Are+Advisory+Programs+essential+in+the+school+systems+or+are+they+simply+just+a+waste+of+time?

Bibliography Johnston, Howard. (1997). From Advisory Programs to Restructured Adult-Student Relationships: Restoring Purpose to the Guidance Function of the Middle Level School. NASSP. In a recent survey of middle school teachers, parents and students in five large northeastern and Midwestern states, the advisory program of the middle school came under the most intense criticism. Although 75% of teachers and 68% of parents found that advisory programs were promising ways of helping students develop strong self-concepts and decision-making skills, only 32% of teachers and 40% of parents thought the program was fulfilling those goals. Further, while nearly 90% of parents and teachers agreed that it is important for a student to have one adult to whom he or she can turn with a problem, only about half of the parents and two-thirds of the teachers believe that this condition exists for all children in the school. Most alarming is that students feel that they know so little about their teachers -- or are so uncertain of their relationships with the adults with whom they spend much of their time. It is difficult, probably impossible, to form a guidance-oriented relationship with someone you know so little about. Advisory programs although can be very helpful they also are found to have many flaws. It’s hard to believe that every teacher has the conformability to openly talk to his or her students or even trained to do so. They are taking on another job of not just teaching but also guiding. Which may cause unsuccessful advisory classes. Brand, S., Favazza, A.. , Felner, R. D., Gu, K. , Noonan, N. , Shim, M. (2001). Whole School Improvement and Restructuring as Prevention and Promotion: Lessons from STEP and the Project on High Performance Learning Communities. Science Direct. 105-215.  Bafile, Cara. (2009). Morning Meetings n Middle School: An Elementary Ritual Grows up. EducationWorld. Retrieved November 30, 2009, []. Sharon Greaves both a seventh and eighth grade teacher believes "The time spent is well worth it," says Greaves. "The community-building exponentially helps the academics. Students at this age really think more of the opinions of their peers than the opinions of the adults in their lives. Giving them room to be together positively takes the care and worry away so that they can concentrate more on the academics. And the community members challenge each other to greater heights." I believe at this age, yes, students do need more guidance available to them and advisory periods due just that. This is a place they can clear their worries or listen to other student’s similar complaints. Burns, Jim. (1996). The Five Attributes of Satisfying Advisories. NELMS journal. Retrieved November 30, 2009, []. Advising programs are connected to teaming, curriculum selection, classroom management, and community service. The opposite of such integral placement occurs when advisory is perceived as an "add-on" or "one more thing to do" in an already crowded schedule. A core of recognizable aims guides all advisory tasks. Professionals in schools with satisfying advisories can easily identify the purposes of advisory, as can their students. In contrast to this clarity of aims, program purposes in less-than-satisfying advisories are most often murky or unknown. I believe depending on how the individual school runs advisory the effect on the students can be helpful or just waste of time. From personal experience advisory was a waste of time, and was place in midmorning when valuable learning could of took place. I feel this type of program may be more helpful to Middle school rather then high schools. Johannessen, Larry R., Kahn, Elizabeth A. (2001). How to Prepare Students for High Stakes Test (and Still Live with Your conscience). Retrieved November 30, 2009, [|http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/1a/3a/97.pdf]. Recent Polls are discovering the American public is increasingly less positive toward standardized testing. The public sees work in class and homework as significantly more important than tests in measuring student achievement and would use standardized tests not to determine how much students have learned, but to determine the kind of instruction they need. I believe spending too much time on Standardized test prep has a negative impact on students. They are using valuable time to learn how to take test rather then getting a better understanding of concepts in general.