Knowledge, Integration and Synthesis of Theory and Research This paper will focus on the theories applied to analysis of school advisory program specializations.

School advisory programs aim to serve various purposes that include providing the environment and time to develop meaningful teacher-student relationships, promoting students' emotional, moral, and social development, and providing academic and personal guidance chiefly. The programs need to be organized effectively, encompass relevant content, and have a suitable leader. Periodic program assessment is also important. This paper will compare and contrast three theoretical approaches in the area of advisory program implementation, followed by taking up one approach -- promotion of care via advisory programs -- for discussion. It will also address controversies in connection with such programs, and recommend solutions to challenges.

Theories applicable to School Advisory Program Specialization

Dimension 1: Purpose

One of the chief purposes of school advisory initiatives is: providing the environment and time to cultivate significant teacher-student (advisor-student) relationships. The school community's vision, regarding what it aspires to achieve via the program constitutes a key philosophical reaction to the expression of needs. Goal identification and communication will serve program planners in technical as well as philosophical sense. Verbalized focus goals offer broad referents for program planning as well as its further stages. Advisory groups endeavor to guide students academically and personally, as well as promote their moral, social, and emotional development (Osofsky et al., 2003).

Dimension 2: Organization

Irrespective of the program's design and frequency, what occurs within the advisory group needs to be;

1. Planned, for reflecting students' developmental needs

1. Scheduled, for allowing teachers and students to know what they need to anticipate, and when.

1. Practicable and appropriate, in line with the school's distinctive philosophy

1. Endorsed by faculty and administrative staff such that the program indeed becomes a team endeavor among school staff, rather than a pet project of a few staff members (Osofsky et al., 2003).

Dimension 3: Content

Almost all schools adopt a thematic approach when it comes to the organization of advisory topics. These topics may be categorized into: personal, which includes self-esteem, wellness, violence prevention, friendship, disabilities and abilities, etc.; career, which covers service learning, citizenship, volunteering, career planning, community / future planning, etc.; and educational, which encompasses knowing one's school, teamwork, goals, test-taking competencies, learning styles, etc. Some typical types of activities that promote relationship-building within advisory programs are school concerns, instructional concerns, career education and students' personal concerns (Osofsky et al., 2003).

Dimension 4: Assessment

Regular official program assessment will prove valuable. Questionnaires for gleaning information from teachers, students, parents, and other stakeholders regarding outcomes and expectations can reveal the extent of program effectiveness. The basis of such surveys must be program objectives and goals, worded with regard to students' behavioral outcomes. Other school climate measures, like vandalism, teacher and student attendance, teacher and student transfer rates, truancy, severity and frequency of discipline issues, learning evidence, attendance at activities sponsored by the school, as well as how the community, students, and parents view the school helps indicate whether students feel they feel valued by the school (Osofsky et al., 2003).

Dimension 5: Leadership

According to respondents of a study on advisory programs, the driver for advisory programs was mix of groups or individuals in various configurations. Nevertheless, all schools had somebody or some group that was entrusted with responsibility for program implementation and supervision. These individuals/groups most frequently comprised of the advisory/planning committee, counselor(s), the principal, advisory teachers, etc. Numerous advisory program advocates have emphasized the significance of staff development and comprehensive planning before as well as in the course of advisory program implementation (Osofsky et al., 2003).

II. Literature Review

1.Theoretical Approaches in Implementing Advisory Programs

a. Propagating small schools

Research in the area has identified five key advisory program goals, with multiple goals identified by a number of studies, including:

Development of strong interpersonal relationships between school faculty and students

Educational support to the school's students

Curriculum enrichment

Development of school culture and Several popular models of school reform clearly encourage integration of or actually integrate advisory systems into models for high schools. For example, in a number of schools adopting the common "Coalition of Essential Schools" principle -- a nationwide movement for school reform -- advisory is regarded as the main mechanism to ensure individual students are "well-acquainted" with one or more adult faculty members of the school. New York's reform...

