Parents and Partners (10-27-08)

If you ever want to see exactly why small town schools are so successful, you need look no farther than parent teacher conferences.

This last week, I was able to see and touch base with parents, who I consider to be our most important ally in the challenge to educate. After two years in the district, I am finally beginning to recognize some parents by name, though most of our staff are way ahead of me in their ability to greet the parents warmly as friends and neighbors.

I am proud to report that almost every parent of every kid attended these conferences. I can’t speak about the large school experience, but we in rural education should be very proud of the attendance rate of our parent teacher conferences.

Ironically, many of our parents would be justified in skipping this formally scheduled event. Many parents see those who teach their sons and daughters on a regular basis as it is. They talk with them at church or during games. They see them working on their yards or shopping at the grocery store. In fact, I can’t think of a time that I didn’t see at least one set of parents when I was at Wal-Mart, and that’s an hour away!

The point I am trying to make is that our school has incredibly strong parent-teacher partnerships. Now more than ever, with the advent of the Internet and Powerschool, parents have daily access to their kids performance, and consequently to the teachers. There exists all variety of parent-teacher conferences throughout the year, in the form of emails, phone calls, or quick chats before and after school.

Mind you, I am NOT advocating that we do away with parent-teacher conferences. There are some parents either without the means or the time to check on their kids performance as often as they might like, and the formal conferences give all parents a guarantee of at least two face to face updates a year.

But more than that, I find parent teacher conferences to be a celebration of our way of life and of the excellent education we are providing our children. This time of year finds our hallways filled with amazing pictures and projects, and most of the time our students can’t wait to show parents and caregivers all they have accomplished and all they have learned. Perhaps, in other schools, parent teacher conferences may be seen as a more stressful event, but here we are glad to see the parents, and the parents seem glad to see us.

Now, this is not to say that all conferences are simply rosy reunions, full of handshakes and polite conversation. We schedule our conferences at the end of the first and third quarters, the halfway points of each semester. Now is the time for the struggling students to turn around their performance and for the succeeding students to be encouraged to continue the hard work. The quarter grades are not always what parents or students would like them to be, and these conferences are often serious discussions.

What is wonderful, though, is the fact that we are having these discussions as partners. I believe that kids need many positive interactions and relationships with adults. A teacher, especially at the elementary grades, is a big part of a child’s development, but an even bigger contribution is made by the parents, grandparents, and other caregivers of each student. Not all kids come to school ready and willing to learn. However, when teachers and parents work together, students usually get what they need to be successful.

The proof is in the pudding. No matter how you measure educational success, our students continually show they are learning at a high level. From test scores to attendance rates, from our 100% graduations to our ballgames, plays, concerts, and shows – success abounds in our schools.

It all starts with the partnership between parents and teachers. One only need look at parent teacher conferences to understand why the kids in Hill City find so much success in school.