According to National Guidelines, after a student receives a report card, a meeting should follow between a parent and teacher. The purpose of these meetings is to let the parent(s) know how their child is progressing and how the teacher feels the child is fitting into the classroom environment. If there are areas of weakness in the child's performance, the meeting is designed to give parent information on how the school intends to deal with this weakness, and how the parent can help with the problem when the child is at home.

As a parent, before a parent/teacher meeting, you should write down any questions or concerns that you may have. Take this list out when you are talking to the teacher to make sure you cover all the concerns and questions that you have. Take notes as the teacher is talking, so that you'll remember all the points that were brought up. If the teacher does mention a behavioral problem, make sure to ask what is being done about it in class, and how you can deal with the problem at home. If there are problems at home, you don't have to go into full details, but these problems may be affecting your child's performance, so they are worth mentioning to some extent. In most cases, the teacher will keep any information you give in confidence, and it may help resolve the conflict the child is feeling.

The mail goal of these meetings is to make your child the priority and do whatever it takes to assure that everything is being done to make his or her educational experience a pleasant one. Whether you like of dislike the child's teacher is not the issue. How your child is treated, how well they perform in a class setting and how they feel about their teacher is the main concern and objective.