Establishing Your Advisory
Purpose
Barbara Ashcraft
WVDE School Counseling Coordinator
Office of School Improvement
Critical QUESTIONS when you have an
established program…
• Is your current structure working?
• What is/are the primary purpose(s) of
advisory?
• Have you established expected student
outcomes?
• Have you established expected staff
outcomes?
• Have you defined staff roles and
responsibilities?
Advisory Types: COMMUNITY
Community-oriented AA programs recognize that students may feel a sense
of alienation and is designed to keep students from falling through the
cracks.
Young adolescents, especially sixth graders, are leaving the security of the
self-contained elementary school classroom, where they came to know
both the teacher and their peers well, and coming into a situation where
they are one of 100’s of students.
The high school AA builds a new small community for students.
To combat the social anonymity that students feel, the faculty and staff
strive to build relationships among a small peer group.
The role of the advisor in this program is to foster a sense of belonging and
community, a sense that "we are family."
Activities focus on building a group identity and might include creating an
AA name and song, creating a theme and displaying it on a bulletin
board, choosing AA colors and using them on a T-shirt to be worn on
spirit days, completing a community service project, or friendly
competition via an intramural program to build a sense of team identity
(George & Alexander, 1993; Kunkleman, 1994; Shaw & Koppleman, 1994).
Advisory Types: INVIGORATION
The invigoration type of AA provides a setting
for informal interactions between staff and
students.
Just as we recognize the value of recess in an
elementary school setting, many schools
feel the need for a time-out from the
academic program in the middle schools.
These programs provide an opportunity for
students (and advisors) to have fun, to
recharge their batteries, and to recover
from mental fatigue prior to resuming
instruction.
The advisor's role is to maintain a balance
between pandemonium and constructive
activity.
Advisory Types: INVIGORATION
The personal attributes and skills of advisors
are important factors in this regard
(Bushnell & George, 1993).
Logistically, the invigoration program may
accommodate large groups, but there is a
potential liability that comes with the great
flexibility of this program.
Schools should take into account the
possibility that parents will disparagingly
consider it "free time."
The ability of staff to interact at this level of
informality is also a relevant consideration.
Advisory Types: School Adjustment
• School Adjustment Advisory. This
model provides a systematic
examination of the school-related
issues that adolescents face. Moving
between schools or grades, improving
school performance and achievement,
making use of school resources,
planning for high school, learning peer
mediation skills, or other such matters
become the topics of discussion and
activity in the advisory sessions.
Advisory Types: ADVOCACY
In advocacy programs the relationship
between the teacher and the individual
student is paramount.
Although group activities may be used,
individual conferences and informal
meetings are stressed as ways to develop a
relationship in which the student feels
comfortable in talking with the advisor
about whatever issue may be of concern
to him or her.
An important part of the role of the advisor
is to get to know the student personally
and serve as his or her advocate with
teachers and parents.
Advisory Types: THEMES
School Wide Themes might change
each month or quarter, assuming a
focus of particular importance at that
time (bullying prevention, test
readiness, school success skills, Red
Ribbon Week, etc.)
Theme groups might also be arranged
by cross-grade level groups organized
by student groups with the same
interests: Recycling, Auto Mechanics,
Drama, golf, literature,
Advisory Types: THEMES
Students meet in team-based groups and
Schools Wide Themes, Study and Test
Skills and Opportunity Day.
Themes might carry over into Service and
Interest Club membership that is open
to everyone and children from all grade
levels join them. Typically, older
students mentor younger students in
the activities of these clubs.
Advisory Types: Test Prep
Study and Test Skill preparation is in
response to NCLB requirements and the
focus is on strong standardized test
performance.
By linking a portion of the advisory
program clearly to the academic mission
of the school, the community's concerns
about the time invested in advisory
activities are abated…
but this in isolation does not fulfill the
original intent of AA of supporting the
whole child.
Advisory Types: SERVICE
Service Based Advisory. In this approach,
the advisory group is formed as a
service organization for the school or
the community. Some of these are
actually sponsored by outside groups,
such as the Boy and Girl Scouts, 4-H, or
junior Rotary.
Advisory Types: WORK BASED LEARNING
Workplace Based Advisory. This program is organized around the
development of workplace skills such as planning, collaboration,
and providing a useful and important service or product.
