Advisory Program
The City Academy Advisory Program helps personalize and expand the work of our School Counselor and the Comprehensive Guidance Program by assigning each student a Teacher-Advisor who acts in support of best student success.
- Grade-level advisory groups meet regularly during the week.
- Teacher-Advisors additionally meet with an advisee individually, or in small groups, and/or with parents as needed.
- Advisories are integral components of our larger plan for learning and best attainment. Advisory work is a long term process of individual and collective interaction, not just a period of time to be filled.
- A Teacher-Advisor is the front-line support for students, sometimes the advocate, more often the probing voice of academic conscience and a catalyst to the individual student addressing their challenges. The Teacher-Advisor is a sounding board and resource to assist student achievement, from doing homework through to the college application process.
The Advisory Program is designed for:
Educating the Whole Person
Advisory groups provide a safe environment for social and emotional growth as students explore issues of adolescence and life. Advisory groups provide safe opportunities to build trust, discuss topically appropriate concerns, nurture a solid peer and adult support network, and develop relationships that foster camaraderie, engagement, and positive personal development. Teacher-Advisors may meet individually with students about personal concerns or peer problems, but most identified issues will be referred to the school counselor.
Active & Responsible Citizenship
Advisory groups provide a place to practice being a proactive member of a community. The advisory group provides a vehicle for school-wide conversations about community issues and about being a community member. Each advisory has representatives on student council and many other school-wide committees who regularly help lead discussion in advisories about school-wide issues or activities. Individual advisories regularly meet for discussion with other advisory groups, at the same or at cross-grade levels, and regularly meet together in whole-school town meetings. The advisory group acts as one important vehicle for establishing positive, active school culture.
Communication
Teacher-Advisors provide a more personalized communication link between students and administration, and between school and home. Teacher-Advisors are the central point of contact for parents with questions or concerns about their student’s school experience. Teacher-Advisors are also the central point of contact for other teachers who have concerns about a particular student. Teacher-Advisors coordinate each student’s annual Personal Education Plan portfolio presentation meeting.
Good Academic Progress with College and Career Preparation
Advisory groups provide each student with an adult mentor for their academic progress and college and career preparation. The Advisory is a place where students get support to develop and monitor their Personal Education Plan (PEP), develop their portfolios, and collaboratively build good habits of attendance, learning, and academic citizenship. Serious issues of lack of academic progress, despite individual teacher and advisor interventions, are referred to the counselor.