Section 1: Introduction to the Study
Introduction
Student learning and ways to involve them and their parents more in their learning has remained a challenge for educators. An exploration for increasing student learning and accountability has led educators to include students in the conference process. A way of including students in their academic performance and allowing them an opportunity to directly assess their classroom work has brought about a change from traditional parent-teacher conferences to student-led conferences (Borba and Olvera, 2001). As Borba and Olvera (2001) stated, “student-led conferences motivate students to think about and act on personal initiatives to improve learning” (p. 333).
Borba and Olvera (2001) …show more content…

Hill and Tyson (2009) state, “It is imperative to identify the extent to which parental involvement in education is positively related to achievement for middle school students and which types of involvement are most effective” (p.741). Brannon (2007) reported that many middle school principals express a dramatic decline in parental involvement from elementary to middle school. Although the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) (2002) has mandated districts implement programs or initiatives to increase the involvement of parents, efforts have not been completely successful in some areas. The need to understand the perceptions of parents on student-led conferences at the 8th grade level, benefits, if any, on communication between parents and students regarding school; parental expectations, and parenting style are important to this study and the issues related to student-led conferences.
Nature of the Study
The qualitative approach will be used to identify the perceived benefits parents have because of student-led conferences at the 8th grade level. Data will be collected by having the parents participate in recorded interview sessions with open-ended questions created by researcher.
Research Questions. The researcher will pose the two following primary questions, which will help the researcher inform the benefits, if any, of conducting student-led conferences at the 8th grade level. Research Question 1: What are the perceptions of 8th grade students parents