Student-led conferences benefit parents, kids

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Sonia Bown did all the talking.

She discussed her midterm grades (A's in all her classes, including Honors Washington state history), her attendance record (zero absences so far this school year) and her career goal (becoming a nurse).

And she mapped it all out in about 20 minutes.

"This was really important for me," the 14-year-old freshman said. "I think it went really well because I knew what to do."

Eisenhower High School students like Sonia had been preparing for nearly three weeks for their conferences, which brought their parents or guardians to their advisory period classrooms Wednesday to get an update on their education.

Unlike traditional parent-teacher conferences, in which the grown-ups do the talking, students take charge under this format, which -- as the name suggests -- are student-led.

And that's something Sonia likes.

"We tell them how we're doing instead of someone else telling for us," she said. "It's a confidence booster."

The practice of holding student-led conferences has been gaining momentum at high schools and middle schools around the Yakima Valley since the late 1990s.

School officials say the format helps students take responsibility for their education and encourages parent involvement.

Eisenhower, East Valley, Davis and Naches Valley high schools -- as well as several junior high, middle and intermediate schools -- have switched to student-led conferences in the past five or six years.

During the conference, students walk their parents or guardians through a checklist.

That form includes topics like attendance, graduation requirements, academic assessment, family access and state standardized exam results, as well as the student's six-year plan.

"It certainly gets parents into the schools," said Dee Dee Trepanier, a Highland school board member and mother of two sons, including a sophomore whose conference is in the coming week. Her older son went through the process before graduating in 2005.

"It really puts the onus on your child to think about what they're doing in school, to think about the things they do well, and to think about the things they could do a better job at," Trepanier said. "They have to talk about their goals to you, and they have to talk about how they've worked toward meeting those goals or not."

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Of the local districts that take part in the practice, Highland has likely been holding student-led conferences the longest. The initiative started there in the late 1990s, Trepanier said.

"It's part of our plan to help students be more successful in the classroom, and parents are a big part of that," she said. "We're trying to get them involved in the education of their child and bring them into the building."

Davis started its student-led conferences three years ago and holds them once a year, in March, to coincide with registration for the coming school year.

Some other local schools hold their student-led conferences twice a year, fall and spring.

The fall session is primarily about goal-setting. In spring, the talk turns to registering for classes. And older students -- especially juniors and seniors -- talk about scholarships and post-graduation plans.

But at both meetings, "It's student-centered," Ike assistant principal Tracy Savage said. "It's shared accountability -- with the students, the parents and the school."

And, Savage said -- pointing to a follow-up survey from an anonymous ninth-grader who wrote last year: "I'm glad you were here, Mom" -- "It's really powerful. It just kind of gives you goose bumps."

Ike's student-led conferences grew out of its School Improvement Plan, required by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 for Title 1 schools not meeting Adequate Yearly Progress benchmarks.

The federal standard is measured by state tests and graduation rates. Part of the provision emphasizes parent involvement as a means to improving academic achievement.

"We don't consider ourselves a failing school, and we never will," said principal Stacey Locke, who helped start student-led conferences at Ike five years ago. "Regardless of what happens with AYP, No Child Left Behind (or) state standardized testing, it boils down to school as a community and the parent or (other) support (person) working for the child.

"It's about kids learning to grow, kids learning to be successful, kids learning about themselves and what they want to be when they grow up."

But, she said, "At the high school setting, sometimes it's hard to get parents involved."

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Until it was replaced by the student-led conferences, the old annual open house saw only an estimated 5 percent of Ike parents, Locke said.

The idea was parents would go from classroom to classroom, meeting their teachers. But most of the time, classrooms remained largely empty.

"When we did our open houses, two of my 24 kids would show up with their parents," said Chris Cook, who teaches in Ike's Cadet Alternative Program, or CAP, which focuses in credit retrieval.

Student-led conferences at Davis, Ike and Highland have been well-attended since they began. Parent participation at Highland is nearly 100 percent, Trepanier said.

And it's close to that at Ike, too, where Savage said 92 to 94 percent of Ike parents have shown up for student-led conferences each year.

"There's no other time we get that many people here except for Ike-Davis basketball or football games," Locke said.

Because of that, Ike's conferences have caught the attention of educators from other districts throughout Central Washington. Teachers and administrators from Pasco and Ephrata to Wenatchee and as far away as the Spokane area have come to observe.

The fall conferences, held earlier this week in staggered 20-minute slots, largely took place in classrooms, moderated by a teacher.

The spring conferences occur during evenings throughout a three-day period -- for a total of 10 hours -- in the gym.

If a parent or guardian can't attend, a staff member will fill in.

Wednesday, Rafael Mendoza brought his mother, Paula Mendoza, to his conference. He discussed his midterm grades (four A's, one C and a couple of C-minuses), his attendance record (no tardies so far this school year) and his career goal (becoming a police officer).

Afterward, the 17-year-old junior said he likes that his mom "can come see the classroom I'm in ... (and) that it's not bad here, basically."

And, "She likes how I did good, but she wants me to do better."

* Adriana Janovich can be reached at 509-577-7653 or ajanovich@yakimaherald.com.