Teacher conferences in a departmentalized school

[Anonymous]

My 3rd grade child recently changed schools and her new school started departmentalizing for students in 3rd-5th. So my child does reading in the morning with one teacher and then in the afternoon they do math and science a different teacher. I asked about conferences and was told that the morning teacher would be my child's homeroom teacher and then during conferences we would only meet with the morning teacher the afternoon teacher would offer notes.

Well we just had conferences. The morning teacher offered a lot of work samples and really good insights into how my child is doing in their class. The afternoon teacher did not give any kind of notes and just gave us a printout of my child's MAP scores, which I've already seen. This was just really unhelpful and it was just frustrating that we got literally nothing from the math teacher. I want to contact the math teacher and just find out what's going on and then potentially share with administration just how disappointed I was in this approach to conferences especially since my kid is struggling a bit more in math and I have gotten zero work samples or tests or anything back to understanding why they are struggling

[Anonymous]

Just email the math teacher and ask for a separate conference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just email the math teacher and ask for a separate conference.

+1

[Anonymous]

I’m an ES teacher who has done this in the past, but I always had notes to share from the other teacher(s).

[Anonymous]

I decided to go ahead and schedule a meeting with her teacher it's just kind of frustrating how poorly this was all set up and I'm trying to withhold judgment until I hear from the other teacher before I decide if I want to complain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 3rd grade child recently changed schools and her new school started departmentalizing for students in 3rd-5th. So my child does reading in the morning with one teacher and then in the afternoon they do math and science a different teacher. I asked about conferences and was told that the morning teacher would be my child's homeroom teacher and then during conferences we would only meet with the morning teacher the afternoon teacher would offer notes.

Well we just had conferences. The morning teacher offered a lot of work samples and really good insights into how my child is doing in their class. The afternoon teacher did not give any kind of notes and just gave us a printout of my child's MAP scores, which I've already seen. This was just really unhelpful and it was just frustrating that we got literally nothing from the math teacher. I want to contact the math teacher and just find out what's going on and then potentially share with administration just how disappointed I was in this approach to conferences especially since my kid is struggling a bit more in math and I have gotten zero work samples or tests or anything back to understanding why they are struggling

Logistically, its not possible in a departmentalized situation to have a conference with both teachers. I do think its a fair expectation that the teacher shares more data points than a MAP score, but a separate conference can be a lot, especially when schools don't allocate the time for it..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I decided to go ahead and schedule a meeting with her teacher it's just kind of frustrating how poorly this was all set up and I'm trying to withhold judgment until I hear from the other teacher before I decide if I want to complain.

Yes, it’s a good idea to meet with the teacher before complaining.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 3rd grade child recently changed schools and her new school started departmentalizing for students in 3rd-5th. So my child does reading in the morning with one teacher and then in the afternoon they do math and science a different teacher. I asked about conferences and was told that the morning teacher would be my child's homeroom teacher and then during conferences we would only meet with the morning teacher the afternoon teacher would offer notes.

Well we just had conferences. The morning teacher offered a lot of work samples and really good insights into how my child is doing in their class. The afternoon teacher did not give any kind of notes and just gave us a printout of my child's MAP scores, which I've already seen. This was just really unhelpful and it was just frustrating that we got literally nothing from the math teacher. I want to contact the math teacher and just find out what's going on and then potentially share with administration just how disappointed I was in this approach to conferences especially since my kid is struggling a bit more in math and I have gotten zero work samples or tests or anything back to understanding why they are struggling

Logistically, its not possible in a departmentalized situation to have a conference with both teachers. I do think its a fair expectation that the teacher shares more data points than a MAP score, but a separate conference can be a lot, especially when schools don't allocate the time for it..

I completely agree. I'm a teacher myself and I feel bad making extra work for the teacher but I think it's important to advocate for my child when they are struggling. I decided to try and work things out with the teachers vs complaining to the principal about the conferences being disorganized

[Anonymous]

I always thought teacher conferences were good to understand whether problems exist. It’s an overview. Teachers are giving updates on anywhere from 25 to 300 kids in a single setting. They can’t possibly give you an in-depth view. For that you need to made a separate meeting. I think you were expecting too much for this type of event.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I always thought teacher conferences were good to understand whether problems exist. It’s an overview. Teachers are giving updates on anywhere from 25 to 300 kids in a single setting. They can’t possibly give you an in-depth view. For that you need to made a separate meeting. I think you were expecting too much for this type of event.

This is an elementary school. The idea is that every parent is supposed to go to a parent-teacher conference in the fall those to build relationships with the teachers and to get insight into how the child is doing in school. I think it's a massive oversight if I'm only getting insight into one subject

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Logistically, its not possible in a departmentalized situation to have a conference with both teachers. I do think its a fair expectation that the teacher shares more data points than a MAP score, but a separate conference can be a lot, especially when schools don't allocate the time for it..

How is it logistically impossible? Run the conference with both teachers present. Presumably there are multiple children with the same pair of teachers.

It's not logistically impossible -- it's just not sufficiently resourced.

[Anonymous]

It is not that difficult for two teachers (and perhaps an EL or special education teacher) and a parent to find a time to meet. It can be difficult to do that 60+ times, especially when conferences aren't that helpful until 4-6 weeks into the school year but also are required to be completed before the end of the first quarter. As a result, in a departmentalized situation, one teacher often relays the other's comments.

I share the OP's frustration with her situation, as it seems like the math teacher dropped the ball with sharing useful information. I also wonder why, if OP was concerned about the lack of work samples, why she hasn't been in touch with that teacher thus far this year. The teacher can't know she has worries about her child if they aren't shared.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Logistically, its not possible in a departmentalized situation to have a conference with both teachers. I do think its a fair expectation that the teacher shares more data points than a MAP score, but a separate conference can be a lot, especially when schools don't allocate the time for it..

How is it logistically impossible? Run the conference with both teachers present. Presumably there are multiple children with the same pair of teachers.

It's not logistically impossible -- it's just not sufficiently resourced.

Let's say that me and my departmentalized party each have 25 kids:
50 students at 15 mins per student is 750 minutes is 12.5 hours without any breaks between conferences. With 5 min breaks in between that's over 16.5 hours, or 2+ teacher work days.

Do you want your kids at home an extra day, day and a half for each student to have time for conferences? Asking sincerely bc that would be how it could be possible logistically.

[Anonymous]

I work in a departmentalized school and we have four days of conferences at the end of each quarter. We have two full school days and then two nights til 9 pm. Does your kids school offer conferences like this? If not, that’s why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Logistically, its not possible in a departmentalized situation to have a conference with both teachers. I do think its a fair expectation that the teacher shares more data points than a MAP score, but a separate conference can be a lot, especially when schools don't allocate the time for it..

How is it logistically impossible? Run the conference with both teachers present. Presumably there are multiple children with the same pair of teachers.

It's not logistically impossible -- it's just not sufficiently resourced.

Let's say that me and my departmentalized party each have 25 kids:
50 students at 15 mins per student is 750 minutes is 12.5 hours without any breaks between conferences. With 5 min breaks in between that's over 16.5 hours, or 2+ teacher work days.

Do you want your kids at home an extra day, day and a half for each student to have time for conferences? Asking sincerely bc that would be how it could be possible logistically.

Our school does combined conferences (3 departmentalized teachers) in one day back-to-back-to-back for 10 minutes each, so it takes them nearly 11 hours to get through everyone. They did it, gave me solid (if quick) insight & generally seemed to be rockstars. In any case, it can be done in one day; just not in 8 hours.