Communication

School Newsletter Template: Parent-Teacher Conference

Dr. Kara Stern
2 min read
Two parents consulting with a teacher.

This year, many schools will be conducting parent conferences remotely. Since some parents and caregivers won’t be accessible by video conference, we’ve gone ahead and created a parent-teacher conference form template for you.

I’ve led some parent-teacher conferences that were real doozies. I’m sure you can relate…😜

Communicating all that we have to say about students in a short amount of time, some of it challenging, is not easy — not to mention the endurance test of the day, itself! To help with planning & with parents/caregivers who aren’t able to attend conferences, we went ahead and put together a parent conference school newsletter template. Why a school newsletter for a conference form? It’s personal, engaging, and interactive.

Additional bonus? Caregivers can translate your feedback into their home language, if different from English.

So, what’s in the Parent Conference newsletter?

The template kicks off with a text block for a paragraph about your class or the student, accompanied by an inspiring quote. Next, you’ll find a helpful post on how to best prepare for conferences, followed by an example of how to use the photo gallery widget to discuss student work.



The middle of the template is dedicated to your feedback on the student.

We’ve got placeholders to discuss the essential aspects of student success in schools, followed by a blog post that offers clear, concrete suggestions for how to share feedback with families that might be hard for them to hear.

Because there’s almost always feedback that’s hard to hear…

Balance feedback from the teacher with feedback from the parent.

School psychologist Michael G. Thompson talks about the importance of starting the school year by asking parents about their hopes and fears for their child. Accordingly, we’ve got a sample google form that solicits parent input. Lastly, parents & caregivers always appreciate a resource that helps them support their child’s success, so feel free to use the one we’ve included, or replace with your own.

Wishing you smooth sailing on conference day.

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Dr. Kara Stern

Dr. Kara Stern began her career as an ELA teacher, then shifted into administration as a middle school principal. Dr. Stern is a fervent advocate for equitable communication and family engagement. She spent five years as Executive Director at Math for America, where she designed the professional learning community that exists to this day. An unexpected move to Tel Aviv launched her into the world of EdTech where she became the Director of Education Content for Smore and then the Head of Education Solutions at SchoolStatus. Outside of work, she indulges her love for reading, devouring two novels weekly, with a particular fondness for heists and spy stories.

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