Parent-Teacher Conference Questions: 15 to Ask

Worried About Parent-Teacher Conferences?

Parent-teacher conferences can feel overwhelming for parents whose children face academic challenges. As you head into the conference, try viewing it as a chance for you and the school to form a team approach and devise a plan for your child. Every successful plan starts with setting goals, timelines, and accountability.

As many of you know, most elementary schools have moved away from the traditional grading system of A, A-, B+, and so on. Instead, schools typically use a rubric to communicate your child’s progress toward grade-level benchmarks. It’s worth reviewing your school’s grading scale and familiarizing yourself with the core subjects ahead of time. Below is a common rating system and the general meaning of each rating. You can find your school district’s specific rubric on the district website or from your child’s teacher.

• E — Exceeds: “I show leadership in this area”
• S — Secure: “I am independent in the skills”
• D — Developing: “I am learning in the particular skill”
• B — Beginning: “I need support in the particular skill”

Note: If the rubric uses a specific reading level, like “T” or “P,” ask which leveling system the school uses. Many schools rely on the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) or the Fountas and Pinnell (Guided Reading) system. [Note to editor: a chart showing expected reading levels by grade was referenced in the original post but not included here, please add it back in before publishing.] This may vary slightly by district, and expected reading rate is typically indicated for each grade level too.

What Should I Expect Early in the School Year?

At the beginning of the school year, expect your child to be performing at mostly “D” or higher. Early in the year, they’re still developing the skills needed to move to the next grade.

Some parents get the wonderful news that their child is performing at or above grade level. If your child is at the “S” or “E” level early in the year, ask the school what plan they have to keep your child appropriately challenged across all academic areas. Should your child be tested for a gifted program? Are supplemental activities available to keep them engaged?

Other times, you might receive more disappointing news. Maybe your child is struggling with reading or math and isn’t performing at the same level as their peers. First, know that you’re not alone, many children struggle in one area or another and go on to overcome it. That said, it’s important to build a plan as early as possible to get your child on the road to success. Avoid a “wait and see” approach. As your child gets older, the curriculum advances faster, which can put them at risk of falling even further behind. Below are specific questions you can ask at parent-teacher conferences to better understand the strategies, approaches, and expectations your school has for your child.

15 Parent-Teacher Conference Questions to Ask

1. How do you measure where my child is right now?

Consider whether instructors use computerized or face-to-face assessments, and whether those assessments report your child’s specific grade-level performance. Face-to-face tests can offer more accurate results, since the instructor can more easily tell whether a child is stuck on a concept, completing it incorrectly, or simply not trying.

2. How is their reading going, both how accurately they’re reading the words and how well they understand what they’ve read?

Reading accuracy measures a child’s ability to pronounce each word in a story correctly, while reading comprehension measures how well they understand details, main ideas, and inferences within what they’ve read. Both pieces matter, and the next few questions dig into how they connect to reading rate and fluency too.

3. What is my child’s grade level for reading rate?

Reading rate measures how long it takes a student to read a story.

4. What is my child’s current grade level for reading fluency?

Reading fluency combines a student’s reading accuracy and rate.

Note: Getting individual scores for accuracy, rate, and fluency helps an instructor better identify where a child struggles most and what to address first. Addressing reading accuracy and phonetic rule knowledge before reading rate is essential. As with any new skill, a student can’t complete a task quickly until they’ve established accuracy first. Think of a figure skater learning a new maneuver, she can’t start at top speed. She has to master the technique first, and only then work on speed as the skill becomes more natural. Too often, a program focuses mainly on a student’s reading rate, which only creates unnecessary frustration.

5. What is my child’s grade level for reading comprehension?

This area looks at a student’s ability to understand details, main ideas, and inferences within what they’ve read. If a child can’t understand what they’re reading, what’s the point of reading in the first place? This is one of the most important aspects of reading, yet it’s often overlooked.

