An
action research study
BY LESLIE
JIRSA
TNLI
Met Life Fellow
Table
Of Contents
I. Research Question:
Can Advisory Help?
II. Background and Rationale
III. Review of the Literature
IV. Our Study
(Data Collection and Analysis):
- Tools
- Group Profile
- Case Studies
V. Inconclusions
and More Questions
Research Question
Would small “advisory” group sessions help my most academically
“at risk” students successfully complete high school?
More specifically, would a small, intimate “advisory”
group help my students with no history of academic success graduate
from high school?
Rationale
I teach in a New York City public high school of approximately 600
students. My students range in age between17-21. We are one of 28
remaining schools actually classified as “Alternative”
left in the New York City public school system.
Of our 600 kids,
approximately 80% are recently immigrated Chinese students. These
students are enrolled in an intensive, sophisticated English as a
Second Language (ESL) program offered by our school, and the college
rate of our Chinese students is exceptionally high.
The remaining,
“other” 20% is a wandering, languishing, frustrated group
of mostly African American and Hispanic American students expelled
from other New York City public schools. These kids seek a “second
chance” to receive a regular high school diploma in a place
where they can keep trying until they turn 21. The most common reason
for the prior expulsion of these students is failure; most of these
students simply flunked out of their previous schools. These students
rarely pass all of their classes in any given semester, few of them
actually graduate from our school, and very few of them go on to college.
I teach almost
all of these “20%” students in my mainstream English literature
classes, and I know them very well. From talking to and working closely
with many of them, I have discovered that most of these students have
long histories of very poor or very inconsistent attendance, and repeated
failures of the same classes over and over again. I watch them wander
the hallways, fight sleep, cut class, and give up. At the end of each
marking period, I watch them grapple sadly for just enough points
to pass, and so often I watch them walk out our door and vanish as
though they were never here.
These students
have become very important to me over the course of my three years
at my school. They are considered “minorities” even within
our public school, and they are spoken of and to in a group. They
are often dismissed for reasons some associate with race and background,
and their talents and worries go largely unnoticed. These are, of
course, individual students with individual issues who, in the end,
do not get what they need: An adult at our school to know them, and
to use that knowledge to help them succeed.
The Study
This year, with the support of my administration, I created a small
pilot advisory program to try to reach some of the most academically
“at risk” students falling in this 20%. In exploring the
advantages of advisory programs documented by countless educational
publications, school mission statements, pedagogies, and fellow educators,
I wondered if such a program might help some of these students graduate.
I thought that perhaps regular meetings of small groups of students,
led by trained staff members might help identify and address some
of the obstacles these students face, which might lead to graduation.
What
is an Advisory?
According to an NMSA Research Summary of an article called “Advisory
Programs” released in 1996:
An advisory program is an arrangement whereby one adult and a small
group of students have an opportunity to interact on a scheduled
basis in order to provide a caring environment for academic guidance
and support, everyday administrative details, recognition, and activities
to promote citizenship (p. 1)
Another theorist,
C. Stevenson, author of “Teaching Ten to Fourteen Year Olds
(1989),” states that the purposes of advisories
…are to ensure that each student is known well at school by
at least one adult who is that youngster’s advocate (the advisor),
to guarantee that every student belongs to a peer group, to help
every student find ways to be successful, and to promote coordination
between home and school. (pg. 293)
This idea of being
“known” made me think. It is easy enough to identify our
wandering 20% non-Chinese students in the hallway, but of course it
can be difficult to know any student well. Some of our 20% are intensely
angry, and often exasperated or completely exhausted by the idea of
school, which sometimes means they are hard to know. Many of these
students are also extraordinarily talented, in areas ranging from
visual art to mathematics. This combination can be confusing to teachers,
guidance counselors, and to the students themselves, who are much
more ready and comfortable to qualify their poor performance and behavior
in terms of ineptitudes. I really liked the idea of getting to know
one small group very well in a calm, structured way.
