One of the improvements parents and teachers are enjoying in their efforts to stay in communication is the ability to meet via videoconference. In some school districts, parent/teacher conferences are taking place via Zoom or Google Meet, making it easier for many parents who might not be able to leave kids at home to attend a conference in person.
If your school isn’t formally offering these conferences in a virtual format, you should still ask your child’s teacher if that’s a possibility, and in most cases you’ll find the teacher is willing to accommodate you.
All that being said, connecting with your child’s teacher or teachers – however you manage to do it – is a time-tested, reliable way to get detailed feedback on how your child is doing in school, both academically and socially.
First, Listen
You’ll want to have some questions prepared in advance, so you remember to cover the important points, but before you start grilling the teacher, sit back and listen to what they have to say about your child.
If your child’s teacher starts out by asking, “What questions do you have for me?” give them a very broad, open-ended question that will encourage them to share their insights about your child. A good starter is “What do you want me to know about my child’s academic performance and behavior/social skills in school?”
Next, Follow Up
Once the teacher has shared some insights, you’ll want to follow up on anything she/he said and ask whatever clarifying questions you might have about what they shared.
If your child has shared something concerning with you or complained about a teacher, classmate, the workload, etc. be sure to ask the teacher for clarification. Remember you’ve only heard one side of the story.
Next you’ll want to share anything with the teacher about your home life that you think is relevant and would help them understand and work with your child. For example, illness, divorce, a new baby, moving, etc. And of course if your child has any allergies or health issues or is on medication that might affect his performance, be sure to inform his teacher(s).
Following that, here are 8 good general questions:
Is my child on grade level for the basics: reading, writing, math, science?
Which subjects/topics is my child struggling with and how can I help?
If my child does need extra help in a skill or subject, are there school resources that can help or would you recommend private tutoring?
If your child is a straight A student and not struggling, you will want to ask what you and the teacher can do to provide enriched learning and appropriate challenges so your child keeps learning and doesn’t get bored.
What can I do to help my child prepare for or improve on standardized testing and performance assessments?
What are some things we can do at home to support what you’re doing in the classroom?
If you share custody of your child with someone who doesn’t live with you, make sure that the teacher knows who all the legal parents/guardians are who should be involved in your child’s education.
Finally, you’ll want to make sure that you and the teacher have exchanged contact information and that you know the best way/time to connect.
The important thing is to establish open communication so that any concerns or issues that you or your child or the teacher may have can be addressed quickly, as they come up. It’s helpful for your child to know that you’re all working together for their benefit.
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It’s a situation that is common across the country, in every school district: students have fallen behind due to the disruptions in schooling over the past year. While parents are trying to figure out how to help their children cope with all of the changes that they’ve been faced with, school districts are coming up with various plans to tackle the learning loss that has occurred.
The Collaborative for Student Success conducted a nationwide survey of education professionals to explore how students will “catch up”. “The poll asked teachers, administrators, policymakers, and education advocates to analyze four return-to-the-classroom options: extending the next school year, beginning the next school year where instruction stopped this school year, beginning the next school year as in any other year, and offering students the opportunity to repeat their present grade.” There are pros and cons to each of these ideas, but they all have one common goal: help students get on track academically and minimize the learning loss.
What Can Parents Do?
While school districts grapple with ways to address these issues on a global scale, parents are struggling to find ways to support their children’s learning and help them stay on course. Education Week has published a guide to help identify students who have fallen behind, and suggested various interventions to help them. Schools establish the foundation with a common curriculum, and they build student engagement. When attendance starts falling, or a student is failing, there are a couple of things outside of school and the common curriculum that can help.
Acceleration Academies
These are small group sessions that take place during school vacation weeks, weekends, and summer. Schools can offer these types of programs to students who need help with math, literacy, or English-as-a-second-language. Small group sessions like this cost less than individualized tutoring, but the tradeoff is that students still don’t get much one-on-one instruction as there is one teacher for around 10 students. It’s worth looking into to find out if your school offers programs like this.
