The Robla School District holds Parent/Teacher Conferences once a year, and this year they will be held on November 20th and 21st.  Parent/Teacher Conferences are a great way for parents and teachers to discuss in detail how their children/students are progressing academically and socially. 

“Teachers have the opportunity to discuss student progress in all areas and provide guidance and ideas for what parents can do at home to help their child succeed, learn and grow,” explains Gail Hunt, Director of Curriculum and Assessment.  “The teacher may also have examples of student classwork available to show parents how their child is performing in class.  In addition, conferences provide teachers the opportunity to discuss with standards for their grade level.”

Besides providing information to the parents, the teachers also take the opportunity to get parental input regarding their child's interests and other topics or concerns the parents want the teacher to know about.  As studies have shown, parents working with their children’s teacher as a team leads to improved student performance and success. 

A great way to outline their child’s performance is with the use of our district report cards.  These report cards have been carefully crafted by teachers and administrators of the Robla School District to align with the California Common Core Standards (CCCS).  Gone are the days of only seeing general grades for reading, writing, and arithmetic, and grades like As, Bs, and Cs.  With the CCCS, parents can easily find the areas to focus on to help their children.  Instead of grades, students receive a 1, 2, 3, or 4 to show how well they have Met, or Exceeded the standard for each skill. (Below Basic, Basic, Proficient, or Advanced). 

“We use a Common Core Standards based report card which are based on grade level educational standards,” says Gail Hunt. “Teachers are responsible for teaching the skill's for their students' grade level, and for other disciplines as well, such as PE, fine art and technology.  Standards based report cards provide the benefit of keeping teachers and parents focused on student learning goals from the very beginning of the year.  A parent can look at the report card and see exactly what standard to work on with their child.”

In addition to the report cards and their child’s work examples, teachers will often have other resources available to provide additional support to parents.  For example, our Bilingual Community Outreach Assistants (BCOA) are available to attend Parent/Teacher Conferences parents who are more comfortable conversing in a language other than English.

“BCOAs help our families who speak Spanish, Russian or Hmong access their school and district community so that all our parents can play an active role in their child's education,” says Cindi Lyon, Director of State and Federal Programs.  “Research shows that students with families that are actively involved in their schooling, whether that be attending school functions or simply staying informed about their child's school, perform better at school and on academic tests.”

And what better way to stay informed than following the Robla School District on Facebook @RoblaSD?

By the way, if you are needing a BCOA at your Parent/Teacher Conference, the BCOAs should be reaching out to you to schedule a time to meet with the teacher.  If they have not, please let your child’s teacher know as soon as possible that support will be needed.

Besides the BCOAs, the Robla School District also offers several other tools for parents to aid in their child’s education.  The Parent Portal is a web based program that allows parents to access their child’s gradebook, attendance, and other information.  To sign up for Parent Portal, please speak to your school’s front office for access.     

An additional way for parents to assist their child and stay connected to the schools is by “Being involved in the classroom.  Visiting the class to help their child or help out in general is a great way to encourage their child,"  says Gail Hunt.  "Allowing their child to be in START, extended day, or another after school program where they can get help with their homework, is also a great resource.”

We hope to see you at the upcoming Parent/Teacher Conferences and to find out more information on the various topics discussed in the article, please check out the links below.

• Common Core Information
• Parent Portal Information
• Sample Report Cards