Suggestions for teachers conducting open houses, in which parents see the progress and work of their children, are presented. Various ways to display student work, make a positive impression, and elicit parent participation are described. (CJ)

This article, reprinted from "PTA Magazine," January 1978, suggests ways that parents can help teachers by monitoring homework, by working cooperatively to solve problems, and by being supportive of the teacher and the school. (SJL)

The complexity of training teachers as facilitators in working with parents of handicapped children is pointed out, and possible causes of teacher ineffectiveness in this role are considered. (SBH)

Suggests that the following three basic assumptions can eradicate negativity about parent teacher conferences: assume good will; assume competence; and assume a shared responsibility. Contends teachers should: assure parents of support; value parents' ideas and opinions; make parents comfortable; keep parents informed; and offer helpful…

Reviews the Schools Reaching Out programs in New York City and Roxbury (MA). Describes and recommends three successful aspects of these programs: the parent center within the schools, home visits by teachers, and teacher action research teams. (DM)

Discusses ways in which teachers can maintain daily communication with busy or uncommunicative parents. Techniques include providing observations to parents about their child's behavior, talking to parents on a weekly basis, communicating about the child's progress every semester, and sending notes accompanied by a photograph of the child. (RJC)

Communication guidelines are offered to enhance the effectiveness of conferences between speech-language pathologists and parents of Asian minority children with communication disorders. Identified are relevant aspects of Asian culture, cultural factors which influence Asian parents' reactions to disabilities, and interpersonal styles of Asians.…

Outlines appropriate content for meetings between parents and teachers of young children. Argues that effective meetings foster parent education, communication and ongoing parent support. Identifies objectives for the initial meeting during the application and registration process, for parent education meetings, and for parent conferences.…

Lists nine facetious reasons why a faculty member would want to sign on as the advisor to a student newspaper and also one real reason: it represents the culmination of the writing process at its very best. (TB)

Describes a weekly meeting of a collaborative elementary school teacher support group in Ohio. Triangular conferencing, which involves parent-teacher-student and is student-led, is the subject of the meeting. Also describes visits to elementary classrooms where new ways to teach reading and writing are implemented with input from Regie Routman,…

The paper presents four steps to effective parent-teacher conferences that enable teachers to make parents partners in a team effort to strengthen students' academic, social, and emotional well-being. Preconference worksheets for both parents and students to complete are attached. (SM)

Parent-teacher conferences are often mutually unsatisfactory. If some improvement in the child's behavior or performance is expected, teachers need to identify problems, set reasonable goals, develop a course of action, and provide some means of followup. (MLF)

Suggestions to make parents of children with disabilities more comfortable in the Individualized Education Program (IEP) meeting include contacting parents personally before the meeting, having a school staff member greet the parents, appointing an "interpreter" to monitor educational jargon, and videotaping or audiotaping a few conferences to…

Tips for enhancing parent-teacher communications include volunteer, get to know the teacher, make an appointment before seeing the teacher, provide positive feedback, contact the teacher early with problems, suggest PTA-sponsored communications workshops, respect teachers' perspectives, express anger elsewhere, accept positive and negative…

Highlights collaborative practices from fields of family therapy and educational psychology to facilitate conferences on children's behavior problems between parents and child caregivers and teachers. Illustrates stages of collaborative conversations: establishing trust; inviting parents to collaborate; discovering and stating mutual goals;…