A lawsuit a few years ago by parents who found out with only weeks to go before graduation that their son was failing and wouldn't be graduating has resulted in a GLUT of parent conferences as part of the settlement. Every stinking year from sixth grade through graduation, our schools shut down for three days or have half days for a week to have student-led conferences with their "sponsor teacher" (randomly assigned to x-number of students) where our kids tell us what they want to do when they grow up, the goals they have to make to get there and how they are going to reach those goals. These have replaced the previous - and far more useful - conferences with the actual teachers working with our kids on a daily basis. Now the only way to get a conference is to contact the school counselor and request one ... and that automatically triggers attendance from one of the school's principals as well.
Thus, we've found email much more effective, if only to circumvent the ineffectiveness of what is currently in place.
