Whole-Child Focus
Advisory offers regular time and space for growing multiple dimensions of human development—from academics to emotions.
Advisory is a regularly scheduled period of time, typically during the school day, when small groups of students gather together for the purpose of community building, social-emotional development, and support. These groups are typically led by an adult who advises on academic, social, emotional, and/or future planning topics. It is most common at the middle and high school levels because students transition between classroom spaces and would otherwise lack a physical and psychological home base. However, elementary schools also often engage in advisory-like practices in their self-contained space. The overarching goal of advisory is to build strong relationships between the advisor and students, as well as peer-to-peer relationships. The advisor serves as an advocate to ensure every student and family is known well—academically, socially, and emotionally—by at least one adult in the school. Advisory can also be a structure for community building across the school.
The Coalition of Essential Schools says, “At its heart, advisory forges connections among students and the school community, creating conditions that facilitate academic success and personal growth.” Current published research indicates that this kind of program leads to various positive outcomes—such as increased attendance and sense of belonging—that correlate with improved academic outcomes.
For this Collection, we define Advisory as an umbrella term for experiences that foster relationships and social-emotional development in a school environment. These experiences often include routines and structures that focus on:
Advisory offers regular time and space for growing multiple dimensions of human development—from academics to emotions.
Advisory is an opportunity to build one’s understanding of self and those across lines of difference.
Advisory enables each student to be deeply known by at least one adult and several peers.
Below, you will find several models on The Innovative Models Exchange that seek to foster relationships and support students’ holistic development in distinct ways.
Adelante Student Services supports all students to rise up by aligning academic, behavioral, and social-emotional approaches to ensure students and their families are provided integrated and responsive interventions attuned to their specific needs.
ARISE’s founders and staff believe that all children deserve a quality education that doesn’t replicate inequitable and oppressive institutions. As a result, they’ve developed a rigorous, high engagement, authentic learning experience for all students. In order for every student to meet the high expectations that ARISE holds, a thorough system of support is critical. While the entire school is designed to make the educational experience highly personalized, attentive, and responsive, Adelante Student Services, in particular, provides intensive support to help students move forward.
Adelante is a Spanish adverb that means movement and commonly expresses two ideas: “salir adelante” and “sacar adelante” (in English, ”get ahead”). These two sayings encourage the development of self and the overcoming of obstacles. They are often used to push a person’s development.
Adelante Student Services works within the whole school community to create the conditions, procedures, and resources to support struggling students academically and socio-emotionally.The Response to Intervention system includes the following structures: Academic Mentorship, Advisory, and Restorative Justice Praxis. ARISE offers site visits, coaching, and professional development to support implementation of their model.
The Big Picture Learning school design activates deeper student engagement in learning by using interest-driven, real-world contexts as its pedagogical foundation.
Big Picture Learning (BPL) was established to challenge traditional approaches to teaching and learning. Big Picture’s focus on student-interest-driven, real-world learning reflects the knowledge that students often learn best when school is relevant to their lives, builds relationships with adult mentors and peers who share their interests, and entails genuinely authentic and rigorous work that is situated in the community and workplace.
The BPL school design is based on three core principles: 1) relationships – schools are designed to support student-centered experiences, one learner at a time; 2) relevance – student interests and real-world learning experiences shape the curriculum; and 3) rigor – assessment criteria for exhibitions of learning are aligned to professional standards. More broadly, 10 Distinguishers serve as BPL’s signature in the world of deeper learning and work-based learning. 10 Distinguishers Relationship Indicators Relevance Indicators Rigor Indicators
BPL works directly with schools to activate the potential of its students. It does not govern or operate schools but instead collaborates to transform existing schools or to establish new schools as a part of the BPL Network. Through collaboration with families and communities, each BPL school seeks to produce learning environments that are unique to local contexts. To support this, BPL offers deep partnerships, stand-alone professional development, and customized support. Today, there are over 80 Big Picture network schools in the United States and more than 100 schools around the world that utilize BPL’s design.
The Compass model fosters holistic and adaptive development— including key physical, cognitive, emotional, and spiritual disciplines—through a focus on community and relationships as well as individual identity work.
The Compass model goes beyond academics to develop students in mind, heart, body, and spirit. Compass ensures that all members of the community (young and adult) are engaging in deep, holistic, and adaptive development work.
The Compass model is implemented in 64 schools and is helping over 30,000 students experience more social acceptance, social concern, and social reciprocity as well as less emotional exhaustion. Valor offers cohort learning communities, one-on-one coaching and consulting, resource toolkits, and school visits to others interested in implementing the model.