It took us until
late March of this year to finally hire a social worker who speaks
English well and has solid experience running small groups programs
in schools. By early April, she and I designed a seven-session pilot
program schedule targeting the following topics and areas:
Session One |
Brainstorming
Goals, Needs |
Session Two |
Hopes and
Fears for the Future |
Session Three |
Time Management |
Session Four |
Organization |
Session Five |
Transcript
Review
(reading numbers and feelings found there) |
Session Six |
Conflict
Resolution |
Session Seven |
Graduation:
Anxiety and Hope |
Advisory Schedule and Topics
We then profiled, identified, and invited 10 students who all met
all of the following criterion:
Criterion
One |
Previously
failed two or more classes per semester enrolled at our school |
Criterion
Two |
Considered
“American Born” by our guidance department, or, more
accurately, are not enrolled in our ESL program |
Criterion
Three |
Appears to
have an appropriate level academic ability, but have not been
able to pass classes on any consistent basis |
Criterion for Advisees
Of the ten students we identified and invited, seven showed up on
the first day. To the next session, six showed up. From that point
on, those same six students came faithfully to all of our remaining
sessions.
The sessions were
held at lunchtime once a week, for seven weeks. They were co-led by
our new social worker and me, students came on a completely voluntary
basis. We did not give academic credit, give out free cash, perform
any acts of coercive force, nor, in a laudable exercise of willpower,
did we order pizza to entice our kids to come. It was very hard not
to make that call for delivery, knowing that if we did, all 10 kids
would show up every week, but we knew it was important not to cloud
whatever data we could gather with straight out bribery.
My colleague and
I met once a week, on the Mondays prior to our Wednesday sessions,
to discuss the week’s session in detail. There, we discussed
each student, reviewed the prior session, and adjusted our program
as necessary.
My colleague arranged
to meet with our advisees one-on-one at other times during the week.
Both the students and my colleague found this time to be invaluable.
The students reported that it was good to talk to someone they knew,
and reported that they appreciated the undivided personal attention
from someone who cared about them. My colleague reported that her
one-on-one sessions allowed her to get to know the students further
and in her own way, and therefore gain their trust. I had my own one-on-one,
more relaxed time with them often and on a regular basis, seeking
them out in the hallway, and in my classroom.
Our administration
arranged for compensation for our extra planning time. Our Assistant
Principal for Guidance checked in with us often, offered to supply
materials, and paid for the pizza party we finally threw at the end.
The sessions would not have been what they were without this critical
support.
An Inconclusive
Study
From the beginning, I knew that no matter how tailored our program,
there was just about no chance of abrupt change in the academic performance
of these students after seven advisory sessions. I knew that this
action research study would be a great deal more about the process
of inquiry than hard data. So, after our last session, I spoke at
length with the students in our advisory about our program, had them
respond to some written questions about how they feel now, and conducted
recorded interviews with each to find out why they came to our sessions,
what they found when they got there, and why they returned each week.
A Review
of the Literature
Before I even approached our administration with my idea, I visited
other high schools to see their advisory programs in action, and spoke
to several guidance counselors and social workers in the system. I
also read a great deal of research published on the effectiveness
of advisory programs.
Much of the data-based
or qualitative research done on the success of advisory programs in
the United States has been done in middle schools, where the idea
was originally implemented. In recent years, advisory programs are
more common in high schools, but the most basic core of advisory programs
seems to be agreed upon by most researchers, and seems to be relatively
consistent from program to program. So, I figured so I’d start
there; at the heart of the philosophy.
Defining the heart
and soul of advisory programs in an article published in 2004 entitled
“Advisory Program Research and Evaluation,” Reino Makkonen,
states:
At its heart,
advisory forges connections among students and the school community,
creating conditions that facilitate academic success and personal
growth.
The New Visions
for Public Schools is a group of new small high schools in New York
City that incorporate advisory as part of regular school structure.
