In April, members of the Center for Tomorrow’s Leaders surveyed students about the effectiveness of one-to-one sessions.

They asked students in their advisory classes to initial by their names on a roster if they feel that at least three of their teachers greeted them by name, explained their grade, discussed their class and if they feel they benefitted from the conference. Out of 1,131 students surveyed, only 621 students initialed, which means 55 percent of the students think one-to-one sessions are effective.

CTL member senior Dayonara Gaoteote said, “Teachers are supposed to actually tell me what I can do better or continue to do.” However, the one-to-one session “is not carried out in the way it supposed to be,” Gaoteote said.

Senior Wei Gong said, “Teachers just sign your grades and tell you to finish the homework, nothing else.”

Senior Yuzhu Zhang said, “It is not final grade and sometimes teachers have not put the points into engrade yet.”

Gaoteote said that “as a student, it is kind of hard to initiate the conversation if I have some problems.”

The one-to-one session provides an opportunity for teachers and students to communicate with each other, but “some teachers view it as a burden” and it “still needs improvement,” Gaoteote said.

This is the first year that teachers get a script telling them what to say at the session. It includes greeting, highlighting positive points of students’ performance, giving students improvement suggestions and letting them know when the teacher will be available to answer any questions or concerns.

Gaoteote said that her teachers do not follow the whole script. She said only 20 percent of her teachers carry out one-to-one session in the way she wants.