I have a lot on my mind, as I have been doing research for some new projects. So this post will not be a follow up to the last one, but I promise the December 15th post will be! Retakes vs. Reassessments is queued up and ready to go! Meanwhile, I want to share some of the ideas and questions that are kicking around my brain.

Recently, I went to Chicago with a group of my colleagues to visit two schools suburban high schools. We went there to learn about their advisory periods, to see if it is something that we can (or want to) implement in our district. Of course, they each have other interesting and progressive programs as well: teacher-as-leader, division teams, evidence-based reporting, and wholly restructured student support. Two weeks later, I’m still reeling from an overwhelming sense of excitement as well as dread.

Why excitement? To see the possibility of something beautiful, the energizing talks with likeminded people, the knowledge that this is the RIGHT thing to do, the vision of supporting ALL students to be successful, to know that it can be done – maybe not perfectly, but better! Despite the flaws, incompletion, and wrong turns, these schools are trying to work within the traditional framework, pushing the boundaries where they can. They seem to be doing it for the right reasons.

Why dread? To want to make a difference so badly, yet knowing there will be fierce resistance to change. Confronting those with a death’s grip on maintaining the status quo regardless of whether or not it is working because “that’s the way we have always done it!” Realizing that the time needed to implement real and lasting change may outlast my career. It will be an uphill battle, knowing the nature of our institutions, how they are funded and the restrictions of lumbering governmental oversight.

That said, let me share a bit about Advisory periods. An advisory is a regularly scheduled period of time, typically during the school day, when teachers meet with small groups of students for the purpose of advising them on academic, social, or future-planning issues.(1) One school may do so for all students at the beginning of the day, with heterogeneous groups that stay with the same teacher all 4 years, while another may do so with just freshman led by upperclassmen. Some have a set curriculum while others have a more loosely organized time. Some use the teacher-advisor as a central hub of information about that student, for parents, teachers, counselors, etc, while others use the teacher as a more generic supervisor or coach.

“The broad purpose of an “advisory period” or “advisory program” is to ensure that at least one adult in the school is getting to know each student well, making sure their learning needs are being met, and encouraging them to make good academic choices and plan for their future. Advisories are designed to foster stronger adult-student relationships and a stronger sense of belonging and community among students.”(1)

If we want to start advisory periods, we could just tack it on to our existing system: carve out 25 minutes from our academic schedule would mean losing about 6 minutes per class. This seems like a terrible idea to me, destined to fail. The best programs are well-thought out, planned for the long-term, involving input from all stake-holders, and piloted before fully rolling it out. So what are the consequences and potential impacts? What would be the overarching purpose? If the goal is to have every student find success in school, to provide ALL students with the appropriate support to meet their needs and goals, then what is the implication for our existing programs? In my opinion, an advisory period would be excellent, as it would help the student create that personal link, the teacher-advisor can be that person who knows the student so well that he/she can call upon resources needed for that student in their particular situation. But how does that change the nature of the guidance department? And the role of the administration? And does it change graduation requirements, assessment policies, testing strategies?  It could. Maybe if we changed our approach to assessment and grading, we wouldn’t need this? When would we do it: can’t get kids to school any earlier, athletics wouldn’t allow us to add time to the end of the day, and taking away time from lunch would be a terrible idea for several reasons. Losing time from academics would be giving up a hard won battle that we just won a few years ago! However, I can see that pulling one thread could cause the entire structure of my school to unravel, as there is almost no justification for the way things are except for “we’ve always done it this way” or “it’s too expensive to change”. So many questions.

Adding fuel to this fire, I have also just finished reading two books… one called “Troublemakers” by Carla Shalaby and the other “The End of Averages” by Todd Rose. Very different books, neither brand new, but both intriguing in what they say about the nature of individuality. Schools are made for the “average” student, but almost no one fits the average. If few of us are “average,” then schools don’t fit anyone well. Students either conform to the structure and lose their initiative, creativity, and uniqueness, or they resist conformity and are deemed incapable, ill-natured, or broken in some irredeemable way.

In this age of technology, can we not find a better way to educate our kids? Do we even know that what we do is helping at all to prepare them for life? Right now, kids are told that they have to do X in 4th grade to get ready for 5th grade, and Y in 8th grade to be ready for 9th grade, and Z in 11th grade to be ready for college applications… But do they acquire the real and necessary skills that fit their goals, their needs, and their interests? To be independent thinkers and problem solvers? We cannot come up with a coherent set of manageable and useful educational objectives for K-12 within a state, forget about for the nation. I know that children at ages 10, 13, and 16 seem ill-equipped to make decisions about what to study and learn. But is there a way to coach them to explore? Maybe they wouldn’t be so ill-equipped if we listened and observed more closely, provided a wider variety of opportunities in a diverse array of contexts so they could see what fits them best right now. As they grow and learn, they can take the next logical step for themselves, with guidance. Because what we are currently doing doesn’t seem to be creating a future of opportunity for all, just one of stress, anxiety, and inequity for most.

It wouldn’t be easy to chart that path. But what teachers do now isn’t easy either! It is familiar and therefore comfortable, even while most teachers are frustrated with student performance, classroom environment, public sentiment, and political obstacles. An opinion piece in the New York Times described how more than half of the teachers are looking for a way out of the profession.

“The nation’s politicians, who’ve neglected and underfunded education for years, and scored cheap political points vilifying teachers, have condemned a generation of young Americans to disrupted learning and empty classrooms, and left them with the feeling that nobody really cares.”(2)

Will an advisory period help with this? Does it require more significant and radical change to combat these forces? Are we spitting into the wind?

When Dave and I started this journey towards Going Gradeless, it was daunting. I have worked with many teachers since then, and I can see the struggle to shift our mindset in just one area, even when that area is our own domain where we are more or less in control. In The Age of Average, Todd Rose focuses on higher ed, saying that to transform the averagarian architecture of our existing system into a system that values the individual student, we can adopt these three key concepts: grant credentials not diplomas, replace grades with competencies, and let students determine their educational pathway.(3) At the high school level, this would blow up the system and reconstruct it anew. What would that look like? What could it look like?

I don’t have any answers. Not yet, anyway. But I intend to look for them, interrogating my own approaches as well as reading books on the topic and talking to others. Do you have any ideas, suggestions, or thoughts about this? 

(1) “Advisory Definition”. The Glossary Of Education Reform, 2013, https://www.edglossary.org/advisory/#:~:text=An%20advisory%20is%20a%20regularly,%2C%20or%20future%2Dplanning%20issues. Accessed 25 Nov 2022.

(2)Walton, A. and Pollock, N. (2022) Empty classrooms, abandoned kids: Inside America’s great teacher resignation, The New York Times. The New York Times. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/18/opinion/teachers-quitting-education-crisis.html?searchResultPosition=1 (Accessed: November 26, 2022).

(3) Rose, T. (2015). The end of average: How we succeed in a world that values sameness. HarperOne/HarperCollins.