The New Visions collective website echoes a similar idea:
Advisory offers
emotional support for students… First it supplies built-in
peer groups for all students in a high school…second, it gives
students an adult who knows them well and who can offer advocacy
and support in difficult social and academic situations. (www.newvisions.com)
As does Jim Burns,
Director of Member and Affiliate Services for the National Middle
School Association, in an article called “The Five Attributes
of Satisfying Advisories”:
Strong advisory
programs are fundamental to effective…schools. [Advisories
are] aimed at helping students develop constructive relationships
with their peers, with key adults, and with their communities...
So the hearts
of most advisory programs are very similar: To connect students to
each other, to a teacher who, over time, gets to know them well, and
to their community for the academic purpose of, ultimately, graduation.
That heart is
hard to argue with; it would be difficult for any educator to suggest
that the building of close relationships between students, teachers
and communities doesn’t lead to good things in the classroom.
But, as Makkonen points out, “Intuitively, the [advisory concept]
makes perfect sense. But that isn’t enough.”
It makes sense,
of course; small close groups of students and teachers is a pedagogically
sound and well documented advantage to student achievement. However,
alone they do not directly affect the academic success of students
across the board. Advisories exist in many schools in many different
ways. Makkonen notes the complicated task of getting data-based results
from advisories:
…After
all, how do you quantify a relationship? [Different]… advisory
programs obviously net different results. Advisory is…rarely
a school’s sole strategy for supporting students and fostering
personalization. When a school adopts advisory in conjunction with
smaller, longer classes, a focus on project-based learning and performance
assessments, and a more democratic leadership mode, it becomes tough
to measure the results of each individual effort.
Though logical,
this was frustrating to me until I realized: My school and purpose
don’t fit the profile described above at all. Our classes are
generally large, typically between 25 and 32 students in each, and
are only 45 minutes long. Almost none of our classes are “project-based,”
and ours is more or less a top-down administration. Also, I did not
necessarily need to track “personalization,” I needed
to track grades, attendance, and ultimately, graduation rates. It
occurred to me that with my very specific goals and trackable controls,
I might be able to clearly tell if our advisory group was working.
In 1994 a study
was published by Simpson and Boriack called “Chronic absenteeism:
A Simple Success Story.” For this study, Simpson and Boriack
targeted 70 “chronically delinquent” students in a Texas
middle school, and implemented an advisory program specifically built
to reduce absenteeism. They found that by meeting daily and working
closely with students in advisory, the school was able to generate
“immediate and very gratifying” results. According to
this study, the average daily attendance among the students skyrocketed
from 76 percent in the first 12 weeks to 95 percent for the next 24.
Having found this,
a study focused specifically on an issue that affects my students,
and with a clear, direct relationship between that which is being
tested and its results, I met with our administration.
Tools
For our advisory group, I used the following tools to create a group
profile as well as individual case studies of each student in our
advisory group.
- Transcripts of each advisee containing all grades from all schools attended
since first admitted to first high school
- Report
Cards of each advisee for first and second marking periods of the 2004-2005
academic year
- Advisee written
surveys about experience being “known” at our
school, self-perceptions as students, biggest hopes, biggest fears,
and general experience with advisory this year
- Recorded in-depth
interviews of each advisee about past high schools, coming to our
school, and why each chose to attend our meetings
Group
Profile
From the data gathered, we can draw the following conclusions about
the advisees as a whole:
- All advisees
have failed at least 20 classes since they began high school
- All advisees
have taken at least 50 classes since they began high school
- No advisee
has higher than a 60% cumulative GPA
- Five out of
six advisees have extraordinarily low attendance rates in at least
one class
- All advisees
raised his or her grade in at least one class since our advisory
group started meeting
- All advisees
lowered the grade of at least one class since our advisory group
started meeting
- Of the three
students who took the survey, three out of three are worried that
they will not succeed in life, either by academic or economic measures
- Of the three
students who took the survey, three out of three think of advisory
as a place to talk and think about things that are on their minds,
and three out of three find that our advisory provided this environment
- All six interviewees
previously attended very large high schools and came to our school
largely because it was so much smaller
- All six interviewees
said that the learned something useful in advisory
- All six advisees
mentioned that they were taken aback by how many Chinese students
attend our school, and mentioned that race has played a role in
their willingness and ability to become acclimated to the school
By looking at
the group as a whole, we can see that repeated failures, high and/or
selective absenteeism, and poor or failing grades plague more than
one of our students. We can also see that these students attend our
school specifically to be in a smaller environment, that many of these
students feel like minorities in our school, and that each student
asked had a positive response to advisory.
