacher and instead address their superior.

Many of the teachers at our schools do these - I hate them. I think that they should be optional. Teachers and parents are busy and it is so hard to find a good time to chat - I have waited for conferences only to leave with no opportunity to actually talk to the teacher. Most of what I would talk to the teacher about in private I will not say in front of my child (whether it be that they are very good at something or whether it is something I think that they need to work on).

Honestly, they seem very easy for the teachers to do (when the student is expected to "run the show"), but are very hard on students who are shy or sensitive. Since I talk to my children quite a bit, I do not need to see a "show" about what they are doing at school.

We use The Leader in Me philosophy at our school. This is a Covey program that spins off of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Leaders and teaches 7 habits of leadership to kids to help them build better personal leadership skills and develop personal accountability (which in my opinion is strongly lacking in kids these days thanks to helicopter parenting). Student led conferences are an opportunity for the students at our school to record their data in their leadership notebooks and to sit with their parents and go over the information/charts/graphs to demonstrate what goals they set for themselves, the plant that they used to achieve the goals, and whether or not they had success in reaching their goals. If they were successful, it gives them the opportunity to decide if their goals should be expanded and if they did not meet them; then it gives them an opportunity to reflect on the reasons why and make the necessary adjustments, and it gives the parents the visual aids and data to understand why their student is receiving the grade that they are receiving. I enjoy student led conferences because I love the ownership that the student has to demonstrate over their own learning and grade. They are constantly logging results in the notebook, so if they are failing, they should be meeting with their teachers to come up with a plan to change the course. They have to bring the data notebooks home periodically for review with the parents so parents are informed and kept in the loop. If there was a serious concern or problem, the teachers are always available to meet and discuss issues in a private conference. It is great to see how confident and organized our young leaders can be!

This sounds exactly like annual performance reviews in industry.

This would work for me, you need to have that time without the child in the room. My DD at age 5 does NOT need to know all my concerns about what goes on in the classroom.

Student led conferences are the biggest waste of time. They know most parents won't go to them and thus it gives administrators and teachers pay without having to do any work.

I find them a bit pointless. We're in DD's classroom all the time looking at her work, and discussing school with her, but we go anyway because she likes to show n tell I don't treat it as a catchup with the teacher at all, we schedule those separately.
I suppose there are parents who are not at all interested in their children's education, so it's good to force them to come in and look around once a year?
The goals the children set for themselves are pretty much spoon fed to them - DD made up her own one for the first time this year, which is great. But we never have a second conference (also that word: it's just a meeting!) later in the year to see how it all went

The problem i see is that if you can't be at school muyou ch as you work and the kids go to afterschool care then you need to be able to talk to the teacher during the meetings. If you are at school often enough to not need to talk to the teacher then you have probably seen the work. Parent teacher interveiws are the only time we get told about test results etc so although they are supposed to be tgree way i leave the kids outside.

We discuss school often with DS and do not need to do this again at school. We would like the opportunity to discuss his performance/issues with the teacher instead. I agree that student led conferences are a waste of time.

This is a great article that explains the pro's of a student led conference and why it is important for your student to participate in a conference. If there are extra ordinary issues that you wish to address, they can always be addressed in private with the teacher, at the end of the student led conference.

http://www.ericdigests.org/1997-4/middle.htm

Well I think it's bogus that the child actually has any input into their own education - they're taught what they're taught and measured against a predetermined set of standards and none of us, especially an 8 yo, gets much say in that

The reality is in middle school teachers can have 100+ students. Conferences are mostly scheduled during the day in our district. Most kids don't want to go and certainly don't want to lead a conference. our district goes over MAP testing scores that you know already. Most people on this thread have an interest in kids education. thus to me the conference is unnecessary.

This is ridiculous. Schools that I have attended as a student or my son has attended always just had an open house night for that. About a month into school they have a few hours, like 5-7pm where parents can come in and see their children's work displayed, how the class is set up and what they're doing.

It seems a huge waste of time better spent discussing things more important to your child to have a "child-led" conference. While I obviously care that my son's education is individualized, I don't think that he should in any way be in charge of it. Given his druthers he would spend the day on Minecraft and Legos.

I ike the student led conferences. I like seeing my kids take charge. This is when they get to advocate with me sitting there. My son especially, whose needs are not being met in our district, is more confident with me next to him to speak up to his teachers. The kids do go over some work samples. They go over fall MAP scores and they state what their goal for spring MAP is. This often differs from the targeted growth target. They write a plan ahead of time to state how they will meet that goal. I see it as prepping them for the future as adults in the workplace. Teaching them how to set goals and set up the way to achieve them.

