George Lucas Educational Foundation
Edutopia

Advisory

Discover how advisory periods -- whether their focus is academic, social-emotional, or life planning -- can act as key building blocks for engaging students in a positive, inclusive school community.

  • Building a School Like a Tight-Knit Family

    At Springfield Renaissance School in Massachusetts, strong bonds between teachers and students drive academic success.
    Chelsea Sheasley

  • Supporting Personalized Learning Through Advisory

    Daily meetings with a consistent "crew" build strong relationships that help students thrive socially, emotionally, and academically.

  • Making Advisory More Effective

    A simple plan for advisory includes self-reflection to help students see their growth over time.
    James Bailey

  • Integrating SEL and Literacy

    Get a peek at daily advisory meetings where students build both literacy and social and emotional learning skills in tight-knit groups.

  • An Alternative to In-School Suspension

    In lieu of a more punitive approach, students use restorative practices to resolve conflicts and reflect on their behaviors.

  • Doing It Differently: Tips for Teaching Vocabulary

    Tips for teaching vocabulary that include letting students select the words, putting away dictionaries, and creating time for talk and play with new terms.
    Rebecca Alber

  • How Strong Relationships Improve School Outcomes

    A Nashville high school striving to close achievement gaps is relying on trauma-informed practices and social and emotional learning—and it’s getting results.

  • How to End the Dropout Crisis: Ten Strategies for Student Retention

    Proven tactics for keeping kids engaged and in school, all the way through high school graduation.
    Roberta Furger

  • Closing the Achievement Gap With SEL

    A Nashville high school focuses on using social and emotional learning to build strong relationships and a positive culture—and to improve academic outcomes.
    Tom Berger

  • Redesigning the Traditional Assembly

    Here are five tips that can make assemblies engaging, participative, and reflective of your school's values, content, and pedagogies.
    Peter Hyman

  • Advisory: 22 Ways to Build Relationships for Educational Success

    Nashville Big Picture High School shares many ways to build intentional relationships with students -- strategies that can work at schools of any size.

  • Group Support for Social and Emotional Learning

    SEL classes foster skills that help students navigate high school—and their lives outside of it.

  • Transitioning to High School

    A year-long, weekly class orients freshmen to their school’s culture and academic community.

  • Student-Centered Advisory: Establishing a Positive Community

    Advisory groups are "school families" that give students a time block to focus on schoolwork, college applications, personal issues, or hearing and respecting one another.
    Mary Beth Hertz

  • Building Schools on a Foundation of SEL

    Visit a pair of Nashville middle schools born out of the belief that strong social and emotional learning practices improve academic outcomes.