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I am a secondary director for my content area, and am the
primary evaluator for all of the teachers in my department.
I have one teacher in my department who is essentially
trying to force students out of his AP class because he
feels his numbers are too high. All of these students were
recommended for that level, and many of them aren't doing
particularly well right now.

I voiced this concern to him a couple of weeks ago, when I
told him that he needed to provide more support to his
students. I sent him some materials to use, gave some
suggestions as to how to approach planning, etc., and he
has hardly taken any of the advice so far. I am obviously
following-up by observing and documenting evidence, but
that hasn't made a huge effect so far.

As it stands right now, I have had parents calling and
complaining about this teacher, and students coming to
speak to me about dropping the class. Our policy is that
you can't drop a class without a parent conference, so that
has been what I have been scheduling.

How do I handle the conference when the parents come in? I
clearly disagree with the teacher's approach (this is my
first year in the position), but I obviously don't think it
would be appropriate for me to say that in front of
students or parents. Up to this point, I have asked
students about their own study habits or how they are
advocating for themselves in class, but I don't know if I
am even handling that the right way. If students drop down
to a lower level, they will not be in an AP-track for other
courses, and I have been discouraging them from dropping.

How do you handle parent meetings/complaints when you know
they are justified?

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