A & I

Our Advisory Approach & Implementation

The Educators for Social Responsibility’s (ESR) approach to designing a quality advisory program is outlined in five steps.

1.       Study and investigation- we have done the necessary ground work for implementation and need for an advisory team (advisory program in place, past research and development, advisory action research team). We have teacher buy in, although at various degrees of commitment and understanding.

2.       Planning and design-  9 key issues described by ESR

1.       Purpose, goals, student outcomes

2.       Scheduling and frequency

3.       Sizing and grouping

4.       Advisor role and expectations

5.       Content, themes, and formats

6.       Materials and resources

7.       Professional development

                                              8.       Accountability and assessment

                                              9.       Links with other school programs

3.       Activity mapping- development of yearly planner

4.       Training for advisors- advisors need to experience conferencing, coaching, facilitating of activities and adequate advisor training along with o- going professional development.

       We will need to set social behaviors across the team to act as an anchor. Through this discipline factors can be shared and ground rules for every advisory class can be laid out. We encourage cross fertilization between advisors working together so n one teacher gets all the follow of students or another advisory feels their class is “missing out.”

5.       Follow up support to help ensure continuous improvement- we will meet in groups on designated Fridays at lunch to assess the program’s progress, conduct internal marketing, continually make improvements, plan, and support advisors with materials and learn how to conduct observe and use feedback within advisory.

The way we choose to implement Our Advisory in our middle school can also be guided by the ESR’s researched and proven practices along with other valuable resources and the unique blend we mix in from our experiences and needs at Seacrest. The following are ESR outlines two ways to secure quality in advisory programs. Both are suited for specific times and both have value.

Circle of Power and respect (CPR)

·         Greeting

·         Sharing

·         Activity

·         Daily News

Activity Plus

·         Much more flexible

·         Can be facilitated consecutively with the activity in CPR

·         Provides one-on-one opportunities (very useful come portfolio time)