The Mid-Year Meeting Parents Shouldn't Miss

January often feels like a quiet month. The holiday rush has passed, and school feels like it’s simply continuing as usual. When families don’t hear any urgent concerns from teachers, it’s easy to assume everything is on track.

However, January is an important (and often overlooked) time to check in on your child’s reading skills. Mid-year assessment data tells an important story about how your child is progressing through their current grade level, and a meeting with your child’s teacher could be an opportunity to make clear plans to help your child excel in the remaining months of school.

What Mid-Year Reading Assessments Reveal

In many schools, reading assessments take place at the beginning, middle, and end of the school year. Depending on the school calendar, mid-year assessments are either completed in December or January. By the end of January, teachers should have fresh, meaningful data about your child’s reading, making it the perfect time to get updated.

Mid-year data shows:

• Whether your child has made growth since the beginning of the year. For early readers, this might include measures like the number of words they can read correctly per minute, a number that should increase significantly throughout the school year.
  
  
• Whether your child is on track for grade-level expectations.  Benchmarks or percentile rankings can help you understand how your child is reading compared to their peers nationwide.
  
  
• Whether interventions are working. If your child was receiving extra support earlier in the year (either in school or outside of school), new assessment data can show if those efforts are resulting in measurable improvement.

Understanding if and how your child is progressing helps you make informed decisions while there’s still time to act.

The Case For Proactive Parents

January isn’t a typical time for parent-teacher conferences, and teachers may not reach out unless there’s a significant concern. This means you may need to take the first step. If there were any signs, no matter how small, that your child struggled in the first semester, now is the time to initiate a conversation. Waiting until spring leaves little room to adjust course before the school year ends.

This is especially true if your child is in Kindergarten through Grade 2. These foundational years are when core reading skills are built, and learning gaps rarely resolve on their own. Early intervention is not only more effective, but it’s also usually faster and less stressful for kids.

What Parents Should Be Asking (It Isn't "How Is My Child Doing?")

A well-meaning “How is my child doing?” often leads to general reassurance, but reassurance isn’t the same as evidence of progress. Instead, ask for specific data and clear comparisons.

Questions you could ask your child’s teacher include:

• Has my child made reading growth since the beginning of the year?
• Can I see mid-year assessment results alongside beginning-of-year results?
• How does my child compare to grade-level expectations or peers?
• Are there any signs they are struggling, even if they seem minor right now?

If the data feels confusing, don’t hesitate to ask the teacher to walk you through it. Understanding the data is part of their role, and clarity helps everyone stay aligned.

If you do have concerns, follow up with questions such as:

• What reading support is currently in place?
• What additional support could be added if needed?
• How will progress be monitored between now and the end of the school year?
• How can I support their reading growth at home?

Approaching these conversations as a partnership shows that you’re willing to work with them to give your child the best chance for success.

Catch Issues Now and Make a Plan

Small reading gaps tend to widen if they’re left unaddressed. But January isn’t “too late”; it’s a critical moment for course correction. With four solid months of instruction ahead, there is still time to strengthen foundational skills, build confidence, and make measurable progress before end-of-year assessments. 

A thoughtful mid-year meeting with your child’s teacher can ensure your child gets the right support while there’s still time to make meaningful progress. Having a clear plan for the next semester gives families a chance to close gaps now, before they follow your child into the next grade.