Page 1 of 9

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP

e-ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 01 Issue 07

August 2015

Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 507

“Improving Students’ Self-Esteem through

Advisory Program.”

1Ehsan Qadir Malik ; 2Muhammad Irfan Qadir ; 3Mehr Mohsin Raza ; 4Yasir Javed Cheema

Senior Subject Specialist Govt College for Elementary Teacher Shahpur Sardar (Sargodha)

Department of Communication Studies, University of Sargodha

Department of Education University of Sargodha

Department of Social Work, University of Sargodha

Abstract

An advisory program is an arrangement

whereby one adult and a small group of

students have an opportunity to interact on a

scheduled basis in order to provide a caring

environment for academic guidance and

support, everyday administrative details,

recognition, and activities to promote

citizenship. Advisory programs have been in

place in secondary schools for decades. In

1989, Simmons and Kiarich1

indicated that

Advisory programs had a positive effect on

school climate, particularly related to an

increase of belonging and security. Advisory

programs are often offered for one class

period a day and act as a homeroom for the

students. The curriculum is tailored to the

population but can offer teachings on

character education, relationship building,

curricular enrichment and productive

citizenship. The purpose of the Advisory

program is to build relationships and to

continue those relationships throughout a

student’s time in high school.

Introduction

An advisory program is an arrangement

whereby one adult and a small group of

students have an opportunity to interact on a

scheduled basis in order to provide a caring

environment for academic guidance and

support, everyday administrative details,

recognition, and activities to promote

citizenship. Stevenson (1992) stated that the

purposes of advisory are "to ensure that each

student is known well at school by at least

one adult who is that youngster's advocate

(the advisor), to guarantee that every student

belongs to a peer group, to help every

student find ways to be successful, and to

promote coordination between home and

Page 2 of 9

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP

e-ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 01 Issue 07

August 2015

Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 508

school" (p.293). As two educators who have

worked in an inner-city high school with

nearly three decades of combined

experience, we’ve seen quite a few

curricular programs come and go. We’ve

seen several programs help our struggling

students. Read 180 was tested to see if it

would assist struggling readers and ELL

students. The Cambridge Curriculum was

adopted to see if it would aid our general

education students. Writing labs and tutoring

centers were opened for our students who

needed some additional help. The population

that was often left to fend on its own,

however, was the gifted population. It was

wrongfully assumed that this population

would succeed just fine without

intervention.

In a faculty of more than 200, there

were two teachers at this school in the inner- city that had gone back to school and

completed the necessary steps to get a gifted

endorsement (12 credit hours on gifted

education from an accredited university and

two plus years of verifiable direct work with

gifted students). One of those teachers

taught the enrichment course that was an

elective for all students but was written for

gifted students. The other gifted endorsed

teacher acted as the gifted facilitator, which

meant she was the liaison between the

school and the district and was primarily

responsible for testing and labeling gifted

teens. That was the extent of the gifted

expertise on this particular campus of 5,000

students, with about 150 gifted teens. Both

teachers advocated for the gifted population

by hosting parent nights, offering

professional development, and trying to

filter in as many gifted kids as possible into

the enrichment course where they would

have individual time with those students.

However, to change the perception that

these kids were self-sufficient, there needed

to be a change in philosophy of the faculty.

That change would only come with the

faculty building personal relationships with

these kids.

Some common questions emerged on

this campus: How could we inspire those

kids who were meeting all the standards to

exceed them? What could we do to help our

students who seemed so self-sufficient reach

their true potential? At the same time, one

educator, who did not have any training in

gifted education, saw a connection between

the testing data and the personal relationship

that teachers needed to have with their

students. Students who had made this

personal connection with an educator on

Page 3 of 9

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP

e-ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 01 Issue 07

August 2015

Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 509

campus—one who understood their needs

and coached them—consistently exceeded

the expectations of their teachers. She

wanted to increase this personal connection

with all students, regardless of their label. It

was at this point that this teacher decided to

start an advisory program.

Advisory programs have been in

place in secondary schools for decades. In

1989, Simmons and Kiarich1

indicated that

Advisory programs had a positive effect on

school climate, particularly related to an

increase of belonging and security. Since

this research, advisory programs have been

cemented in secondary education as a way

for students to learn to work together and

develop a caring school environment. This

was it! This was the way to establish that

personal connection. Research has proven

the success of advisory programs in both

high and low socioeconomic status schools,

as well as schools in the inner city, the

suburbs, and rural areas. With this program

being so adaptable, what benefit might it add

to the gifted population?

Significance of Study

Advisory programs are often offered for one

class period a day and act as a homeroom

for the students. The curriculum is tailored

to the population but can offer teachings on

character education, relationship building,

curricular enrichment and productive

citizenship. The purpose of the Advisory

program is to build relationships and to

continue those relationships throughout a

student’s time in high school. The principal

drive behind advisories is to create a

custom-made environment for learning and

encouragement provided by a significant

adult figure.2 An advisory program offers

the opportunity and time for teachers and

students to develop a relationship that gives

students the support they need and improves

achievement on all levels of emotional,

social and cognitive development. Each

year, the student returns to the same

advisory, further building on the relationship

with the teacher and peers in that course. For

our gifted population, that meant gifted

students would now be in a position to

connect with educators that didn’t know

much about the gifted label and would have

the opportunity to know them on a personal

basis. The advisors (teachers) were able to

tailor the curriculum to those specific 30

students. As such, advisory became an

opportunity to combat some of the negative

behaviors that affect the socio emotional

side of being gifted3

– behaviors that many