Case
Studies
The individual Case Studies break down the data for
each student, include anecdotal evidence from conversations and experiences,
and provides an individual analysis based on the data. The case studies
reveal the pronounced differences between the aptitudes, skills, strengths,
obstacles, concerns, and issues of each student. The case studies
give us language with which to speak about each individual advisee
in specific, personal terms. This language and analysis could lead
to instructional cues for teachers, which could help each student
become more successful in the classroom. Possible instructional cues
are included in each analysis, and in all cases, were tested in the
classroom with positive results.
STUDENT
ONE: A Comedian
From the specific
data about Student One, we can deduce the following things:
Transcript:
- Student One
has failed roughly half of the classes taken
- Student One
entered LESP in 2003 and still has only 25 of the 40 credits necessary
to graduate, with a barely passing GPA
- Student One
shows exceptional aptitude in early math
Report
Card:
- Student One
has nearly no absences
- The grades
of seven classes dropped since we began advisory sessions
Survey:
- Student One
appears to want a “good job” but lists no inclination
as to what kind of job he wants or what “good” means
- Student One
appears to participate in class and in class activities, but does
not pass his classes
Interview:
- Student One
felt his last high school was too big for him to function
- Student One
is a Resource Room, or Special Education Student
- Student One
enjoys hearing other people’s opinion about topics he finds
compelling
- Student One
feels “known” by the one teacher who knows, understands,
and presumably accepts the academic areas he feels insecure about
Analysis:
In class, Student
One pulls pranks. They are well calculated, carefully planned, they
often involve props. Expertly placed Whoopie Cushions. “Body
Alarms” set off, perfectly timed, and amplified to excruciating
levels. Pen stealing. Voice throwing. Imitations. He’s no amateur.
Student One rarely
completes written work of any kind. When he does, it fulfills the
very bare minimum of the assignment. However, his comments in class
are most often thoughtful and relevant. In our advisory discussions
about hopes and fears during the second session, student one expressed
real fear about not graduating. Despite his recent academic improvement,
that fear has seriously stuck with him; he stated, “I’ve
been in high school so long I can’t imagine leaving.”
In addition, Student One is incredibly self-effacing. He refers to
himself often as a “loser just trying to get by,” and
the “official bench warmer for the basketball team.” But
each time he received a pointed comment about the truth or thoughtfulness
of his contributions, Student One repeatedly rose to the occasion.
Since our advisory sessions began, Student One has spent more time
with other members of the group, completed more English homework on
several occasions, and his in-class comedy has been selective.
The transcript
data here suggests that Student One has been in high school a long
time. His RCT test data shown his “special education”
status, yet his Regents Exam in Math A shows he excels in math. His
survey clearly reveals a fear of failing to graduate, and his interview
indicates that he needs and functions best in a small, close environment
where the pressure is lifted; where he finally has the calm to listen
as well as perform.
There are clear
instructional cues here for Student One. Making sure he receives affirmation
for thoughtful comments, recognizing a possible insecurity with reading
and writing, recognizing his accomplishments in other academic areas,
and creating smaller group work in the classroom can all help this
student succeed. The real key, however, comes from knowing him. When
you do, you know that for Student One, real fear lies just below the
comedy, and that real fear could prevent him from wanting to leave
a safe environment for the unknown of the larger world.
Student One and
I had several conversations on this topic, and my colleague addressed
this issue with him as well. I asked him to think about possible internship
ideas for next year, when he will still be with us, and this got him
talking about some career ideas he has. We came up with some concrete
things to follow up with in September, and he seemed to relax. As
we talked, he joked less, and seemed to enjoy, for the moment, talking
about the future. The following day, he turned in his English homework.
