Parent/Teacher Conference Horror Story

This is a true story of a conference I had with parents of a student who had an F in my class (7th grade Math) for the first 15 weeks or so of the past school year.  This student also had an F in English, but was barely passing Science and History.  At my school, we schedule team conferences, so that all of us can be there, and try to problem solve to come up with a plan to help the student be successful.

The student in questions was identified by the district as a "high achiever," which they can earn by either testing very high on IQ tests when in 2nd/3rd grade, or by testing advanced for 3 years in a row on both the Math and English portions of state testing.

Math was not this student's strong point - they tested at "below basic" on the state test the year before- so they were starting out about 1-2 grades below the 6th-grade level before even stepping foot into my room.

It started off with each teacher giving a quick update of how the child was doing. When it got to me, the father became very upset.

He wanted to know why I was not helping his daughter, and blamed me because she was not understanding the work that was assigned.  

I let the father know:

1) I had e-mailed him a link to all of the homework answers in the book, so that parents could check their kid's work if they wanted to - or they could print out those a few at a time, and have their child check their own work.  The reason? Each day at the start of class, I allowed students to ask questions about the previous day's assignment.

2) Homework was only graded on effort - a student who tried got full credit but it was only worth 10 percent of the grade.  (The student didn't do their homework very much, and had not raised a hand one time to ask a question during those first 15 weeks of school).

3) Tests were 80 percent of the student grade, but each time I passed back a test, I gave students a chance to re-do their incorrect answers, and earn back half the points they missed.  They were allowed to work on it with other students in class the day I passed back the test, and it was not due until a week later.  I also offered lunch help for those who were not able to figure the answers out on their own. This student had taken 4 tests, and had not done the repairs on any of them, nor did they come in at lunch for help.

The father then said to me, "So you are telling me, that if my child won't raise their hand, and won't come in for any help, than there is nothing you can do for them?"

I also suggested that there was also the option of changing the student's  elective from student government to a Math support class - for students who need extra help. The parents didn't want to make that change, because the student liked the government class, and that was their best grade at that time.

So, rather than tell you how the conference ended, I would like to hear from any of you readers of the Roseville Patch. What would you say if you were the teacher instead of me?  

I can tell you that after the conference was over, the other 3 teachers who were present told me that they were very impressed that I kept my cool in this situation with a parent who was so confrontational.

I am looking forward to your input!  And...I promise that I will tell the end of the story later ... (it gets interesting toward the end of the school year).