parent-teacher conference in HS?

[Anonymous]

I definitely would've scheduled a parent-teacher conference for my freshman who's on track for a C by now if it was still middle school. I've been trying to hold back and let the kid handle it alone. For a while, it seemed that the grade would end up as a B. I really just want to understand what happened.
The info online is very hard to decipher and my kid says "I don't know" a lot. (The rest of the grades in other classes are a mix of As and Bs so this is rare... and I want to keep it that way.)
Should I try to schedule a conversation now so I can figure out what the situation is?

[Anonymous]

They're definitely no regular parent teacher conferences scheduled in HS, but you can reach out to them by email at any time. I would start with the teacher if it's one class that your student is having problems with, if it's several classes, maybe start with their counselor instead.

[Anonymous]

My suggestion is to email the teachers with specific questions and an offer to speak, maybe on the phone (more convenient for both of you). I've found teachers to be very responsive when I've emailed asking questions.

[Anonymous]

My child learned in middle school to ask his teachers for clarification any time he had less than an A. With this aproach, we found that 2/3 of the time, the teacher explained the mistakes to DC, and 1/3 of the time, the grade was wrong... so win-win.

You can step in for now, but instill this in your child. He needs to take care of these things from now on.

I will always request one conference per core teacher anyway, because DC also has an IEP and some accommodations need to be settled with each teacher. But I don’t deal with grades.

[Anonymous]

If you end up scheduling a conference, I'd bring your child with you. Best advice I got from a friend: Your DC watching how you talk with the teacher models how to respectively interact with educators so everyone's on the same page. Some kids are not as comfortable talking with adults; my oldest used to cry in middle school at the mere idea of talking with a teacher, but he's much better about it now in HS and I think it helped that he saw first-hand how to do it effectively and respectfully.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child learned in middle school to ask his teachers for clarification any time he had less than an A. With this aproach, we found that 2/3 of the time, the teacher explained the mistakes to DC, and 1/3 of the time, the grade was wrong... so win-win.

You can step in for now, but instill this in your child. He needs to take care of these things from now on.

I will always request one conference per core teacher anyway, because DC also has an IEP and some accommodations need to be settled with each teacher. But I don’t deal with grades.

Nightmare.