Student Led Conferences

This is the 5th year the Voyager team has used Student Led Conferences. Instead of a traditional parent/teacher conference, this format puts the student in the leadership position and requires them to take accountability for their learning.

Students keep working portfolios throughout the year. Prior to conferences, they select pieces with the guidence of their teachers to share with their parents at the conference. Students also complete a behavior checklist and a goal sheet to help them prepare. These are self assessments that are discussed with the teacher prior to conferences. This one on one time allows the student and teacher to discuss strengths and weaknesses that the student may need to highlight during his/her conference.

Because it is important that the student be present, we schedule our conferences at times that are mutally conventient for all parties. Our district has two required conference evenings established for all students in the district. At a building level, we have negotiated to flex schedule our conferences. Rather than pack all of our students into two nights, we are allowed to create our own schedule over the course of a week. All teachers on my team include a Saturday and early morning hours for the convenience of the families. These have proven to be very popular options.

From my perspective, I prefer this style of conference for two major reasons. The first is that it allows me to have a mini-conference with each of my students and input into all of their conferences. On a team with 150 students, this would be difficult in a traditional parent/teacher conference format. I have one on one time with each child as they prepare their portfolios and have the option to write comments within my section of their final portfolio. The second reason I love student led conferences is that the responsibility is placed on the student. With the child conducting the conference, they answer the questions about why assignments are missing, what challenges them in school, and what areas they can improve on. Parents are able to hear from their children exactly what is going on at school and students become accountable for their education. No longer do I feel exhausted and beat up at the end of conferences.