Naugatuck Discovery - Spring 2008 Newsletter

MAKING THE MOST OF PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES

Andrew Avenue School Principal Theresa Forish offered ideas to help parents of children in grades K through 4 prepare for conferences in March.

School conferences are meetings in which parents and teachers act as partners, sharing information to achieve a common goal: the success of a child. "If you leave the parent-teacher conference and you didn't talk, something is wrong," Forish said.

Before the conference, parents should review papers their children bring home and note patterns or areas of difficulty for discussion with the teacher, she said. She also encouraged parents to talk to their children about school every day and to contact the teacher any time a problem arises.

"The parent-teacher conference should not be the only communication you have with teachers," she said.