Guide | Supporting Student Success: Family Conferences
Family Conferences Overview
Family conferences allow teachers to build trust with families and create a shared understanding of grade-level expectations and academic performance.
Family conferences are a key element of strong family-school partnerships. They can help to ensure that families are equipped with the information they need to support their child’s learning and to be co-creators of their learning experience.
The following guide outlines five steps that, taken with intention and thoughtfulness, can help teachers plan inclusive conferences with families. Strategically designed family conferences reflect both family and teacher priorities and set teachers and families up to learn from one another to support student success.
Step 1: Build Trust by Learning from Families
As teachers, we can sometimes pressure ourselves to do all the talking during a family conference or to have all the answers at our fingertips. But strong family-school partnerships are just that–they are partnerships! In a partnership, both parties come together with different knowledge and skills, and they leverage their unique perspectives and assets for a shared purpose (student success). You can build and strengthen trust during a family conference by being intentional about how you “show up” for families. While teachers are the experts on instruction, taking a listening and learning stance with families shows families you have as much to learn from them as they have to learn from you. After all, they are the experts on their children!
Relational Trust: Bring Families into Conference Planning
As you begin planning family conferences, consider how you can draw on families’ knowledge about their child. You may want to learn about their child’s interests, their goals for their child, their concerns about their child and/or school, what motivates their child, and what behavior management strategies are most effective, etc.
Take some time to think about your individual students and what you’d like to know more about from each of their families. This table provides you with a thought catcher to organize your thinking.
Another way to ensure that partnerships with families are collaborative and asset-based is to invite families into the planning process for family conferences. An invitation to help co-construct the agenda allows families to share their priorities and goals for the conference. Understanding what’s important to families helps you plan a conversation responsive to each student and family.
About 2-3 weeks before conferences, send a brief survey or note home to determine your students’ families’ priorities for the conference. Electronic surveys, such as Google Forms, can be shared via text, email, or another app. You can also ask families the survey questions when you see them in the hallway at pick-up/dismissal or any other time your paths cross. Here is an example:
Sample Message to Families and Survey
I’m looking forward to partnering with you this school year. Family conferences are scheduled to take place on [date]. As part of our partnership, I invite you to co-plan the agenda with me to be sure we’re discussing what’s most important to you. Please take this brief survey to let me know your priorities and to schedule our conference time.
Who will be attending the conference?
What’s the most important topic for us to discuss during your child’s conference?
What questions do you have for me?
Be prepared to listen and learn from families during the conference. Make sure you know what’s most important for families to talk about in the conference and differentiate conferences for families by centering their priorities. Create the space for families to share what’s on their minds, ask questions, offer perspective, and discuss their concerns. Allow families to speak without interruption. Ask follow-up questions and affirm you hear and understand what they’re sharing. Reinforce that families are the experts on their child, and you want and need their expertise and partnership.
Tip: If you don’t have the opportunity to send a pre-conference survey, you can begin the conference by asking families: What’s the most important thing for us to discuss today and/or what would you like to get out of this conversation?
Step 2: Link to Learning & Development
Conferences should be directly linked to learning and development. A productive family conference equips families to understand grade level expectations, what their child is learning in class, data on their child’s academic strengths and growth areas, and guidance on how families can support learning at home. When planning for a family conference, think about what you want to share with families so they have a clear understanding of what their child should be able to know and do at the end of the school year. Plan for how you’ll describe what you’re currently teaching and what families can do to support their learning at home. Identify the data or work samples you’ll share with families and what you want families to understand about the data/work samples. Think about how you’ll help families understand how their child performs relative to expectations.
Reflect individually and/or collaborate with your grade and/or content area peers to answer the questions below.
Grade Level Expectations
What should their student know and be able to do at the end of the school year?
What does success look like?
What We’re Learning
What are students learning in your classroom right now/this unit?
What does mastery look like?
Academic Performance
What data/work samples do you have to show parents how their child performs relative to unit and grade level expectations? Consider both academic and social-emotional data points.
Tip: Practice makes perfect. When talking about academics with families, avoid using jargon or language that isn’t commonly used outside of professional education spaces. Practice talking about grade level expectations, teaching and learning, and academic performance using accessible and family-friendly language.