STUDENT TWO: A Poet
From the specific data about Student Two, we can deduce the following
things:
TRANSCRIPT
DATA
- Student Two
has failed roughly half of the classes she has taken
- Student Two
has been at our school for more than 3 years
- Student Two
has attempted 84 classes since she began high school, and has less
than a passing cumulative GPA
REPORT
CARD DATA
- Student Two
has a significantly low attendance
- Student Two
has made improvements in four of her five classes since advisory
began
SURVEY
DATA
- Student Two
did not take the survey
INTERVIEW
DATA
- Student Two
accepted the encouragement of a peer (boyfriend) to go back to school
- Student Two
is motivated to do well in order to care for her younger brother
- Student Two
is angry
- Student Two
uses poetry to vent her anger
- Student Two
has already experienced positive effects of advisory
- The concept
of actually “Being known” might be foreign to Student
Two
Analysis:
To look at the sum total of the DOE’s data for Student Two is
to look at education’s equivalent of a rap sheet. Student Two
has taken more than 80 classes, and has passed 35. Her attendance
record is stark, and there are no comments, on any report card, in
the column provided on her report cards. As seems to be evident in
her records and files, adults have not paid much attention to Student
Two.
Student two has
just had her first poem published in our school’s literary magazine,
and she recently read it onstage in front of the school.
When Student Two
was first enrolled in our school three years ago, she very rarely
came to class. When she did, she would put the hood of her large sweatshirt
over her head, put her head down, and outright refuse to sit up, look
up, or leave the room.
Since that time,
Student Two and I have spent a lot of time together, particularly
when I noticed her reading one day underneath her hood. Student Two
has a complicated home situation, one involving abuse, police, foster
care, and ultimately, partial custody of her three year old half brother.
Student Two stated to me, “I read to escape.”
Last week, Student
Two left her home and placed herself in a shelter for young women,
and has written poetry about her experiences. She faithfully came
to each advisory session, even when she did not come to school for
the rest of the day. In one session, she asked for and took down the
phone numbers of each person in the room.
Thanks to our
advisory classes, Student Two has found four friends with whom she
now spends most of her time. As she stated in her interview, “Advisory
is important to me now, I don’t know what we did that made it
that way. It was good to talk to people and make friends. I needed
them. I needed you guys.” She reached out to all four of them,
to me, and to our social worker during what has been a very difficult
past two months for her.
Shortly after
our advisory sessions began, Student Two turned in her first completed
assignment to me. As our sessions progressed, she came for two lunchtime
revision sessions, and asked for help with the balance of her work
for my class. By the end of the year, she had completed every major
written assignment assigned to her. She stated that advisory helped
her feel like people cared about her and wanted her to succeed in
school. In this case, I believe our results are very clear.
STUDENT
THREE: An Independent Spirit
From the specific
data about Student Three, we can deduce the following things:
TRANSCRIPT
DATA
- Student three
has failed nearly half of the classes she has attempted since she
began high school
- Student three
has been absent for four regents exams or other major standardized
tests
- Student three
has a cumulative GPA of less than passing, she has been enrolled
in high school for nearly four years, and has earned slightly more
than half of the credits she needs to graduate.
REPORT
CARD DATA
- Student Three
lowered the grades of three of her classes since our advisory began
SURVEY
DATA
- Student Three
shows an intense desire to be independent, and to succeed on her
own
- Student Three
feels that advisory is a place to talk about the things that stand
in her way
INTERVIEW
DATA
- Student Three
chose our school herself
- Student Three
prefers the small group environment of a common culture
- Student Three
has a strong desire to “do her own thing,” but also
wants to be known
Analysis:
Student Three and her old school mutually decided she should go elsewhere,
at which point Student Three found our school online, got her paperwork
in order, and transferred herself. While Student Three states in her
interview that she is “comfortable” around our Asian students
because she is “part Philippino,” she also expresses a
strong desire to be among American-born students on a more regular
basis at our school. It would appear that Student Three has failed
so many of her classes due to conflicts with those teaches she claims
“don’t like” students, but in advisory she admitted
she has a “no homework” policy. “I don’t do
homework,” she said.
