Establishing and Evaluating a Successful Advisory Program in a Middle School

Abstract

the City of Toronto opened the doors of its upper grades as a middle school, with a teacher advisory program. Fern is a K-8 school in Toronto's multilingual, multicultural west end. The new program was conceived by the principal as a way of overcoming what he perceived to be a some what apathetic and school-alienated attitude on the part of many of the grade seven and eight students. The process of implementing the advi sory program, and its results at the end of the first and the third year of its operation are well documented, and make an interesting and useful case study for educators who wonder how advisory programs can be cre ated that have positive results in schools for young adolescents. Advisory programs bring together an adult, usually a teacher, acting in an advi sory capacity, with a group of students, usu ally varying in size from 10 to 15. The students may represent a range of ages, and the advi sory group, which meets at least weekly, may change its composition annually, or may include students for the duration of their years at the school. It is common for a middle school advisory program to include students across the three years of the school program, and to keep students with the same peers and advisor over the three year period. The function of the groups is to promote students' educational, personal, and social development, and the curriculum is often described as a guidance one, emphasizing issues of personal and social importance to students, including gender issues, career concerns, and problem-solving and conflict mediation strategies, among others. At Fern, the idea for the advisory pro gram began with the principal, who had come from a K-6 school. Dissatisfied with what he heard and saw of the behaviour of