If I need to speak with a teacher without my kids, I have no problem emailing or calling and doing just that.

So to me, it sounds like the majority of you who are unhappy with student led conferences have never experienced the leadership model in your schools. It is unfortunate because they really can be an amazing opportunity for your students to become better organized, set goals (yes, at any age) which leads to accountability and sense of ownership over the grade that they receive. It often takes the surprise element out of the grade that the student actually receives versus the grade they perceive they deserve because proof of the work is charted and organized continuously throughout the marking period by the student and they show this evidence to the parent at the student led conference. My daughter is in charge of her education using this model because when her grade starts to slide down, she is aware of it immediately and can set new goals to attempt to get back on the right track. If she does not, the evidence is presented by her at the student led conference and she has to be accountable for the quality of work she produced during the marking period. Or the alternative to the leadership mode/data notebooks/student led conference is that I can just wait all marking period to hear about it privately from the teacher and feel "stuck" with the end result at that point. That sounds productive.

It's great that this system is working for your daughter, but that doesn't mean it will work for everyone. My DD might really enjoy it. One of my sons would probably resent it, and see it as more busy work forcing him to tell everyone what they already know because of online grading systems and weekly email summaries (possibly; we've been getting them for years, anyway). For me, the conferences are a way for teachers and parents to discuss known strengths and weaknesses, having had time to think about them and observe progress since the last meeting.

I expect that some young kids would experience a level stress over having to lead a conference that wouldn't be outweighed by whatever benefits they might receive.

As for owning their educations, I can't agree with you. Ownership implies an authority to make decisions that doesn't exist here: you can decide to do your homework or not. That's nothing new. And if you got a D on your science test, you don't need a graph to tell you that your grade is going down.

And again, what you've described in your messages sounds exactly like annual performance reviews in industry (it wouldn't surprise me if this model is built around that idea). I've been through performance reviews and have given them, and IMO, they can end up being poor substitutes for continuous communication. They work for some, but not for many. But more importantly, I don't think that elementary school is a good place to be putting young kids into a position that resembles a adult's job in industry.

If my son had to lead a conference he would graph how much time he has extra to read novels while waiting for the rest of the class. And how many novels he reads per week. Really this school is doing a pretty good job of engaging him in several ways but he is such an outlier that they have their limits.

But he would say my STAR score isn't going to go up if you don't give me work in my ZPD and actually teach me the advanced lit analysis. But they did make him set a goal for increase in score. And he would say he needs help finding and selecting books (his own personal bookfinder).

I've already weighed in on this much earlier in the thread, and don't really have anything new to add to the discussion, other than I agree with kelly and our family has found that student-led conferences have been a good experience for our kids on many levels. Like kelly, my guess from the posts here are that most people who are so dead-set against the concept haven't really been exposed to what a student-led conference is in practice.

I don't have time or desire to go through all the different points of view, but did want to address one thing:


I can completely understand this concern, so please know I'm not singling you out Val - but I do want to share what has happened in our family, with two kids who have significant anxiety, for two different reasons.

Our ds is a kid who reacts to stressful situations with anxiety. He has an expressive language disorder that impacts his ability to put his thoughts together and express them verbally to other people. He has had to go through years of speech therapy for expressive language as well as years of support from home in learning how to express what he wants to say to others. His schools have included student-led conferences since kindergarten. Those first years of student-led conferences were extremely difficult for him - he didn't get many words out and he did stress out over the conferences - but through the years, by going through the process again and again he learned a valuable set of tools in how to advocate for himself, and he gained increasing self-confidence in talking to adults and teachers. He still struggled with this into early high school, but the conferences were a valuable tool in helping him find his voice.

I also have a completely neurotypical dd, no challenges, no fear of talking to adults, etc. - in most situations. OTOH, she becomes completely shy and full of anxiety at the mere thought of being "on stage" - so shy, for example, that even though she loves to dance she didn't take dance lessons until she was in middle school because she was so scared she'd have to perform in a recital. She took piano lessons in elementary from a teacher who firmly believed that every student should participate in an annual recital, just for parents, very small thing, and dd was so anxious over that recital that she worried about it for weeks. The teacher was adamant - she must do the recital because it will help her get over the fear of performing in front of others. It didn't - she froze, trembled, and cried silently so much that the teacher let her out of ever doing a recital again - the only student the teacher had ever let out of the recital obligation! Yet she's done fine with student-led conferences, and she has learned a lot about advocating and how to present herself from them. They have also reinforced with her the idea that she doesn't have to be scared, they are a place she can discuss her work with people she knows care about her (teachers and parents). And as she's grown and matured, I believe they are at least a small part of the supports that have helped her shed some of that shyness - she'll perform onstage now and enjoy it. She's not ready to be out front and a "star" but she's grown way past being so anxious she can't get up there.

