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 100s
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), Rachels 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
schools 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.
Grad
es
5th

6th

7th

8th

Mond
ay

Tuesda
y

Wednesda Thursd
y
ay

Friday

Activity 4: Building the Daily

Schedule
Advisory
Add the total #Sample
of minutes
you have Types
for each day and build your
schedule
based
yourand
goalsCurriculumfor each school day.
(Dont
forget class
Check
Perio
Regular
Perioon the
change time)
Connect
based
d
School Day
d
Advisory
(LINKS)
1st

7:45 8:32
(47 min)

7:45 8:26
(42 min)

2nd
AA

1st
2nd

10 minutes

50 minutes

3rd

May be a
little shorter
this day

LUNC
H

3rd
LUNC
H
4th

4th

5th

5th

6th

6th

7th

7th

7:45 8:35
(50 min)

Activity 4:

Activity 4:

Activity 4: