11-year-old Paige Holland is taking her education by the reigns.
The sixth grader at Buffet Middle School, part of Omaha Public Schools, is sitting down with dad for her-student led conference
“We like to shift the responsibility from the teacher to the student as far as owning the learning." Dr. Rony Ortega, principal.
This model flips the script on the traditional parent-teacher conferences.
Both models provide parents with updates on their child's progress and opportunities to see their student's work.
They open communication between school and home. But in the past, educators found students were passive, or not present at all during parent-teacher conferences.
“They're used to going to conferences and having the teacher tell them all of the good things, or in some cases bad things that are going on,” said Ortega.
“So there is really, they really have to adjust to a model that is they are now listening to their child telling them that,” he added.
The students each follow and complete a rubric prior to the meeting day.
Teachers are on hand and usually end up chatting with the parents and the student after the kid-led conference.
"It’s the triangle. You have to have the triangle of parent, student, and teacher," said Lisa Tuttle, a teacher at Buffet Middle School.
For parents, like Paige Holland’s father, Matt Holland, they say it's something that's boosted the pre-teens confidence and raised their accountability to succeed.
“This is totally her, explaining what she has learned and what she needs to improve on and its totally putting the learning and responsibility on her,” he said.
“Which is where it should be and I really think is great."