There will always be some cases of kids or parents or teachers that one type of conference will or won't be perfect for... but we've truly seen good things come from the student-led conferences.

polarbear

I guess what people are saying is that they really can't advocate for very much or direct their own learning. They really aren't in charge of their own education so leading a little meeting isn't going to change much.

Exactly.

Polarbear, I see your point. At the same time, isn't there a better way for kids to develop public speaking skills? Like maybe in class --- small group presentations, then presentations to a larger group, etc?

I think the point was public speaking/advocating for oneself to adults and teachers, not to other students. Presenting in class would presumably be to one teacher and many peers.

As far as taking control of your own education, again, I disagree that there isn't much that they can control. I suppose it varies from student to student, but if you have a student that gets two questions wrong on a test and it causes them to slide down into the lower grade bracket, yet the student doesn't perceive missing two questions as being that big of a deal, but when charting it out and reviewing the data is able to make that correlation, then they can take control of their own education by reviewing and reestablishing their goals, talking to their teacher themselves to figure out what skills they are lacking in that they need to acquire and make a plan to do so, and communicating in real time with their parents, then I consider that a win-win situation all the way around. No, they can't control the curriculum, but they can assume control of the curriculum that they are being made to follow. We advocate for our kids all the time, I think it is great when my daughter can advocate for herself and obtain results that are measurable. It builds confidence and leadership and helps provide organizational skills.

We've had them for four years BUT I think what the problem is that ours (and probably many schools) just give lip-service to the concept but don't really use them effectively. They are nothing like what you describe Kelly! That's the problem I have: that they're 'pretending' to give the kids some control but really they have none. It's probably doing more harm than good! The 'goals' are chosen by the kids (probably randomly) from a set list of suggestions, there is no intention that anything in the classroom would change because of these goals, there is no followup to them at any stage … pointless.
In fact, the school year ends here in about 7 weeks, you've just given me the idea to ask about those goals and whether anyone has even looked at them since they were set

Here is an example of not much control.

My son last year was in 5th grade. He did a bazillion assignments per class per nine weeks. Many of them perfect. Many of them homework. Many of them classwork. Some small assignments, some more involved projects. Projects that he would spend tons of nights doing that included visual aids of some sort, report, presentation...might get graded and feed back but never entered into grade book. Some random 5 question quiz gets put in the grade book and sometimes the quizzes didn't go with what they were studying at the time but were review of 4th grade work that "might" show up on the end of they year test and they were trying to keep that in their memory and my son would get a 2 out of 5. No chance to review those concepts and retake. The whole grading thing was so RANDOM. How could he set goals with that? Put hours and hours into stuff (some written/presented in a second language in addition to presenting in material that he had to research) and it takes second fiddle to a 5 question random quiz. I completely gave up trying to make sense of the whole thing and just knew that although 5th grade was lame and totally random, he needed to be there to mature and grow and grades just didn't matter.

AvoCado and Cookie, I agree with your frustration. They may be calling that a student led conference, but its mislabeled because a true student led conference should add value, not subtract. I can understand your frustration. Have you considered doing some research on what an effective student led conference should "look" like (i.e..the leadership model) and present it at the PTA meeting (I say the PTA meeting because at our PTA meeting the principal is usually present, plus a teacher representative from every grade level). I would try to turn the ship around. I know it seems like an uphill battle and like you can't fight city hall, but someone has to be the voice of reason. What is the famous quote: A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Until they implement some actual structure and productivity, then I would also be frustrated with that type of conference and would probably not be likely to want to attend.

conferences are coming up and they have the student present their "portfolio" to the parent for 15 minutes (without the parent), and then after that the teacher comes over for 15 min. and goes through test scores and things. I'm not sure how much the student presents at that time the teacher is there, or how much it is really "student led" but will update how it goes. I remember DS's portfolio last spring was a joke, with pages upside down and out of order, and we just sat there, with me looking at it, horrified. He did not "present" anything, but I think he was supposed to.