Step 3: Plan for Each Students’ Family
Sample & blank templates for your planning
Strong family-school partnerships are customized to each student and their family. Each family conference should be an individualized conversation about the student’s talents and growth areas.
The discussion should reflect what families shared as their priorities, student celebrations and strengths, discussion of student-specific data, and goal-sharing or goal-setting. Consider the questions in the agenda template below as you plan individualized conferences.
Tip: When discussing academic performance and data, be prepared to explain what students should know and be able to do, what they’re learning in class, and how they’re performing relative to grade-level expectations and standards. See step 3 for more guidance.
Step 4: Be Honest & Avoid “Sugarcoating”
A common pitfall in discussing student performance is to “sugarcoat” the truth. Sugarcoating happens when we avoid sharing information that might be difficult for families to hear. Many families believe their children are performing far better than they are. While some conversations can be uncomfortable, sugarcoating realities about grade level expectations and student performance relative to expectations do not serve students or families. Honesty is a core tenet of a trusting relationship. When families have an accurate picture of their child’s learning needs, they are best positioned to meet those needs.
Tip: Learning Heroes research found that “9 out of 10 parents in America–regardless of race, income, or education level–believe their child is at or above grade level in reading and math, largely because they rely on report cards, and the vast majority of parents (84%) report seeing mostly A’s and B’s. Teachers, however, know the truth about grade-level performance: only 44% reported that most of their students would be prepared for grade-level work this year, which aligns more closely with the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data. Thus, we have in this country a situation where everyone values an accurate picture – but most parents have an inaccurate picture.”
Step 5: Sustain Trust After the Conference
Teachers and families can learn from one another to support student success.
What happens after the family conference can be just as important as before and during the conference. You can continue to build trust and strengthen partnerships with families by taking some of the following actions after the conference:
Ask for Feedback
Provide families with an opportunity to let you know how they experienced the conference. Create an exit slip or survey for families to complete at the end of the conference. Ask families if their concerns were addressed, if they have a better understanding of what their child should know and be able to do, if they understand how their child is performing academically, and if they feel valued as partners in their child’s education. Use their feedback to build upon and strengthen your family engagement practice.
Thank Families
Everyone likes to feel appreciated! After conferencing with families, send them a quick thank you note. Hand-written notes go a long way in building and strengthening relationships, but you may not always have time. You can say thanks with a quick text, email, or phone call. In your message, share something specific you learned from the family and/or how you plan to use what the family shared about their child. Share your next steps and any actions you committed to taking during the conference. Let families know you value their partnership and that you’re available if they have any follow-up questions or concerns.
Communicate About Goals
You may have chosen to share a goal with families, or you and the family may have co-constructed goals during the conference. Be sure to keep these goals in mind when planning instruction and monitoring progress. Provide families periodic updates on how their child is progressing toward their goals. Send home additional resources, tools, and strategies aligned to the goals.
Tie up Loose-Ends
During the conference, families may have asked questions that require a follow-up. Families may have identified a need to be connected to a community resource. Families may have offered to share a connection or resource with you! A family member may have requested to talk to another teacher. A key characteristic of a trusting relationship is doing what you say you’ll do. Be sure to follow up with any next steps or lingering questions/concerns/needs/connections after the conference.
Make Positive Outreach Home
All families love to hear that their child is successful! Be intentional about making frequent contact with families solely to share good news. When students progress toward their goals, highlight and celebrate their progress with their families. Let families know when you observe students being kind, compassionate, and/or responsible! Positive communication lets families know you see their child’s strengths and talents and sustains the trusting relationship you are forging together for student success.
Building Bridges
In the spirit of building bridges and nurturing the vital connections between families and schools, this guide aims to empower teachers with the tools and perspectives needed to make family conferences a cornerstone of educational success and partnership. As we conclude, remember that every family conference is a step towards a more engaged, informed, and collaborative community, where every student's potential can be fully realized through collective effort and mutual respect. Let's carry these insights forward, making each conference an opportunity to affirm our commitment to the students we serve and the families who support them.
