Mid-Year Conferences

Conferences just happened last week and I as I was preparing for them, I thought a lot about the purpose of mid year conferences and how they can look different from our Fall conferences. A lot of the conference was dictated by the goal setting sheets we prepared for each individual student. However, how I chose to utilize it for mid year conferences differed a lot from Fall conferences. At this point in the year, I have built solid relationships. I put a significant amount of time ensuring families showed up to Fall conferences but this being the third round of conferences for fifth grade families, I already knew what attendance would look like and who I would have to reach out to individually to ensure they were present. Based on this, I had all but two families attend. I viewed the first set of conferences as a time to build relationships, the second round of conferences to set goals and used this round of conferences to talk about how we are doing towards reaching those goals using the data sheet (below).

As always, attendance was the first thing we discussed for a quick minute. We also included tardies this time which was different than Fall conferences which can be seen in the artifact below. If students were present for less than 95% of the year so far, we discussed the importance of class time for learning and if there was anything I could do to better support families and students in ensuring they are present in class everyday. This was a quick conversation but was an important piece that I wanted on the data sheet to emphasize that in addition to academics, this was a crucial piece of for succes year long.

The next part of the data sheet shows reading goals and current reading levels. I inputted the general metrics for what a passing score on the MCA from last year looks like, what letter passing is on the F&P reading test and what proficiency looks like on the district interim test. Having levels of mastery helped lead a conversation about where students should realistically be at this point in 5th grade if they were not there yet or if they were surpassing it. However, also having the goals we set for growth on the data sheet helped inform families and students where they are at in meeting goals rather than just looking at mastery. Surprisingly, the growth versus proficiency conversation dominated a large part of conversations. It was insightful for families to see how even if students were not mastering content yet, their growth levels painted a different picture.

The back side had math growth and proficiency. However, this time we focused on Fast Bridge reports (measure of growth) and district interim tests (measure of standards mastery). While not on the artifact attached, there were Fall fast bridge measures which gave families an indicator of how much growth was made to the winter levels. We also had a chance to discuss their projected score on the MCA based on MDE projections as well as the goals we set together. This is also on the data artifact. Just like reading, this provided a great opportunity to discuss why it was okay that students were not necessarily passing the MCA at a 550 but rather they were making growth towards passing based on their fourth grade scores. The language proficiency and social/emotional skills at the end provided a good reminder of where students were at their ESL levels and how they were progressing socially/emotionally. This part of the artifact helped families and students see how social/emotional growth intersects with academic growth.

Overall, the conference data sheet met my goals for the third round of conferences. It gave students and families an understanding of where they are and how much work needs to be done to meet goals. It made the data more concrete and visible to them which I found to be more impactful than just verbally stating goals. According to John Hattie (Visible Thinking), lesson goals and clear intentions promote higher student results and engagement. Therefore, while the overall generic data points were helpful for students to see where they are at, I want to make sure I also break it down more for each student to have clear learning goals for each subject. Based on that, coming out of the conferences I also set a specific learning goal for both math and reading with students.