Student-Led Conferences. Janet Millar Grant, Barbara Heffler, Kadri Mereweather. Markham, ON: Pembroke Publishers, 1995. 128 pp, paper, $12.95. ISBN 1-55138-054-4. Subject Headings: Parent-teacher conferences. Teacher-student relationships. Professional. Review by Katherine Matthews.

excerpt:

The process of Student-Led Conferencing empowers students. They play major roles in developing goals for personal growth plans and then must follow through and achieve those goals. Student-Led Conferencing supports students as they build a repertoire of skills they will need in any future learning situation.

This new type of conferencing also benefits parents in many ways. It gives them a significant role to play in their children's learning. They will thereby gain a better understanding of that learning and the school itself. It is also a more comfortable way for parents to discuss their children's progress; everyone knows what to expect and the conference can be conducted in the parents' first language.

In Student-Led Conferences, the authors seek to present educators with an alternative to the traditional parent-teacher interview, which often puts parents, unfamiliar with teacher jargon and placed in an uncomfortable and powerless position, at a disadvantage.