Skip to main content

Academic Parent Teacher Teams - Parent Conferences Be Gone!



I've sat in my fair share of parent conferences. You all know the one, 15 minutes of forms, fliers, sheets you don't fully understand...only to finally see a letter grade that might or might not tell you how your child is performing.

It's a 200 year old way to keep parents and care-givers in the dark about public education.

There's a better way. Academic Parent Teacher Teams, or APTT. Attended by all the parents in your child's classroom. Led by the classroom teacher. Data driven. Performance measured. AND...wait for it...collaborative.

Done the right way, and I've done them the right way. You get 70 minutes to dive into instruction, standards and mastery. You learn a skill or strategy that can be done at home WITH your child. You're around other parents and can feel safe asking questions like, "I don't understand that word, what does it mean when you say _____?"

For more information on Academic Parent Teacher Team (APTT) implementation, visit the Center Creek Institute.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Panicdemic Data - We Can Open Schools

10/13/2020 UPDATE The Great Barrington Declaration . You probably haven't seen it since Google and Reddit shadow banned/censored and salted it with climate denial subterfuge. Bing for the win, since they played it straight. This science driven, thoughtful petition - initiated by highly recognized Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford epidemiologists - signed by 7,000 medical scientists and 15,000 medical practitioners.  Science is real, remember? Here's a key part:  " Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. The results (to name a few) include lower childhood vaccination rates, worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes, fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health – leading to greater excess mortality in years to come, with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden. Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice. Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is availab

The Merits of Arizona's New Standardized Test - Principles of Principals

On November 3, 2014, behind the distractions of the mid-term elections; the Arizona State Board of Education approved the RFP from SAGE Testing Company for full implementation of the AzMERIT for Spring 2015. If you're a parent, student, or employed in education you need to know some things about this test. In it's entirety, the test is computer based.  Instead of asking your child to select the correct graph from a menu of choices, they will be asked to create a graphic representation on their own. Admittedly, it's a much DEEPER look into applied knowledge.   Utah took the test last school year with startling results .  Less than half tested proficient. Less than half . Either it's a distilled look at UT children's abilities, or the results are skewed by rapid implementation of new standards, new measures of accountability, and new testing protocols. Is Arizona ready? District's who were preparing, have had a minor shift in preparation towards th

1.5 Reasons to Take a Different Path - The Hippy-Cow Way

The Hippy-Cow Way I remember early in my career asking a question something like, "Why don't we try [insert idea here]?"  And the quick reply, "Because this is the way we've always done it." Wow. 2020 is teaching us that the way  we've always done things..does not work.  Yeah.  The age-old rut that can trap us all. Frustrating isn't it? As a child growing up in the Aspen Valley, I remember traveling many miles along Highway 82.  Glenwood to Carbondale, then to Basalt, and on to Aspen.  Two lanes most of the way, it was and is the main route connecting all of these Rocky  Mountain towns.  The drive can be breath-taking in the Fall. And most take this route because, well, it's the route we always take. It's familiar. Safe. Known. Well traveled. You get the idea. There are other ways to get where you're going. Roads less traveled that hold great sites and great reward. One of my favorites is the Hippy-Cow Way. Known only to our fam