What do teachers discuss during parent-teacher conferences? And does it matter for parents’ involvement in children’s learning?

Abstract

Parent-teacher conferences are considered an important link between home and school, but there are little data on what teachers discuss during these conferences and if it matters. Parent-teacher conferences (N = 431) with parents of young elementary school children (mean age = 7.69 years) were audio-recorded and coded. A subset of 255 parents reported on their involvement in children’s learning 5 months later. Teachers mainly discussed children in the academic context, with little attention to the curriculum or parents’ involvement in this context. Teachers concentrated less on math than literacy and adopted less of a process (e.g., strategies and motivation) orientation for math. Only teachers’ process orientation appeared to contribute to parents’ involvement: The more teachers adopted such an orientation, the more involved parents were 5 months later.