In fact, Student
Three does not do homework in part because she is in charge of food
shopping, cooking dinner, and taking care of her younger brother once
she gets home. Once all that is taken care of, Student Three stated
that she feels “entitled” to her “own time,”
and that “homework does not fit in there.” It also became
clear during advisory that time management is a very difficult thing.
While Student Three has made several attempts to manage her own time,
she finds that emergency situations at home can throw her schedule
off track, so that she often is at the mercy of her family. When we
calculated the amount of hours we spend doing specific things during
an average week, Student Three learned that she would need to triple
the amount of time in a week to accomplish all that she needs to do.
In advisory we spoke a great deal about things that can obstruct our
time management efforts, and how to work around them. With Student
Three, we suggested, since she didn’t need to be home until
4:30pm, she stay at school to complete her written homework, and do
her reading on the subway. Since then, Student Three has turned in
at least one homework assignment to each of her classes.
The vigor with
which Student Three claims her “independence” often does
sends a clear message for people to stay back, just as she said in
her interview: “Sometimes I feel like being known, sometimes
I don’t.” However, in her survey, Student Three wrote
that her biggest hope was “to show my mother I did better without
her, that I’m not the devil’s kid…” The more
we explored our relationships with the people in our houses in advisory,
the more we heard about the strained relationship between Student
Three and her very religious mother. Student Three stated that she
feels “watched,” not known.
There seem to
be several instructional cues here. Helping Student Three work with
a schedule that feels hectic, restrictive and non-negotiable to her
could show acceptance for her family duties and obligations while
helping her meet the requirements of graduation. Understanding that
she feels “watched” in other areas of her life can offer
direct clues as to how to communicate with her in the classroom.
In my classroom,
I left Student Three to sort of help “organize” a collaborative
assignment she was well capable of completing. I offered all of my
students the option of working alone on another. We continue to talk
about what is going on at home. Student Three submitted her final
paper for our course, even though she knew she would not pass the
class.
STUDENT FOUR: An Artist
From the specific data about Student Four, we can deduce the following
things:
TRANSCRIPT
DATA
- Student Four
has failed more than half of the classes he has attempted
- Student Four
has been absent to two Regents Exams since he began high school
- Student Four
has earned nearly 40 credits, but not enough in areas not considered
“art”
- Student Four
has a barely passing average
REPORT CARD
DATA
- Student Four
improved three grades since the beginning of advisory
- Student Four
has dropped three grades since the beginning of advisory
SURVEY
DATA
- Student Four
did not take this survey
INTERVIEW
DATA
- Student Four
came from a large high school that specialized in art
- Student Four
wants to fight the stereotypes often applied to him
- Student Four
wants to be known for more than his race and even his talents
Analysis:
As evident from the data, Student Four has a hard time passing academic
classes. Many of his credits earned, as evident on his transcript,
are art classes which he took at his previous high school, a specialized
public art school. He left that school, as he stated in his interview,
“because it was too big, and they didn’t really care about
art.”
Student Four has
been commissioned by several large New York City organizations, festivals,
and galleries to create and exhibit his art publically. While his
photography and sketching abilities are most visible in our hallways,
his mural work can be seen in various public places. His favorite
medium is charcoal.
In class, Student
Four has an intensely difficult time concentrating on any one thing
for a sustained (longer than 2-3 minutes) amount of time. He has a
difficult time maintaining a linear train of thought when speaking.
When attempting to write formally about a given topic, the concept
of a “thesis statement,” or central idea, is evasive and
foreign, and while he will often begin such work, I have never seen
any come to completion.
Student Four is
known and well-liked by American-born students as well as mainstreamed
Chinese students. He has collaborated artistically with some Chinese
students who have not yet reached mainstream classes as well. He is
generous in class, often offering assistance to English language learners,
and is not usually disruptive. He is frustrated often by the work
in class.
