One of the secretaries here at school crunched the Parent Teacher Conference numbers for us, so I thought I'd share... We had about 50% of the parents show up for conferences. Now, I realize that I haven't had alot of experience with other schools, but I think this is a really great number. It's pretty hard to get that many parents to show up. I personally had 55 kids represented by parents out of my 119 students. That's almost 50%. I was so happy to get to talk to and meet so many of my students parents.
The school offers incentives if the parents show up. First, the parents get entered into a raffle drawing to win one of three prizes...a $25 subway gift certificate, a $25 video world gift certificate, and a nintendo wii. Also, each student gets a homework coupon from the teachers that the parent visits, which are good for a free homework assignment. I think those are all pretty good incentives to come to conferences. I think that it's great that so many parents showed up, even if they have to be bribed to do it.
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3 comments:
Bribery is commomly defined as the practice of offering something (usually money) in order to gain an illicit advantage or to get someone to engage in an illegal activity. Is attending their child's conference illegal? Also, bribery usually results in a definite pay off. What your school does is actually attempt increase attendance by offering a "chance" to win something in order to increase a desireable behavior. Whether this technique was a true positive reinforcer for attendance can only be tested, by not offering the incentives for the next meeting and seeing if 55 parents show up. If they do, either the reward was not necessary, or the first meeting with you was so rewarding that it motivated additional attendance without further incentives. Maybe a little of each. Keep up the good work, and stay positive.
John, I think you missed my point. I think its GREAT that they offer these rewards for coming to conferences. That was why I said it was GREAT and I was so HAPPY about meeting the parents.
And just so we're clear...The American Heritage College Dictionary defines bribe as 1) Something offered or given to a person in a position of trust to influence that person's views or conduct 2)Something serving to influence or persuade
In my opinion, both of these definitions fit pretty well.
I agree with you Alisha. The point is that people came and so what if they were offered an incentive (don't we ALL like incentives???). I once paid my son 25 cents a day to complete his papers at school. I knew he COULD do it but he just didn't see any NEED to do it. Once he got used to completing them, he came to me and said.....mommy you don't need to pay me anymore. I will just do my work.....light bulb moment for both of us.
We all get paid for our work so why is it a bribe if we appreciate parents who attend a school conference??? Keep up the good work.....
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