High Dosage Tutoring
This type of tutoring involves a skilled tutor (generally a teacher, paraprofessional, or paid volunteer) and consists of at least 50 hours over a semester. And these sessions are ideally 1 or 2 students. There’s a strong research base for the effectiveness of this type of intervention. It’s more expensive than other options, but the personalized attention is the best way to make substantial progress. Both schools and tutoring companies have the ability to offer programs like this.
A new study from the University of Chicago shows that individualized, intensive tutoring “can double or triple the amount of math high school students learn each year, increase student grades, and reduce math and non-math course failures.” Student learning gains persist, even a year or two after tutoring. They also found that learning gains were evident across multiple subjects, and these gains helped reduce achievement gaps from COVID-19.
Individualized Tutoring Makes the Biggest Impact
High-dosage tutoring may not be available in all school districts, but the same results are achievable privately by enrolling your child in individualized tutoring with a certified teacher. At TutorUp, all of our tutors are certified, experienced, background-checked classroom teachers who work one-on-one with students. And we have a subscription program that is ideal for semester-long tutoring support, at our lowest prices.
The evidence is in: personalized tutoring works. You can help your child end this current school year on a higher note, and be prepared for the next school year by enrolling them in one-on-one tutoring with a certified teacher who can help them achieve their academic goals.
Your child may have already returned to in-person school, either full-time or in a hybrid program that includes remote learning. If so, you may have already encountered issues you weren’t expecting. If your child is getting ready to return to the classroom, here are some ways you can make the transition easier.
Find out the details at your particular school
Staggered schedules, early or late arrival times and dismissal times, rules surrounding what to wear, what safety measures will be in place, and whether or not school gatherings like sporting events will resume, are all topics you need to get familiar with.
Students may be feeling anxious and worried about their safety, so it’s important to be reassuring about the precautions that are being taken. After a long period of isolation, it’s going to take a while for many kids to adjust to being around lots of people again.
Help kids understand what lunch and recess might look and feel like now, along with how to reconnect with other students they haven’t seen in a long time. It’s important to help them reestablish relationships with teachers and faculty, as well as with their peers.
Pay close attention to the signs your child is showing, and don’t dismiss or discount their anxieties and concerns. Encourage them to voice their concerns so you can address them.
Stay informed by monitoring all school communications. Stay connected to your child’s teacher(s) and keep up to date on safety issues, scheduling issues, homework requirements, and changes to school programs.
Remedial Instruction
It’s an unfortunate fact that many students have experienced learning loss during this past school year. Be sure to help your child understand that this is a widespread issue and is nothing to be embarrassed about. The majority of students will benefit from some type of remedial instruction or tutoring to help them get back to the levels they need to achieve academically. Some schools are administering baseline assessments to help teachers prepare for their students’ challenges, and many parents have already incorporated tutoring into their child’s learning plan.
Reinforcing hygiene and safety instructions
Many schools will have hand sanitizer available, hand-washing stations, antiseptic wipes, masks, tissues, and other hygiene supplies. Be sure your child has a personal supply of the hygiene products you use at home so they will feel safe, in case there aren’t sufficient supplies at school. Help them understand that not all students will follow the same guidelines, and they need to feel confident and comfortable about their own hygiene. Help your child cope with different scenarios they might encounter.
Be a good role model
If you are optimistic, calm, and confident, it will be much easier to encourage the same attitudes in your child. If you disagree with the policies at your child’s school, or express concerns, or seem troubled, that’s understandable, but it’s best to keep it to yourself or your child will pick up on that and it can increase their anxiety and worry.
Reestablishing bedtime and mealtime routines is a good way to help children get back in the routine of attending school in person. Many children will have developed some lax habits that will affect their behavior and attention span in the classroom.
Prepare for the unexpected
This is new for all of us. If something happens and plans change, and students are sent back home to resume remote learning, be prepared to make that adjustment. Helping your child understand in advance that plans may change will help them avoid being surprised or unduly worried about another new routine.
Zoom, Google Meet, and School in the Age of Coronavirus
There are 50.7 million students currently enrolled in public schools in the United States and when this school year began, 58% of them were learning entirely online and another 18% were receiving a combination of in-person and online instruction. That means that less than one quarter of students are learning entirely in person.