It seems that
the most obvious instructional cue with Student Four are his blocks
to writing, linear thinking, and sustaining focus. While non-linear
thinking likely helps him craft and create his art, it serves as an
obstacle when attempting traditional assignments.
In my classroom,
I altered the way I work with Student Four as well as many other students
who have similar experiences with writing. I developed a graphic organizer
for essays that allow for non-linear thought collecting, and presented
it to all of my classes. While Student Four did not complete enough
work to pass the class, these tactics have worked; Student Four began,
sought help for, completed, then submitted the last two short essays
of the year, a process he stated he had never seen through to the
end before.
STUDENT
FIVE: A Fighter
From the specific
data about Student Five, we can deduce the following things:
TRANSCRIPT
DATA
- Student Five
has passed just over half the classes she’s taken in high
school
- Student Five
has a below passing cumulative GPA
REPORT
CARD DATA
- Student five
has extraordinarily high absences in specific classes, and a noteworthy
number of whole day absences
- Student Five
has raised two grades since advisory started
- Student Five
has dropped two grades since advisory started
SURVEY
DATA
- Student Five’s
“biggest fear” is that her “biggest hope”
will not come true
- Student Five
feels that advisory is a place to come and to talk
INTERVIEW
DATA
- Student Five
appreciates the opportunity to vent about things she feels the need
to fight against
- Student Five
feels somehow oppressed, and wants to “tell” people
about how and why
- Student Five
wants and needs to be known and understood
Analysis:
Student Five has
been absent for six major standardized tests for which she was scheduled.
She is close to graduation, and she has aspirations to attend and
graduate college. Student Five, as evident in her interview, views
our advisory as an opportunity to “tell” about things
in her life. As she stated in our interview, she wants to “tell
about things that are not right in this school, and some things that
need to be changed.” Student Five has also stated, both in the
recorded interview as well as informally, that se does not feel known,
heard, or listened to, and while absolutely confident that she can
“take care of business” when she needs to regarding school,
is deeply concerned that she will not graduate high school, and will
not succeed in college.
Student Five’s
disposition is aggressive. Often, she would enter our advisory sessions
angrily, refuse to speak about the cause, and make disparaging remarks
to other students in the room. When revealed, the sources of Student
Five’s greatest frustrations are her relationship with her mother,
and the unfair treatment she receives from teachers.
Once the sessions
begin, Student Five initially does a lot of “telling.”
However, most often, once she has vented, she becomes a good listener
for other students, and can be very supportive and generous.
From what Student
Five has stated of her home life in our sessions, she has several
brothers and sisters, and often feels she has no privacy. She also
noted that her mother “only has time to pay attention to when
we do bad.”
Clearly there
is complex information still to be gathered about Student Five, but
just examining the bit we’ve uncovered reveals important instructional
cues. Student Five feels unheard, and unrecognized for the good work
she does.
I have modified
the way I speak to Student Five in class. I am mindful of offering
positive affirmations for jobs well done, and have made certain that
both positive feedback and constructive criticism on her work is thoughtful,
personalized, and honest. I have also found that Student Five responds
very well to group work during which she can be both supported and
supportive. Because of her conflicts with other teachers on our staff,
I have brought her name to an “open forum” faculty session,
where we discussed some of our advisory findings. This semester, Student
Five not only passed every class on her program, but she earned an
87% in my class.
STUDENT SIX: A Friend
From the specific data about Student Six, we can deduce the following
things:
TRANSCRIPT
DATA
- Student Six
has failed more classes than she has passed in her high school career
- Student Six
shows exceptionally high aptitudes in English and Spanish standardized
tests
- Student Six
has been absent for 5 Regents Exams or other standardized tests
REPORT
CARD DATA
- Student Six
has exceptionally low daily attendance, and even lower attendance
in math and physical education
- Student Six
has improved the grades in three classes since advisory started
- Student Six
has dropped the grades in two classes since advisory started
SURVEY
DATA
- Student Six
did not take the survey
INTERVIEW
DATA
- Student Six
feels lonely
- Student Six
feels as though no one cares whether or not she succeeds
- Student Six
came to advisory in order to build relationships
- Student Six
could possibly feel depressed, alone
Student Six has
an average of 19 absences per semester. This semester, for her classes
held before lunch, she has 26 absences. In our interview, I asked
her why she is absent more in the mornings. She answered, “Because
I don’t feel like getting up.”
