What Are Student-Led Conferences?

Have you ever heard talk of using student-led conferences? If not, here’s a quick rundown of the concept. This type of parent-teacher meeting steps outside the norm and allows students to take ownership of their academic progress by presenting their work samples and discussing their learning, strengths, weaknesses, and progress towards their goals. Parents and teachers can then provide feedback and support as needed. While developing a process like this seems daunting, it’s absolutely worth it! This year, we aim to make it easy for you (and your students) to put in the work to bring them to life!

How Are Student-Led Conferences Different Than Traditional Parent-Teacher Conferences?

There are two primary differences between the student-led conference and the traditional conference. These are..

• Students take part in all stages of the meeting. They prepare and manage work samples, use checklists to display new learning, and devise next steps.
• Students conduct the conversation to show what they have learned. They receive feedback from their parents and teachers about their strengths and areas of improvement.
• The student puts in the work to demonstrate their learning…not YOU!

Grab a Student Led Conference Template!

This printable resource makes it easy to begin implementing student-led conferences in the classroom. It includes a variety of graphic organisers and planning guides to help your students brainstorm, gather, and present information to their parents during their formal parent-teacher conference time. We’ve included the following handy templates.

• Student Led Conference Checklist – Students will follow this checklist when participating in their conference.
• What I’m Learning Graphic Organiser – Students will use this to lay out information about new topics and standards they are learning in class.
• Strengths and Improvements Organiser – This organiser allows students to list their strengths and gather ideas for improvement.
• Social Skills and Work Habits Rating Sheet – Students will use this organiser to demonstrate their social skills and work habits using a rating scale.
• Academic Goal Setting Template – This organiser provides students with a place to write down academic goals for discussion.

Download Your Student Led Conference Templates!

Use the dropdown icon on the Download button to choose between the PDF or editable Google Slides version of this resource.

This resource was created by Lindsey Phillips, a teacher and Teach Starter Collaborator.

Don’t stop there! We’ve got more templates and resources that help you boost parent communication.

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