Advisory Alternatives

Advisory has been a controversial topic at Weston Public Schools, and since its introduction in September of the 2019-2020 school year, advisory has faced criticism from teachers and students alike. Advisory's purpose is to provide community building and develop students' emotional skills (SEL), and expand on students' cultural outlook. However, when asked if advisory completes its intended purpose, an overwhelming majority of students responded “No”. Many teachers are also dissatisfied with advisory, as when polled, all teachers who voted proposed modifications or changes to advisory. This data shows change is needed, but what are the best solutions?

Advisory Reform.

An idea proposed by multiple teachers would be modifying advisory to a form of project based learning. This would not change the purpose of advisory, but solely the way it's run. A common complaint students have with advisory is who their classmates are. Advisory reform could potentially solve this, as students would be grouped with classmates that share their interests. This could result in increased levels of engagement on the community building front, as students are more likely to participate and collaborate in activities they are interested in. Additionally, it would be more likely for students to create stronger connections with peers who share similar interests. This could directly improve engagement in SEL as well, due to students being more comfortable and at ease with classmates they are now closer to.

Advisory Replacement.

When polled, almost 70% of students said they would replace advisory with an additional flex, making it the most popular opinion among students. To the unaware, flex is a period of 30 minutes at the end of Tuesdays and Thursdays in which students can visit teachers for extra help. In short, it’s a study hall with additional support for students. Many students believe another flex block would help them, with 8th grade student Julie Wilkins saying “[An additional flex] would solve problems such as a lack of contact time with teachers.” Furthermore, many students believe advisory and its purposes are a “waste of time,” believing that the time could be better used as a flex block. Nonetheless, replacing advisory with flex polled much lower with teachers, with zero votes for this option. Whether this result happened due to teachers believing another flex is pointless or due to them thinking other options are better is unknown.

Advisory Removal.

The idea of removing or decreasing the amount of advisory time is incredibly popular with teachers. Because of the time allotted on Wendsays for advisory, teachers lose class time. This is obviously irritating for many teachers, as they still have to teach the same curriculum, but in less time. Due to this, many feel adding advisory back into the day is the proper course of action. Some also believe in a possible moderation by decreasing the amount of advisories, whilst not removing them entirely.    

Closing Thoughts and Notes.

While opinions on the topic vary tremendously, the general consensus in that advisory is currently ineffective and should be improved. The options, reforming, removing or replacing advisory are currently the three best choices. However, it should be noted that advisory reform is the only option that is currently available. This is due to The Weston Education Association’s contract with the school, advisory (or some sort of SEL block) is required. This is renegotiable in 2026, when the contract expires. It is also worth noting that while advisory is being introduced to the highschool next year, we do not know how different it will be from the middle school’s advisory curriculum. Some ideas proposed here may be incorporated into the high school’s advisory.