EL Education’s comprehensive school model builds student capacity for three Dimensions of high achievement—character, mastery of skills and content, and high-quality student work—through the application of Core Practices centered on real-world learning and teamwork.
EL Education’s comprehensive improvement model transforms schools into hubs of opportunity where all students are able to reach their unique potential. The model redefines student achievement to align with what is most celebrated in adulthood—mastery of knowledge and skills, high-quality work, and character—and outlines a set of Core Practices that help bring these to life. Grounded in the belief that greater engagement leads to achievement, EL Education’s Core Practices support students in becoming self-directed learners as they grapple with complex, real-world issues like professionals. The model positions students as active and collaborative learners alongside their teachers, or as part of a crew rather than just as passengers.
The full EL Education model requires intensive in-person training and coaching over multiple years, and 152 schools spanning 35 states currently employ the full model. EL Education also has an open-source K-8 Language Arts Curriculum and a menu of professional development opportunities to support its implementation.
Intrinsic’s EPIC model supports students in cultivating their strengths and interests and building critical habits and skills to enable them to be successful in school and life.
The EPIC model prepares students for postsecondary success and motivates them to be change agents by focusing on areas of learning beyond academics. The model consists of five integrated components designed to support students in building critical postsecondary habits and skills: advisory, Choice Day (C Day), postsecondary seminar & counseling, exploration experiences, and student-led conferences (SLCs).
EPIC is implemented in Intrinsic’s two Chicago campuses serving 1800+ students, where they outperform district and state peers in college readiness as measured by early college coursework, postsecondary enrollment, and graduation rate. Intrinsic offers school visits and a resource toolkit to other schools interested in implementing the EPIC model.
Greenfield Goal Teams provide students with space to set weekly goals and receive support from peers and a caring adult to build their confidence and motivation as they work to achieve those goals.
The Greenfield Goal Team structure aims to accelerate student success and development by bringing teams of 8–12 students together regularly—often daily—to set and reflect on academic goals or work on developing life habits. Similar to an advisory or crew, the Goal Team helps students develop a sense of purpose and build deep, meaningful relationships both with their teammates and with at least one trusted adult in the school—their Goal Coach. In addition to leading a Goal Team, the Goal Coach serves as the main connector between students and families, ensuring ongoing partnership and two-way dialogue between school and home. In the comprehensive Greenfield School Design, Goal Teams involve an added layer of support called “running partners,” where pairs of students offer one another support throughout the day between Goal Team meetings. Ultimately, this structure provides students with a powerful set of habits that are essential to their future success.
Greenfield Goal Teams are implemented across several Achievement First schools, often in conjunction with Greenfield Dream Teams. An extensive toolkit is available to support schools who wish to adopt the practice.
The Pack Model enables students to take ownership over their development of social, emotional, and academic competencies for success in middle school and beyond.
Pack is a 50-minute morning block dedicated to building belonging and explicit competency instruction. Every Pack class is highly individualized because teachers design learning experiences based on their own proficiency, their students’ needs, and their students’ interests.
The Pack Model focuses specifically on competency development. This means that students are developing discrete skills that will support them both in and outside of school. During daily Pack classes, an Opening Circle is used to define the competency, a challenge is used to practice it, and a Closing Circle is used to reflect on it. Competencies are driven by students’ and teachers’ interests and passions. Pack provides time that is strictly preserved for social emotional-development in the form of specific skill instruction and opportunities for practice and reflection. Pack includes circles and challenges that work in concert to build students’ proficiency in competencies. This structure facilitates student voice, ensures that all students can be seen and heard, and creates ritual.
Pack was created and designed initially to support the under-resourced communities that City Year supports. Implementation begins with a focus on trust, belonging, and peer-to-peer and student–adult relationships. Pack is now implemented in three states and 15 schools, along with numerous education-aligned organizations like City Year.
Compass Academy supports other schools interested in the Pack Model through training and ongoing support to develop teachers’ competencies. Pack Overview
Pod is an enhanced advisory model within which learners experience a variety of activities that promote belonging and develop learners’ skills.
Pod is an enhanced advisory model developed by City Neighbors High School (CNHS). Often considered the heart of the school, Pod is frequently described by students and advisors as a “second family.” Pods serve three core purposes: providing academic support, providing safe social-emotional spaces, and building community. All students belong to a Pod with no more than 17 others, and each Pod sticks together with its advisor through all four years of high school. A Pod is also a reserved meeting, working, and living space for students. Pod becomes a place where students feel at “home away from home” in school, and it strives to ensure that every student is “known, loved, and inspired.”
