How long are your public school parent-teacher conferences?

[JustMe]

How long are your parent-teacher conferences and what is the focus (teacher concerns, parent concerns, test scores only, etc)?

I'm asking because I have been a parent in a total of 3 public schools. The first school (elementary) gave parents 5 minutes total to talk to 2 teachers (not each). They basically reported test scores. I was shocked. I just got the mailing from dd's current school (a middle school), it seems we can attend parent-teacher conference night where we can have a 10 minute conference with only one teacher (kids have 6 teachers) or request to receive brief e-mails or phone calls. Interesting concept. I guess I do appreciate that they don't drag me down there for nothing (like the first school I mentioned). The other school is an elementary public alternative school where I think they typically allow 25-30 minutes but will schedule with parents for any amount of time requested (so very different).

Please say if your school is elem. or middle (or even high school) when applying. Also, I am not trying to block private schools in any way, but I know there are often different issues in terms of time and resources with public schools.

[ahisma]

15 minutes - elementary. I think the high school has 7 mins per teacher, but I could be wrong on the time allocated. You get in line and rotate through as many teachers as you can / wish. Both public. DH teaches at a public high school and has a similar set up. He's also happy and willing to meet with parents at any time.

We are welcome to schedule separate meetings if we want to go into more detail. Ironically, I have a meeting scheduled with the teacher and principal the day after conferences. We're keeping the conference time though, so we can go over the overarching stuff (meeting is to sort out placement for one subject).

[pomegranate]

Elementary public school, 20 minutes per conference with main teacher. We go over the progress report for academic and behavioral areas, and then address any other concerns by parent(s) and/or teacher. Usually, I find this is enough time. 5 minutes to talk to 2 teachers is crazy!

[egoldber]

Our elementary school conferences are scheduled in 30 minute blocks.

Conferences are not standard in MS or HS, but can be arranged on request. The 2 I have requested in MS lasted for most of the teacher's planning period, so about 50 minutes.

[ett]

Elementary public school, 20 minutes per conference with main teacher. We go over the progress report for academic and behavioral areas, and then address any other concerns by parent(s) and/or teacher.

Same with our elementary school.No scheduled conferences in middle school.

[Momit]

15 minutes - elementary. The teacher had a list of social and academic skill areas and checked whether the student needs improvement, is showing improvement or has mastered the skill. We had time for a couple of questions but not much. They ring the bell when it's time to end and the next set of parents comes in.

[liz]

10 minutes this year for elementary school. We saw teachers for DS1 and DS2. I thought we had longer blocks in the past (15 minutes). I think 15 minutes is fine, but 10 is not. We got into each meeting late because they were both running behind, which was frustrating.

In our school, the meeting is to basically discuss how the child is doing in class academically and perhaps touch on how they are adjusting to the new school year. Other issues are should be scheduled for another meeting, but I don't think that always happens.

[khalloc]

At my kids' K-2 school they gave you 15 minutes with the child's primary teacher. This is their full-time teacher. They have "specials" like art, music, gym, guidance and library and there were no appointment times with those teachers. I imagine you would have to request them. DD is in a new school this year and I havent heard about her conference times yet. I imagine 15 minutes will still be the time allowed.

[MelissaTC]

Public middle. No conferences unless requested by either side.

[hillview]

1st grade 20 mins public school