According to the ISA (Institute for Student Achievement), advisory, together with student problems-focused team meetings and other such measures, denotes a promising means of distributed counseling implementation (Tocci et al., 2005).
b. Promoting Care through Advisory Programs

Middle school advisory programs are entirely different from the usual school advisory methods. Traditionally, the concept of school advising has been adopted most commonly among high schools, using certified counselors, rather than certified teachers. Traditional counselors' role is: meeting individually with students and aiding them with class scheduling, high school-college-job transition, and providing guidance and intervention. Normally, counselors' caseload comprises of over a hundred students, assigned to them alphabetically or randomly. Also, typically, high school pupils have a periodic meeting (one meeting per semester is the usual custom) with their respective counselor, unless a student has any additional need to be addressed. Advisory programs' aim is directly dealing with transescent students' affective needs. Activities can range from informal interactions to application of systematically created units having their organizing centers drawn from transescents' common needs, problems, concerns or interests (e.g., getting on with fellow students, acquiring a positive self-concept, living while at school, etc. In an ideal advisory program, a transescent will be able to become closely acquainted with one adult faculty member, who will aid him/her in understanding how he/she can be a wholesome individual and in finding a sense of security at school (Stawick, 2011).

c. Realistic Expectations all schools have their own unique arrangements and plans, hence their expectations need to be clear. For example, an advisor must be aware of:

How frequently he/she is required to hold meetings with each student;

How students are to be gathered;

How to receive information on each student;

How frequently they ought to meet with students' parents personally or converse with them over the phone; and What is their role in student-related aspects like discipline and scheduling?

Expectations have to be practical and comprehensively understandable by advisors. A number of advisors decide to work far beyond these basic expectations; however, no advisor should be pressurized into doing more than is expected of them. The fact that advisory program plans must result from thoughtful discussion by staff is very important. A teacher-dominated committee will probably formulate the ultimate plan, which gains the approval of the administrative team as well as the major percentage of staff members. This plan, perhaps, will, reflect teachers' needs, contract, and culture within a given school district or school. Advisory systems generally fit teacher contract parameters. However, as late Albert Shanker, a former union leader predicted, several teacher groups, when required, devise special arrangements, if they perceive any value for pupils, and if such a special dispensation is not in serious violation of teachers' contract. Shanker was right in his belief that teachers like responsible change; they will thus work, and collaborate with administrators and educational boards for providing creative or special circumstances for the initiatives that are important to them. A student advisory form will offer school staff information useful in assisting students. The forms need to be clearly explained for advisors to be able to come up with answers for the following questions: For what purpose has the form been handed out? How do staff members complete it? What are advisors required to do with completed forms? A majority of advisory forms will be easy to understand as well as fill out. The difficulty lies in what receivers and advisors are required to do write (Goldberg, 1998).

2. Promoting Care through Advisory Programs

Case Study 1: Rosa International Middle School, Cherry Hill -- New Jersey

This New Jersey school, with its framework of a global baccalaureate curriculum highlighting global tolerance and responsibility and a student advisory program offering avenues for service and leadership to all students, teaches it students to care. Students portray this 'care' using an assortment of service education ventures. The school's aim is being a caring, spirited family for every student. Every child starts his/her school day with an Advisory session in which students get acquainted with one another while discussing issues and planning service projects. For creating a family atmosphere on campus, this school with more than 600 pupils has broken down grade levels into individual "Learning Communities," which represent educator teams that are in charge of particular groups of students, and who collaborate with them for fulfilling students' unique needs. The school's culture emphasizes acceptance and caring, on campus as well as outside, in the real world (Framework for School Success, 2015).

Case Study 2: Francis Howell Middle School, St. Charles -- Missouri

This school intentionally restructured its school day for accommodating Character Connection sessions, where students meet every day for a period of 20 minutes,…