Harlan Elementary School staff begins every school year with their eyes wide open, searching for new initiatives to implement in the classroom. Principal Vickie Anderson is always on the lookout for new teaching methods and strategies to be implemented into their classrooms.

“Student-led conferences place students at the helm, causing them to take responsibility for their own learning and success,” Anderson said.

For the 2017-2018 school year, fourth-grade math teacher Sierra Crow has been challenged to pilot Student-Led Conferences in place of the traditional teacher-led style of conferencing with parents/guardians.

“I require my students to work and improve daily. I must do the same. If implementing new initiatives will improve student learning, I’m game,” Crow states.

Student-Led Conferences allow the student to guide the parent-teacher conference. The main goal is to create a time where engagement between parents, teachers and students is maximized. There are many different approaches to this specific style of conferences in terms of how the students present the information.

Students can display multiple pieces of work on a poster or focus on their growth on a particular skill. It varies from student to student, but the principle idea is still the same — students lead the conference. The teacher’s role in the conference is to help guide and ensure that any questions that need answering can be answered. Teachers are an addition to the student at Student-Led Conferences.

“We started small. This was a first for my students, their parents and myself,” Crow spoke in regard to the first Student-Led Conference held in October. “At the conference, students used an artifact folder that contained their graded work, goal and reflections to talk with their parents about what is going on in their math class.

“They explained to their parents why they received the specific grade, how they could improve and what steps they would take from that point forward to keep improving. Students also discussed one skill that they wanted to improve and created an action plan to work toward that goal outside of school.”

This style of conference proved to be a successful change from traditional conferences.

“I was impressed with Student-Led Conferences. They had a real personal feel, and I believe it gave all of us a better understanding of our child’s strengths and needs,” said fourth-grade parent Cassandra Cooper. “I enjoyed participating. It encouraged our daughter to discuss important issues with us, and that’s always great.”

Students and their parents adapted well to the new style of conferencing. For fourth-grader Karagan Baker, the conference gave her a voice. “It was a great experience, because I got to express myself and felt like my opinion mattered.”

Anderson added, “This is the student’s moment to share his or her reflections on achievements, challenges,and their goals for future learning.”

The experience of the first conference pushed Crow to implement it even more in her classroom.

“I have big plans for spring conferences. My students have been given a task and have risen to the challenge. They are goal setting, making action plans, owning their own learning and improving daily,”said Crow.

Crow’s classroom evolved to create an atmosphere where students are open to discuss weaknesses as well as strengths, with hopes that they can do the same with their parents.

“If I tell them that they did this and that wrong, it doesn’t mean as much to them as it does when they determine misconceptions themselves,” said Crow. “When they create a plan and the steps to move forward, it is more likely to be completed. If we create an atmosphere where they can accept that an error has occurred, then they are more apt to work to fix that error.”

This initiative is one of many that Anderson has challenged her staff with at Harlan Elementary School. It started in Crow’s fourth grade math class, but Anderson has plans for it to be adopted by other teachers at Harlan Elementary as well.

“The feedback from Mrs. Crow’s Student-Led Conferences has been extremely positive. I look forward to seeing more teachers implement this style of conference in the future and reaping the benefits it provides.”