Building Strong Advisories

Building on my last post, my Middle Level Organization class has now begun to study the benefits of advisory programs in middle schools.

My professor asked us the following question:

Based on the research and readings, what makes a strong advisory program?  What would this look like in practice.  

I think the most important part of an advisory program is that it is built in such a way that creates a caring and inclusive community, where all feel welcome. Advisories should be a place where each and every individual feels welcomed and connected to one another through both similarities and differences. This is includes the teachers, students, parents, and in some cases, even the outside members of the community. In order for an advisory to be successful, all parties involved need to be able to have an open and easy network of communication with one another. When parents have a question about their child, they need to have the ability call the child's advisor. The reverse is true as well. If the teacher has a question about something that may be going on at home, or if they want to report a students struggles or successes, they must have the ability to contact the students parents. Students need to have trust in their advisors and parents and ask either questions for help whenever may be necessary. It is essential that each party trusts one another when creating a successful advisory. The end goal of an advisory should be to create an environment that helps each student as much as possible whether that be academically, socially, emotionally, etc.