Clear Creek Amana High School Academic Advisory Clear Creek Amana High School

Academic Advisory Held Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 20 Minutes in length 1st Block 8:25 – 9:50 AA 9:55 – 10:15 2nd Block 10:20 – 12:20 (with Lunch) 3rd Block 12:25 – 1:50 4th Block 1:55 – 3:20

Academic Advisory There is no AA on Wednesday due to the early out schedule and staff Professional Development 1st Block 8:25 – 9:25 2nd Block 9:30 – 10:35 (Announcements) 3rd Block 10:40 – 11:40 4th Block 11:45 – 1:20 (with Lunch) PD 1:45 – 4:00

System Purpose Create and maintain a positive Teacher/Student relationship 1. Student assigned to a teacher for all 4 years of high school 2. Teacher/advisor oversees the development and initiation of student’s PLPs

System Purpose Each student at CCA has a PLP: 1. Personalized Learning Plan 2. Developed as a Freshman and acts as the blueprint for their educational needs until they graduate

System Purpose PLP’s are developed and written with input from the student, teacher/advisor, and parents This guideline maps out their 4 years in high school and identifies all the required coursework for graduation It also helps identify electives and areas that interest the student Students, teacher/advisor, and parents meet twice yearly to update progress on PLP’s

System Functions Gives teacher/advisor the chance to check their student’s grades and completion of assignments 1. Teacher/advisor uses Powerschool to track their students academic progress 2. Teacher/advisor collaborates with other staff members to help students falling behind 3. Provides students someone to go to when they need academic assistance

System Functions Gives teacher/advisor time to set goals with their students 1. All students, with the help of their teacher/advisor, create goals as part of the PLP 2. Teacher/advisor check to make sure each student is making progress towards their goals

System Functions Give students time during their day to do make-up work and/or receive information they might have missed from being absent 1. Students can speak with other teachers 2. Students can check-out computers 3. Students can get on Powerschool 4. Students can have study time

Basic AA Schedule Monday – in AA classroom for study time Tuesday – grade checks and study time Thursday – group meetings and study time Friday – community building activities/assemblies

Feedback I spoke with 6 different teacher/advisors to get their feedback and prospective on our AA I wanted to hear what they considered both positive and negative about AA

Positive Feedback Build relationships with students over 4 years Build relationship with their parents Provide guidance for students who have little Help students achieve their goals Having AA daily keeps you in the know Common time for all the different activity groups to meet that doesn’t cut into class time Seeing improvement Community building activities

Negative Feedback 20 minutes not enough time to get everything accomplished Students don’t make good use of the time Students skip AA too often Too scripted Should change teacher/advisor after 2 years Can’t help students in other academic areas Spend too much time with a handful of students while the others receive little attention

Organizational Learning Disabilities “I am my position” I believe too many staff members view themselves as classroom teachers only and spend all their time preparing for their classroom lessons Very little “extra” time is put into their role as teacher/advisor of their AA classroom It is just something they do from 9:55-10:15 on those AA days

Organizational Learning Disabilities If we want AA to function as it is intended, we need better “buy-in” from the teacher/advisors I also believe that our students can sense when teacher/advisors are just going through the motions If the teacher/advisors aren’t dedicated to the process, why should students dedicate themselves to improving their learning?

Organizational Learning Disabilities “The parable of the boiled frog” Our teacher/advisors are correct. Students don’t make good use of their time in AA, they don’t view the time as useful/important, and many of them find ways to skip or avoid being there. I believe this is because from the very first day of AA during their freshmen year, we are forcing a large amount of information their direction.

Organizational Learning Disabilities We ask them to plan out the next 4 years of their educational lives, reminding them that it will have a huge impact on post-secondary options We cram large amounts of materials and information into a 20-minute window We force them into doing things that fit our purpose and our direction, but rarely ask for their feedback Slowing things down for a more inclusive, thoughtful purpose may help generate better results

System Archetypes

Leadership Plan The goal of improving a system should focus on a Leadership Plan that leads to: 1. Better Personal Mastery 2. Clarification of Mental Models 3. Development of a Shared Vision 4. Through Team Learning

Personal Mastery Personal growth and continual learning Success of a system relies on a group of individuals with a shared vision Common Purpose Too much emotional tension involved in our Academic Advisory Emotional tension leads to lower expectations and therefore lower chances of optimal results

Personal Mastery Leadership must model personal mastery Provide guidance and support for teachers Set clear expectations for what you want to get out of Academic Advisory Make it important Should be treated like a regular class Maybe some PD time focusing on how to better the system through training

Mental Models Our view of the way the system operates Current view of Academic Advisory is that there is not enough time to make it work effectively Another common view is that its time wasted which could be better spent in the classroom This way of thinking limits growth and improvement Good in theory, bad in practice Its why the best ideas fail

Mental Models Best way to deal with mental models is to have serious discussions Foster these discussions and be open to feedback Senge’s theory on being a veteran advocate tells us that simply listening to feedback is not good enough You must actively inquire into others views that differ from your own This creates better understanding

Shared Vision Vital for a system because it provides a common focus and energy for learning Currently, the vision of Academic Advisory is shared by some, but not by all Teacher/advisors have different visions and students have different visions No collaboration time spent on creating a shared vision for AA Viewed as a top-down program with very little input or influence from staff

Shared Vision Teacher/advisors care about their students and want to see them succeed The potential for success is there More collaboration and planning We don’t expect teachers to “wing it” in the classroom, so why are we asking for this in AA? Shared Vision is the rudder of the ship that keeps everything on course

Team Learning Organizational decisions are best made and carried out in small groups/teams How are building PLC’s fostering improvements to Academic Advisory? Are they ever discussed? Time becomes a major factor Collaboration time is spent on other things What guidance, training, information is provided for new teachers in an Academic Advisory setting?

Team Learning The team will not be successful without a shared vision and individuals dedicated to personal mastery This idea must be supported by the building leader It requires time and practice and needs to be part a staff development or professional development activities Teacher/advisors must model team learning if we expect students to do the same

Conclusions 5 Main Conclusions on how to improve Academic Advisory at Clear Creek Amana 1. More Time 2. Organization and Guidance 3. Collaboration among teacher/advisors 4. Feedback from students and teacher/advisors 5. Shared Vision