6. What led you to place my child in this reading group, and what would move them up a level?

Here’s a personal example of why this question matters. My daughter had difficulties with reading due to a vision issue. The school placed her in the “lower” reading group, and she was very upset.

That placement would have made sense if her overall reading abilities matched, but it turned out the school placed her there based only on her slow reading rate. They hadn’t factored in her reading accuracy or comprehension, both of which were above grade level.

After a more thorough reading evaluation, I asked the school to move her into a higher reading group so she’d be appropriately challenged in accuracy and comprehension. They did, and she thrived. Had she stayed in the lower group, she likely would have felt frustrated and less confident moving to the next stage of reading.

There are certainly times when a lower reading group is genuinely the right fit, and students shouldn’t move up simply because they’re upset about their placement. But it’s important to make sure your child lands in the level that will most benefit their growth. Ask how the school determines reading group placement, and don’t stop there, ask specifically what benchmarks or skills your child would need to reach to move up a level. Knowing that target gives you something concrete to work toward together, rather than an open-ended wait. Make sure the instructor considers all areas of reading, along with your child’s personality, to figure out whether a more challenging group would motivate them or overwhelm them. Your expertise as a parent matters enormously here. No one knows your child better than you.

7. How will we know if they’re making progress?

Teachers need to know whether their strategies are working. Assessments should happen frequently enough that you don’t reach the end of the year only to realize an approach needed adjusting months earlier. These assessments don’t always need to be formal, informal data collection can be just as informative.

8. How will you keep me updated on their progress, and how often should I expect to hear from you?

You should know what kind of updates to expect about your child’s progress, and you should expect at least some data collected on a weekly basis.

9. What’s your go-to approach when a student is struggling with reading, and how do you decide what to try?

No single program meets every child’s needs, especially for those who struggle with reading. Research-based, individualized strategies will always outperform a one-size-fits-all approach, and it’s worth asking how the teacher decides which strategy to try first for your specific child.

10. What strategies are used to foster my child’s reading comprehension abilities?

If a teacher describes giving a child a paragraph to read and answer questions on, that’s really just an assessment, not a strategy. You may want to ask for a different method, or seek out another resource to give your child actual tools and strategies for retaining information.

11. How large are the reading groups, and how many children are in each group?

Ask for specifics about data collection and the reading strategies taught during group time. Also ask whether the instructor teaches to your child’s specific level, or to the average level of the group.

12. How much one-on-one time does my child get per day?

If your child struggles with reading, they’ll likely need some one-on-one attention to catch up with peers. Specific phonics rules and reading strategies that fell through the cracks need direct attention.

13. Does the school expect students to learn and memorize their fact families?

Fact families teach children the relationships between addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division sentences. They also help kids recognize patterns, like how 2+3=5 and 3+2=5 are related. Many school curricula don’t emphasize memorizing fact families, but this is a foundational skill that makes word problems much more manageable for your child.

14. What specific strategies do you use to help my child memorize these fact families?

Visualization techniques tend to work very well here. Keep in mind that when teachers use flashcards, they’re really just assessing the student, not teaching specific strategies for retaining the facts in memory.

15. What type of word problems are students expected to solve in math?

Ask what strategies teachers use to help students break a problem down and determine which math computation to use.

We’re Here to Help

Maintaining open communication with your school is one of the most important things you can do for your child. Schools and teachers genuinely want to help your child succeed. That said, it’s worth knowing that state regulations sometimes limit the amount of service and assistance a child can receive through school alone. Budget constraints and large class sizes can make it difficult for even the most talented teacher to address every child’s specific needs, not because they don’t want to, but because resources are often limited.

Reaching out to additional resources can be one of the best steps you take to bridge the gap between academic frustration and reaching your child’s goals. The earlier you address delays, the less likely your child is to develop negative feelings about learning and school.

At Enrichment Therapy & Learning Center, we can help build those foundational skills and get your child performing at or above grade level, putting them on a path to academic success. Call now to learn more about our free screening and consultation.