Spring Creek Elementary students invite parents in for conferences

She flips through the pages of a file folder, showing a father graphs that illustrate his child’s progress in math quizzes and reading comprehension.

They discuss areas she needs to work on, her strengths too — how much she loves reading. Michael Betancur smiles broadly at his daughter’s high grades, her hard work.

“I wasn’t that great when I was in school, and that is one part that makes me feel proud,” Betancur said. “She’s very smart.”

Juliana Betancur, 8, plays the role of teacher, but she is actually discussing her own progress with her father in her second-grade classroom at Spring Creek Elementary School in Bonita Springs. It is part of a school-wide program of student-led conferences, inviting children to go over their progress with their parents. It serves as a supplement to parent-teacher conferences, which parents can still request.

But Kelly Farrison, Juliana’s teacher, said the strategy does countless things to enhance students’ achievement.

“It’s nice because it gets them in here to communicate with their parents,” Farrison said. “It’s a sense of joy — they like showing it, and the independence it gives them is great. I think it shows ownership; the children can say, ‘This is what I did.’”

Students have a checklist of areas they must discuss with their parents. Children get lessons in graphing and math, as well, when they chart their own scores on reading comprehension exercises and timed math quizzes. They form goals, and put them in writing to track their progress in conferences with their teacher and their parents.

“(Parents) can see that the children are aware of what they are doing, the goals they want to reach,” Farrison said.

Lizabeth Valdez pulls her folder off her desk, showing her mother a bar graph of quiz grades, mostly in the 90s. The bars of the graph are neatly filled with pink and teal crayon.

In English, she reads her essays and stories aloud to her mother, who speaks Spanish.

“The best part of second grade is the learning that makes you smarter every day,” Lizabeth, 7, reads from an essay.

As Lizabeth reads to her mother in English, then switches back to Spanish to explain in more detail, another advantage of the student-led conferences makes itself clear.

When children communicate directly with their Spanish-speaking parents, there is no language barrier. No translator is needed, and Lizabeth can communicate her progress directly to her mother, Leticia Valdez.

Watching her students at work with their parents is a revelation for Farrison, too. She gets to see a side of her students she rarely witnesses day-to-day in class. She observes her students light up with pride when they communicate a success to their parents, and watches them share the news of setbacks or areas in need of improvement.

“You can see the embarrassment on their faces,” said Farrison.

But that is what the goals are for — to put in writing the things each child needs to work on, and to hold them accountable for their personal progress.

“My plan is to take time and pay better attention in class,” reads Chelsea Dumas’ neat handwriting, pulled from a page in her portfolio.

Chelsea, 8, brought her aunt, Cathie Brennan, to her conference. Chelsea’s mom was out of town on the day of her conference, and Brennan was happy to fill in.

Chelsea explained the rewards system for completing homework — a sticker on a special chart, eventually leading to prizes for students with enough stickers.

“I like prizes,” Chelsea says with a sly grin.

Chelsea is a good student, but admits she has things she needs to work on. Her aunt can tell she recognizes that when they look over Chelsea’s school work together.

“What I noticed is anything that has a mark on it, she doesn’t want me to see it,” Brennan said. “That makes her think about it.”

For Michael Betancur, nothing beats hearing about how his daughter is doing in school straight from her mouth.

“I’m feeling great about that,” Betancur said. “She gets into it and she feels proud of how she’s doing. She likes for people to know that she loves to read.”

Connect with education reporter Leslie Williams Hale at naplesnews.com/staff/leslie_hale