E U R O P E A N L E A G U E F O R M I D D L E L E V E L E D U C A T I O N
Student-Led Conferences Matter
As the name implies , student led-conferences are conferences with parents led by students . The classroom teacher ’ s role becomes that of a facilitator ( Bailey , 2001 ). Most often these conferences are held during the school ’ s traditional conference nights .
Student-led conferences allow parents , teachers , and students to work together to support student improvement and to discuss academic success , personal goals , homework , social issues , and personal struggles of young adolescents ( Tuinstra & Hiatt-Michael , 2004 ). Student-led conferences have been shown to :
• Improve communication and organizational skills ( Gay , 2011 )
• Promote communication with families ( Hoeppner , 2009 )
• Help students accept more responsibility for their learning ( Fuller , 2010 )
• Help parents understand the curriculum better and get better grades ( Foster King , 2011 )
There are multiple ways for teachers and students to organize student-led conferences , mainly through activities and discussions at different “ centers ” in the room where students tell their parents what they have been learning and where they have been excelling or struggling in the different academic , social , physical , and fine arts areas ( Foster King , 2011 ; Fuller , 2010 ). Children show and discuss both class and individual work and projects . Many times students develop portfolios – collections of artifacts representing their learning – during the school year that aid them in discussing their learning experiences with their parents .
Student-led conferencing is authentic evaluation – an evaluation process of classroom activities and lessons that involves multiple forms of assessments that reveal a student ’ s learning , achievement , motivation , and attitudes . The students ’ descriptions of their own firsthand experiences are much more real to themselves and their families than any words the teacher can speak or write . It is through this authentic evaluation that students move through a continuous cycle where they set goals to move forward , develop strategies to reach those goals , and produce work products or performances indicating movement toward reaching those goals ( Tuinstra & Hiatt-Michael , 2004 ).
If your middle school already conducts school-wide student-led conferences , you can seek to deepen student empowerment and ownership of their academic work and social / behavioral skills by having students develop a portfolio that travels with them through all their years at middle school . By adding to the portfolio year after year , students , families , and their teachers can better see a child ’ s holistic progress , both academically and socially / behaviorally .
Organize Throwback Days
Throwback days began with the initial wonderings at our middle school : “ How can a middle school get students to be accountable for summative assessment results long after the test is over is a question that educators have long asked themselves ?” is a question the educators have long asked themselves . “ How does a middle school seek to help students engage and understand the data of high stakes testing is another obstacle that all schools seek to overcome ?” From these questions , a throwback schedule was formed
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