Abraham Clark High SchoolDiana Lobozzo

Presented by: Diana Andreopoulos Lobozzo,Coordinator of PSLP for the Roselle School District

School Environment

• Provides a safe physical plant, as well as a healthy and supportive environment that fosters learning– Physical Climate – Emotional Climate– Social Climate

Benefits of Advisory Programs

• Students feel less anonymous, they begin to feel connected to their school and an adult mentor.

• Remember school counselors have hundreds of students to service and often don’t have the time to dedicate to one student!!(An advisor can have from 8-16 advisees to follow for three years)

• Research shows that students are less likely to drop out of school if they find an adult mentor to connect to during their high school years.

“School Systems are not responsible for meeting every

need of their students. But when the need directly affects learning,

the school must meet the challenge”.

ISSUES kids face today are…

Increase of risky behaviors…

Without proper coping skills…

Advisory Program and PSLP• The Advisory program at Abraham Clark High School

is called :• (TAP: Teacher Advisory Program)• Advisors are made up of teachers and teacher aides• The Advisory period is part of the regular calendar of

events for the school year• Advisory programs should be planned during the

summer prior to opening of school• It is also helpful to assign staff members as advisors

prior to opening of school when all personnel are secure for the upcoming year

The Role of Grade Level Advisors• Each grade level has a specific Grade Level

Coordinator • The coordinators are paid a small stipend of

$500.00• The grade level coordinators prepare all

Advisory information and documents for the teachers in advance

• Collect attendance for each of their assigned teacher advisors and handle the processing of cuts

Grade Level Coordinators & Advisors

• Advisors and all staff need training prior to the first Advisory session(especially new staff)

• Grade Level Coordinators also assist in assigning new students to advisors

• **Note that there must be someone responsible to let the grade level coordinator know if there are new students that enter school during the school year

• They also assist with data collection needed for PSLP grant and distributing of materials

PSLP Implementation and Advisory

• Each teacher/advisor was assigned aPeer Mentor to help assist with advisory implementation with students in grades 8-10

• Peer Mentors received training from Rutgers University and attended webinar training from Kuder Company

• Having peer mentors worked very well and it took the pressure of the teacher advisors

Scheduling for Advisory

• Scheduling for advisory can take place many ways such as:

• Taking 10-15 minutes from each period and having a 1 hour session at the end of the school day or at the beginning of the school day.

• You could also delete one period each month and put advisory in during that time period so that the same class is not missed each month

Scheduling for Advisory Sessions

• The most important thing to remember is to plan in advance.

• If you are planning on doing an advisory program for the first time consider having a mock advisory to be sure that all of the students and staff know where they should go in advance

• We do this every year and it helps to see the problem areas.

What could go wrong with scheduling for Advisory?

• Students go to the wrong room or don’t know where to go

• New students fall through the cracks and aren’t assigned an advisor

• Staff members are absent during advisory session• **Remember to plan for sub advisors in advance

of advisory• Advisors go to the wrong room• There are not enough chairs in a classroom to

meet the needs of your advisory group

Bright Ideas Plan in Advance to Facilitate an Easy to Manage

Advisory Session• Check the staff attendance

in early am to see who is absent

• Contact sub advisors & distribute lessons/activities

• Post signs around the school with room numbers and assignments in advance of upcoming Advisory

• Remind staff & students via the PA system for a few days before Advisory

Other Things to Consider When Planning for Advisory Sessions

• Keep your number of student assignments small for Advisory Sessions

• Not more than 15 students per Advisor• Plan for activities/ lessons that support specific

grade level• Examples of activities/curriculum:• Seniors-Resumes, College Search, Interview

Process, Scholarships, Post Secondary Schools• Juniors-SAT, HSPA Testing, Beginning the college

search

Other Things to Consider When Planning for Advisory

• Train peer mentors to assist Advisors• One peer mentor for each Advisor of

underclassman(grade 9 & 10)• Peer mentors should be juniors or seniors• Upperclassman- juniors and seniors don’t

need peer mentors• Plan for large group activities in advance

during summer months: Examples: Learn Do Earn, Making It Count, Connections 101

Training of Staff Prior to the First Advisory Session

• Always plan for a training of all new staff and a refresher for seasoned staff to review any changes or new goals for advisory

• Include the following information : Dates, times, activities/topics, specific assignments of individual staff members, focus, goals and mission

• These are all important to include in your training session

• If you are using an online program, also ask the company if they provide any training

• (we offer webinar’s to both staff and peer mentors)

Remember that collaboration is the key to success for Advisory.

Questions

Contact Information

• Diana Andreopoulos Lobozzo• Abraham Clark High School• 122 East 6th Ave• Roselle, NJ 07203• 908-298-3362• lobozzocom@aol.com• dlobozzo@roselleschools.org• www.achs.kuder.com (to see our site)