According to our
interview, Student Six is lonely, and she has been for what feels
to her like a long time. As she states, she attended our advisory
to make personal connections at our school. Student Six noted that
during her first years of high school her parents separated, and she
was left to manage herself while her mother worked to support their
family. While Student Six felt connected to her mother, she did not
feel she saw her often. She also stated that during her second year
of high school, her friends began to drift, taking different classes,
and spending less time with her. After awhile, she said, she just
stopped going.
The theme of lonliness
is so prevalent in the data gathered from Student Six during our advisory
sessions, that it seems the first issue to address when developing
instructional cues. Possible depression, abandonment, and feeling
uncared for all have been road blocks to Student Six’s education,
insofar as they have kept her from coming to school. While Student
Six likely suffers from many complicated layers of emotional distress
causing unfavorable consequences to many areas of her education, it
seems that lonliness causes her to stay at home. In order for us to
develop her academic success, she has to be in the building. The instructional
cues we took from our work with Student Six concerned how to make
her feel cared for, listened to, and known.
Hard-earned trust
does not magically appear after seven sessions. During our sessions,
Student Six was often quiet, but listened intently, and would contribute
earnestly when asked a direct question. In my classroom, I made it
a point to ask Student Six about her responses to various characters
during class discussions, and her comments often sparked whole-group
conversations. As we had more of these conversations, her attendance
to my class, held at the end of the day, improved. I made it a point
to tell Student Six how glad I was she showed up, every time I saw
her. After our interview was over, Student Six and I talked a long
time about next year, about her goals, her fears, and the friends
she’s made at our school. She said she hoped our advisory sessions
would continue, and that the same people would be in them.
Inconclusions
Our advisory group is brand new. Because it is so new, we can not
yet determine if our program will lead our “at-risk” students
to graduation, nor am I prepared to make specific policy recommendations.
However, there is a great deal of evidence and data here to support
the continuation of the program. In only seven weeks, our program
has been directly responsible for not only raising the grades, but
providing critical emotional support of at least one student, a student
who has long been considered one of our most “at risk”
students. Six out of six students stated that they will keep coming
to our sessions next year, on a voluntary basis. Six out of six students
stated that they came to our school for a small setting, and that
our advisory provided that environment. Six out of six students stated
that they were sad our meetings were ending for the year. Two out
of two facilitators feel extraordinarily proud and happy with the
work they did. So happy, that at the eighth meeting—a going
away party—we served pizza.
Some
Big Questions
There are so many remaining questions for us to ponder for the future,
if in fact our program has one:
- How long should
students remain with the same advisor?
- How do we
comprehensively select which students should participate in a larger
advisory program?
- What if other
teachers are not interested in participating in the program?
- Would advisory
be more effective as a part of a student’s regular schedule
rather than at lunchtime?
- Would advisory
be more effective with more students?
- Should advisories
at our school involve all students in heterogeneously mixed groups
of Chinese and “American Born” students?
- If so, how
should we deal with the language barriers?
A Very
Big Question
There is some question as to whether or not we will be allowed to
continue our program next year. Because our school’s budget
has been so uncertain, and our guidance department does not regularly
factor social work into that budget, my colleague was forced to leave
our school for more reliable work. I will continue to work with small
groups, even voluntarily next year, and hope that our guidance department
sees our results as solid reason to hire another social worker and
continue it. It is my optimistic belief that after reviewing this
collection of data, another social worker will take my colleague’s
place. When that happens, we will dust off our hopes and dreams charts
and begin again. |