It's sounds like Kelly the school or the district you are in is quite smaller than ours. In ours there are 22 grade schools and 5 junior highs. My daughter has been in the district 9 years and I have never gone to a meeting. The only ones I have been to have been on curriculum nights where the PTA knows they will have an audience. Meetings are held 50% during the day and 50% at night. 99% of people who belong to the PTA never go to the meetings. I have been to the student led meetings. There were two other conferences going on while the teacher (who's not my daughter's teacher this year) of my daughter walks around and observes. the info including MAP goals and MAP targets is info parents already know and quite frankly useless for kids in the 99 percentile. I'm guessing others on this thread are on the same boat. My memory is more hazy with the grade school days but I believe only the principal was at the meetings. I also would add and Frannie can back me up is the schools in the district are for the most part very good schools.

I can one up you...we can't even form PTAs due to lack of interest, lack of cultural understanding what it is, lack of the five die hard volunteers at the school willing to take on one more thing...just don't have one.

Yes, our district must be much smaller. We have 5 elementary schools, a 5th grade house, a 6th grade house, a middle school and a high school. We have approximately 2,000 kids in the high school. I cannot even begin to imagine a district as big as yours. It is unfortunate that quality is lost to quantity and that it is so large that parents feel they have no avenue for change.

I would also like to add that my daughter is in the 99th percentile of everything MAP for her grade, but the student led conference is still useful. My daughter may be smart, however, she is in an accelerated classroom with all of her peers, so she isn't a shining star... the bar is set much higher as the classroom needs demand. She is also not the most organized person in the world, and she is human so she does mess up sometimes on her work or tests. So, the process of goal setting, evaluation, explanation and accountability has been nothing but a positive experience for her. Don't assume that just because peoples kids are at the 99th percentile they have nothing to gain from an opportunity to experience leadership; even if it is leadership over their own education.

If this comes out offensive it's not really intended but in our case the quantity may be worth more than the quality in the end. Our junior high offers Grometry snd the high school district offers 5 semesters of calculus. some kids would have that done before senior year. My daughters MAP is 99 percentile for someone two years ahead of her grade While the goal setting, organizational skills, accountability benefits many I'm not sure it's needed by many others.

I think in our district (same as nicolesdad), it really depends on the school. When we first started student led conferences, they weren't student led at all. As the years have progressed, I am pleased with how the conferences unfold.

For fall conferences, they are scheduled with no other students/parents in the room. I prefer fall to the winter when others are present especially for ds as he needs more time with the teacher to discuss his progress and we all make mutual goals to ensure he shows a years growth.

My kids have presented their portfolios, MAP scores and goals, behavior charts that they grade themselves on (teachers interject with where they feel the kids are). We discuss challenges. The kids prepare questions at home that they can ask the teacher when no one else is around.

Just my 2 cents...

Your post doesn't offend me. Just for transparency sake, my daughter also maps out at the 99th percentile two years ahead. So do many of the kids in her classroom. FWIW, she is on track to complete her high school math by 10th grade, after that she will be allowed to take college level math classes for her remaining two years and earn college credit for them. Many kids in the district currently do so and many have even graduated high school with enough college credit for an Associates Degree. I understand your environment and yes, if I had to pick or choose a student led conference over gifted opportunities, I would pick gifted opportunities for sure. But I think its unfortunate that you have to sacrifice any type of quality at all. It is evident that you don't see the value of the student led conferences though, so I doubt the fact that I do value them will change your opinion at all. We both draw from our own experiences and how we choose to process them.

student led conferences started in second grade. In our case my daughter went to Magnet program in third grade and things Kelly suggested that happened in the student led conferences were already known and thus the conferences IMO were not really necessary. I'm sure things have improved as Frannie suggested. I still think those conferences are better suited for grade school kids. Also between losing three days off school for conferences, MAP testing, and PARCC testing to me some of that could be better spent in actual teaching. In regards to the college credits I'm not that knowledgeable but I believe in ours they can Gary U of I credit.

Both our current and old school have had student-led conferences, but what that actually means seems to depend on the teacher. I really dislike them because I would rather use my 15 minutes to talk to the teacher about how things are ACTUALLY going, not just how my child thinks they're doing. The goals my child set this year are also super-fuzzy, like "Have a great attitude". Ugh. The one time we had goals she really remembered and worked for, it was concrete stuff, like, "Get to level N in the division minute-math sets by June 1"--easily defined, tracked, and measured.

Really, in the best of all worlds, it would be nice to have 10 minutes of student-led stuff, AND 15 minutes to talk face to face to the teacher. But I imagine that's hard to squeeze in when there are 27 other kids in the class to conference with, too.