Guest Blogger:  Denise Wolk

As I mentioned in the last blog entry, advisory is a key structure for personalizing learning for every student, but many schools experience challenges that make advisory time seem like an unfulfilled promise. ESR works with schools nationwide and we’ve observed a pattern of problems in efforts to develop successful advisories. Here I offer another one of the pitfalls and strategies for climbing out of the pit for developing and sustaining successful advisories.

Pitfall: Advisor expectations are vague and there is no clear plan for professional development, coordination, supervision, and assessment.

“We’re going to start holding advisory groups in September. No, we don’t have any professional development scheduled. We just need a few activity ideas. Maybe we’ll insert an hour or two of training along the way in faculty meetings.”

“We’ve had advisory groups for a year now. Some groups are terrific; a real home base for kids. In other groups, the advisor checks email and the students treat it like study hall or nap time.”

Strategies: Too many leaders underestimate what it takes to develop and support effective advisors. Developing comfort, confidence, competency, and consistency requires professional development and much more. Create expectations, which promote advisor accountability. Provide workshops, study groups, mentors, incentives, and pressures to live up to the expectations. Designate a teacher or counselor whose job description will include time and responsibility for coordinating and coaching. Department heads or team leaders who place advisory on meeting agendas or who do observations of advisory give it weight. Of course, the principal sets the overall tone for taking advisory seriously.

Though these pitfalls and more surface repeatedly as we work with schools to establish and strengthen advisories, we witness lots of successes too! Advisories that remain strong over time put relationships first. These advisory groups develop culture-building rituals, encourage student voice, and respond to the needs and interests of advisees. For help with these and other advisory conundrums, attend my session for schools who are struggling with advisory implementation challenges at the NASSP Convention: The Advisory Clinic: Improving and Sustaining Effective Advisory Programs on Friday, February 27 from 11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

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Guest Blogger:  John Draper, Ed.D., Educational Research Service 

As the US economic roller coaster experiences a series of drops and turns every school and district is going to grapple with the budget and funding.  I know that some boards of education look hard at the salaries paid to school administrators and the number of support staff employed.  There is a general misconception held by some that we have too many school administrators, central office employees and support staff.  Further, some mistakenly consider them to be overpaid.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  The Educational Research Service has worked to get the facts—and the facts say that we are not overstaffed, we are not overpaid and we are not taking money away from instruction.  In fact, school leadership is second only to teacher quality in its impact on student achievement.  For me, the most powerful fact uncovered by ERS is that effective school leadership matters most in the schools that are doing the worst!  That means that, given the choice between putting an additional teacher in a school or an assistant principal, the assistant principal would probably be the choice that most impacted student achievement, especially in a poorly performing school!

Session participants will get an executive summary of the research refuting these common misconceptions:

1.  Administration is an unnecessary burden on schools and should be curtailed.
2.  There are too many administrators.
3.  The number of school administrators is growing rapidly and at the expense of instruction.
4.  School administrators are paid too much.
5.  Increasing amounts of school budgets are going to administration.
6.  A lot of money is going to administration that could be better spent for other purposes.

As a principal, I would have used this information to justify my need for an additional assistant, an extra counselor and other support staff.  It wouldn’t have hurt in my salary discussions either!

The session “Answering the Critics of School Administration: What Are the Facts” will be held on Friday, February 27 from 2:30–4:00 p.m.

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So that you can hit the ground running in San Diego we’ve made planning ahead a snap!  Our easy-to-use Itinerary Planner enables you to search for sessions by strand, speaker, or session title. You can access full session descriptions, select those sessions you want to attend, and then add them to your own personal planner.  Don’t forget to earmark time to visit the Exhibit Hall or meet with colleagues—this online tool will allow you to do just that.

It’s easy. Simply visit the NASSP Convention Web site, log in to the Itinerary Planner, create your username and password in the "new users" area, and then create and save your personalized schedule. You can always come back later, make changes and print a copy before leaving for San Diego.

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Guest Blogger:  Larry Rehage

In summarizing the significance of the pivotal 12th grade year, the late James Valhouli, a Phillips Exeter English teacher, eloquently captures the complex interplay of perspectives at work on 12th graders.

It is here that one begins to look forward and backward with equal intensity and with equal awe at what has been and what might be. Ambivalence and irony and ambiguity are not reserved solely for seniors, but it is usually during this period that one begins to see life as a . . . complex and puzzling continuum that almost seems beyond comprehension. Here is when decisions become unavoidable and the consequences of our choices are painfully inescapable.  But it is also here that we sense that we too may go forward in time and put our imprint on the world.  It is here that our consciousness begins to nudge forward or blossom and sometimes even explode into recognition, action, or some type of resolution that might influence the rest of our lives.  This is where we begin our lifelong journey into the unknown areas into the self and the world at large.  I think this is when we begin to think about and even decide that we might make a difference in life.  It is here that we normally begin asking those vital, imperative questions that we will return to the rest of our lives. It is also here that we begin to learn those habits of the mind and the heart that might help us to become the individuals that we want to become in the life we create for ourselves. The turmoil of the year might provide the very energy that we can direct into some powerful learning. [“The Senior Year in the High School Curriculum,” Valhouli, ERIC NO. 404764]

Despite the significant potential that Valhouli points to in the senior year, many high school educators across the country see a wasteland plagued by that pervasive disengagement so often referred to as “senioritis.” For many 12th graders, the failure to be engaged in a rigorous and relevant final year of high school comes at a high cost. The statistics regarding many high school graduates’ inability to meet the demands of both the college and the workplace are alarming. Nearly a third of incoming college freshman require remedial coursework in English and math, and many of those entering the workforce do not possess the requisite skills for employment. Beyond the academic consequences, there is mounting evidence that the country’s high school grads are also struggling to negotiate the social and emotional challenges that inevitably come as these emerging adults seek to establish their independence and a meaningful connection to the world beyond high school.

Our session on “Recasting the Senior Year” offers not only an in-depth exploration of the crisis of the senior year but also an examination of model programs and approaches to the 12th grade that can create the capstone educational experience that seniors need in preparation for the real world. If your school is interested in beginning to transform the senior year, join us for a dynamic discussion and presentation as we consider who these seniors are and what they need. If your school has already implemented some effective senior initiatives, we invite you to share them with us. In the words of James Valhouli, join with colleagues as we endeavor to harness that senior energy, or perhaps “senergy,” that “we can direct into some powerful learning.” 

The session “Recasting the Senior Year: Model Programs for Keeping Seniors Engaged” will be held on Friday, February 27 from 11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

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