After The Parent-Teacher Conference

After having a parent-teacher conference, you should have a pretty good picture of how your child is performing socially and academically. You should also know your child's strengths and weaknesses, with a specific plan in place to help your child move forward. If there are significant problems academic or social, make sure you continue to meet or stay in touch with the teacher until the problems are resolved. Below are some other suggestions you may want to incorporate according to Stacy DeBroff, author of "The Mom Book Goes To School":

1. It is nice to send a note to the teacher after the conference affirming what steps were decided. Make sure you thank the teacher for all the meeting and all the hard work. Not only will the teacher appreciate the note, the teacher will be more willing to meet again and agree upon the plan of action to help your child.

2. Summarize the teacher's suggestions with your child. Discuss the strategy for improvement you and the teacher decided upon. Ask for your child's feedback and consider whatever thought or worries your child might have regarding the plan.

3. Allow some time for any implemented strategies to take hold and produce results before charging back into the teacher's office. No problem can be solved overnight, and some solutions may take a long period of time to show improvement. Keep the teacher informed about the changes you agreed upon and the progress.

4. Schedule a follow-up meeting four to six weeks later, even if the problem seems to have lessened. Both you and the teacher will get closure, and you both can feel good about helping your child overcome the challenging obstacle.