At least twice a year I, like billions of other parents, participate in parent-teacher conferences. We always hope to hear good things about our children, but sometimes this is not always the case. What if they are not making progress? What if they are having problems adjusting socially? These and many other questions arise, so I started to think of these conferences as a form of quality control to ensure that we learn from the information obtained.
| Conference Issue | How does it relate to my work? | Mitigation Strategy |
| Your child is not performing at grade level. | Your data indicates that you are not achieving the results you anticipated. | Determine causation (to the extent possible and work incrementally to meet the anticipated result. |
| Your child is displaying some negative behaviors in the classroom. | Your actual costs on a project or program exceed the budget. | Set boundaries and review previous information to figure out why this is happening. Have there been any changes? Is there appropriate oversight? Continue to monitor and work together towards a solution. |
| Your child is performing well above grade level on a certain subject(s). | The results exceed targets by a large amount. | Develop a case study to share this success and use as a model to promote and incentivize staff to continue improving and developing. |
| Your child lacks focus and does not pay attention during lessons. | Your organization is starting to deal with mission-drift and moving away from your fundamental purpose. | Refocus energy the work at hand and remove unnecessary distractions that can lead to lack of prioritization of key objectives. A staff retreat may be necessary. |
| Your child does not complete his/her homework. | You are not completing fundamental components of the program, as stated in your grant application. | Determine why objectives are not being met and create a plan of action to meet deliverables. |
Hopefully, your parent-teacher conferences will go smoothly and that you learn something beneficial to help you in your professional and personal lives.
