The Value of Advisory Sessions: Perceptions of Young Adolescents at an Urban Middle School

Abstract

This study examines the value of advisory sessions from the perspective of African American students at an urban middle school. Students reveal that their advisory sessions fail to adequately address two concerns: sexuality issues for females and specific details about drug and alcohol abuse. Students also indicate a failure on the part of advisors to develop a trusting and caring relationship with advisees. One primary intent of advisories is to provide a caring atmosphere for students in which they form a close and meaningful relationship with at least one teacher in the school. These urban young adolescents describe the stressful lives that they experience and a number of genuine fears associated with their environmental circumstances. Advisory programs may focus on several student issues depending on how they are designed; however, as these data suggest, teachers need to play more of an advocacy role in implementing advisory sessions for urban youth.