The Pod model entails some common activities while also leaving ample space for teacher autonomy and student voice. Activity blocks, special programming, and Individual Learning Plans are important parts of the Pod experience. City Neighbors offers site visits and a resource toolkit to support schools in implementing Pod.
St. Benedict’s model gives students tremendous leadership opportunities and fosters a strong sense of community so that students become responsible citizens eager to contribute to the community and the world.
St. Benedict’s model supports students to fulfill their potential as emotionally mature, morally responsible, and well-educated citizens. To do this, they create meaningful student leadership opportunities, social-emotional support systems, and community-building structures. The success of the model hinges on the idea that students are responsible for their own development as well as that of their peers. While the model was developed explicitly to serve students of color and students from low-income backgrounds, it has the potential to support students from all racial, religious, and socioeconomic groups.
The St. Benedict’s Prep model is implemented at the flagship site in Newark, NJ, serving 950 students, of which 85% identify as students of color and 80% receive financial aid. St. Benedict’s students far outpace Newark in graduation rate and college enrollment and persistence. The Father Mark Payne Institute offers site visits, professional development, implementation workshops, and ongoing support for schools interested in implementing the model.
Gateway Public Schools’ Student Agency model prioritizes self-awareness and self-advocacy for long-term academic success by helping students understand their own process of learning.
At Gateway Public Schools, agency is highly valued and recognized as vital for long-term academic and career success. In the Student Agency model, emphasis is placed on metacognition to support students in developing strong academic habits and strategies as well as self-awareness and self-advocacy.
Through advisory classes and personalized support, students engage in self-reflection contributing to a culture of collaboration and inclusivity. Additionally, Process of Learning (POL) skills are explicitly taught alongside subject-specific content knowledge so that students are equipped with the tools they need to thrive academically and personally. They utilize tools such as rubrics and self-assessments to guide their reflection and monitor their progress. Student-Led Conferences (SLCs) provide opportunities for students to showcase their growth and reflections to their families and community.
The Student Agency model is currently implemented in Gateway Public Schools’ two sites in San Francisco, CA, where students report positive views of school culture, engagement, strong relationships, and a sense of belonging. Gateway students also consistently demonstrate high levels of college readiness and success. Gateway Impact offers a range of support including free resources, professional development, and site visits to other schools interested in implementing the Student Agency model.
The Whole Child Model integrates multiple tiers of support throughout the school day to build a safe and supportive school climate as well as the intrapersonal and interpersonal skills young children need to regulate their emotions, manage stress, and handle conflicts productively.
The Whole Child Model makes students’ socio-emotional growth foundational to everything a school does. It is a trauma-informed, social-emotional learning model rooted in an understanding that children’s academic success is inextricably linked to their overall well-being, and in the belief that we can—and must—attend to the development of the whole child. The model helps students build the intra- and inter-personal skills they need to regulate their emotions, manage stress, and handle conflicts productively. It does this through a multi-tier system of supports that together develop a safe and warm school environment for everyone—including students and their families.
The Whole Child Model is currently implemented in over 30 schools across Washington D.C., Texas, and Tennessee. Students in Whole Child Model classes demonstrated significant growth in various social-emotional factors such as perseverance, social awareness, and self-efficacy. Free resource toolkits, as well as some Cohort Learning Communities, are available to schools interested in implementing the Whole Child Model.
The following resources can help deepen your understanding of advisory and support the design and implementation of a high-quality model, whether it’s one from The Innovative Models Exchange or one your community designs.
This organization conducts their own research regarding the power of relationships and creates resources to support schools in designing the structures to build them.
This article supports educators in creating a culture for student goal-setting and progress monitoring.
This implementation guide helps schools or districts looking to leverage restorative practices generally, as well as specific practices like circle. These practices support community building and conflict resolution.
This social-emotional learning curriculum was developed by a group of experts—including the Dalai Lama. The curriculum consists of seven chapters with scripted learning experiences and a final capstone project that can easily be implemented in an advisory space.
This social-emotional learning curriculum was developed by a group of experts—including the Dalai Lama. The curriculum consists of seven chapters with scripted learning experiences and a final capstone project that can easily be implemented in an advisory space.
This is designed for users interested in the role of social relationships in the success of real-world learning and the potential of these experiences to build the three aspects of social capital: social support, developmental relationships, and social connections.