Build a Better Advisory Program Through Backward Design

Research clearly supports the premises behind why schools have advisory programs: When students feel known by and connected to adults in school, their academic and personal achievement increases—and teacher job satisfaction grows. Yet many schools’ advisories lack the intentionality and vision necessary to ensure their long-term effectiveness.

This workshop posits that a strong advisory program needs to be conceived and built as…a program (just like any academic or athletic program).

In this day-long session, you’ll use a backward design process to re-envision your existing advisory program or build a new one from scratch. While the tools and strategies will be applied specifically to advisory, they are general enough to be used in any context—from class lesson planning to curricular program development.

In this workshop, participants will:

• Utilize backward designing tools and strategies to envision and outline their Advisory programs (e.g., identifying goals and enduring understandings)
• Build advisory theories of action to assess their program’s effectiveness and for future planning
• Share the successes and tribulations of their existing advisory programs, or their visions for new ones, with other supportive participants
• Briefly survey the research pertinent to strong advisory programs

 This workshop is ideal for:

• Administrators responsible for advisory and other program development, Dean of Students, Dean of Curriculum/Studies
• Teachers who are advisors and are, or will be, involved in their school’s advisory program development.