This year, Oakton High School made a drastic change to their regular Back-to-School Night routine. In previous years, Oakton would host two separate nights, one for the 9th and 10th grade parents, and one for the 11th and 12th grade parents. Parents would attend their child’s classes for fifteen minutes each. They would follow their child’s schedule such that they were following a regular school day, where the bell would ring every fifteen minutes to notify parents to go to their child’s next class. Teachers would have a presentation ready to introduce the class and themselves to parents. This gave parents an opportunity to understand what classes their child was taking, who their teachers were, and what this year would look like for their child.

After analyzing and receiving feedback that this version of Back-to-School Night was ineffective, the Oakton administration introduced a new version of it this year. All grades had Back-to-School Night on the same day, and parents could come to the school in the evening at their convenience. Parents did not have to follow their child’s schedule and could go to their child’s classes in random order. They had the opportunity to speak with the teacher personally rather than listening to a fifteen minute presentation. While this may seem like an easier way for parents to get to know their child’s teachers better, many Oakton students found that their parents did not like this new version as much.

Amy Dai (12) says that her parents did not attend Back-to-School Night this year as they felt this version wouldn’t be as informational as previous years. They preferred the structure of viewing a presentation from teachers as that provided them sufficient information about the class. They also felt that it’d be easier for teachers to initiate communication with parents because they didn’t know what to ask the teachers about the classes. 

Teachers also found that they had to repeat themselves about the same topic many times. This is because parents entered classrooms at different times, and thus were not able to get the full information about what the teachers were already talking about. Thus, teachers would have to restart their presentation for parents that would walk in a bit later.

Though there were mixed reviews on Oakton’s new Back-to-School Night, parents still enjoyed the opportunity of getting to personally meet their child’s teachers.