In our district we have two scheduled parent/teacher conferences per school year. It's a time to learn where your child sits academically and how the teacher will be tailoring the subjects to their needs. Every parent is expected to sign up at a time convenient to them - unfortunately, many stand up the teacher.
BTW, the subject of teachers holding masters degrees came up in the last couple days in this thread. I just found out today - quite by happenstance - that my neighborhood elementary school has an instructional staff with 12.6 years average experience, 35% hold master's degree or higher and 96.2% meet the Federal "Highly Qualified Teacher" guideline.
We are not a middle or upper income neighborhood - quite the contrary as more then 62% of our 390-ish students are federally defined as economically disadvantaged.
Overall, I think teachers are trying damn hard to do their best with the constraints they are under as well as the lack of support from many parents and some very vocal political activists. Instead of criticizing, get involved!