Does your middle or high school have an advisory period? This is the fourth year my school has, and like previous years, we have examined data to reevaluate its purpose and best use for students. The following is an excerpt from an important article that will get you thinking about how an advisory can be best used in your building:

Volume 23, Number 1
January/February 2007

Getting Advisory Right

Focus and commitment are keys to connecting with youth

By MITCH BOGEN

It was a particularly tough parent conference. The mother of a student who had been suspended begged Richard Esparza, then a first-year principal at Granger High School in Granger, Wash., to readmit her son so he could get his diploma. When Esparza looked up the student's record, he found that after four years of school, the student "only had six credits to his name." The mother, realizing that her son would not be eligible to graduate, burst into tears.

"That's when I said, 'OK, we better work on our communication,'" Esparza recalls. "I had this experience in my first year, and in our second year we started our advisory program."

Schools across the country are looking-or in some cases looking again-at advisory programs, in which teachers meet regularly with small groups of students to help them navigate the challenges of school life as a way to improve graduation rates, family involvement, and academic performance.

Advisory Check-in For Students

How well are advisories working for students in your school? Here are some questions to ask them.

1. Was your advisor clear about the purposes of advisory?

2. Did your advisor motivate and engage advisees?

3. Did you like the activities you did in advisory? Did you learn from them? Did you see their connection to the advisory’s purposes?

4. Did your advisor help the group resolve conflicts and stay on task?

5. Did your advisor listen to students and treat them with care, compassion, and respect?

6. Did your advisor serve as your advocate?

7. Did your advisor meet with you individually ¬during the year to address academic and social concerns as needed?

8. Did your advisor maintain contact with your parent/guardian?

9. How would you assess your own performance, attitude, and behavior in this advisory?

Adapted from D. Osofsky, G. Sinner, and D. Wolk. Changing Systems to Personalize Learning: The Power of Advisories. Providence, RI: The Education Alliance at Brown University, 2003.