A good model for this type of advisory is found in Learning a Living: A
Blue Print for High Performance, from the Secretary of Labor's
Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills, 1992.)
Examples include:
• the "tech squad" for the school, taking care of all the technology
and managing computer training for students and teachers
• the "teacher aides," students who work with teachers to prepare
class materials, conduct background research, or perform other
errands and services.
• Natural Helpers, Conflict Mediators, Tutors, Student mentoring
(LINK CREW), Rachel’s Challenge, Aids to special needs children.
Among the most important aspects of both this format and the
service format is the creation of a meaningful and important
sense of "purpose" for students.
Advisory Types: POSTSECONDARY/
WORKFORCE READINESS
This type of advisory focuses on building
postsecondary and workforce readiness
skills and academic and career planning.
May have a heavy focus on 21st Century
Skills: Teamwork, critical thinking,
technology, car
At the secondary level may assist students
with scholarship, financial aid, college
and work applications and be very
heavily focused on career planning.
Advisory Types: INTEREST CENTERED
Interest Centered Advisory. This format
allows students and teachers to form
groups based on mutual interests, such
as a craft, hobby sport or academic field.
The students and teachers interact
informally, but it is around something
they are both interested in. In this
model, groups of students may form
their own interest group and seek an
advisor for it from the faculty or school
staff.
Advisory Types: INTEREST CENTERED
Advisory programs based on this model have
a number of distinct advantages:
– They rely very much on voluntary groupings or
groupings around a specific issue or purpose.
– They allow for teachers who are comfortable
with the role to assume leadership. More
reluctant teachers can serve as co-advisors or
assistants in larger groups.
– They capitalize on the natural conversations
which arise between and among people doing
something in which they share an interest.
Advisory Types: SKILLS (Curriculum Based)
Usually this curriculum-based AA focuses on eight
major topics:
–
–
–
–
–
understanding the school environment
understanding self and others
understanding attitudes and behaviors
decision making and problem solving
interpersonal skills and communication skills, school
success skills
– career awareness and educational planning,
– community pride and involvement
The guidance lessons are structured and complete with
student objectives and outcomes.
This type of AA program requires the most staff
development.
(Myrick & Myrick,1990, p. 17and Myrick, 1993)
Advisory Types: SKILLS (Curriculum Based)
The skills type AA is utilized as a vehicle for delivering a
developmental guidance program for all students related to
academic, career, and personal/social development.
The developmental guidance approach recognizes that
although individuals are unique, they progress through
some common growth stages have related grade-level
needs.
The advisor "promotes and monitors individual students'
educational and developmental experiences as they
progress through that school”
Although teachers and other staff are not assuming the role of
counselor, they are being asked to demonstrate skills they
may not have been trained to deliver.
(Myrick & Myrick,1990, p. 17and Myrick, 1993)
Advisory Types: INTEGRATED APPROACH
An Integrated Approach makes it possible
to construct a comprehensive advisory
program which allows students and
adults to interact with one another,
both formally and informally and
comfortably, around purposeful
activities designed to meet each
school’s individual needs.
This might be the best approach for
advisories that meet multiple days.
Sample Integrated Approach
Activity 1 – Assessing your current
Purpose???
Discuss your current purpose for your
established advisory program.
1. What is the primary purpose?
2. What are expected student outcomes?
3. What are expected staff outcomes?
4. Are expectations being met?
Activity 2 – Establishing New Program
Goals
Based on your discussions, what are some
new program goals or what are some
goals that are not being addressed?
1. What will your new purpose(s) be?
a. What are expected student outcomes?
b. What are expected staff outcomes?
Activity 3: Build Your Schedule
Determine the number of days per week and advisory purpose for
each day.
Grades
5th
6th
7th
8th
Monday Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Activity 4: Building the Daily Schedule
Sample Advisory Types
Add the total # of minutes you have for each day and build your schedule
based on the your goals for each school day. (Don’t forget class change time)
Period
1st
Check and
Connect
7:45 – 8:32
(47 min)
Curriculum-based
Advisory
(LINKS)
Period
Regular School
Day
7:45 – 8:26 (42
min)
1st
7:45 – 8:35
(50 min)
2nd
AA
2nd
10 minutes
50 minutes
3rd
May be a little
shorter this day
LUNCH
3rd
LUNCH
4th
4th
5th
5th
6th
6th
7th
7th
Activity 4:
Activity 4:
Activity 4: