Patricio Saenz Flores

Problem of practice

POP Moving Forward

• Original problem of practice
• Key highlights from annotated bibliography
• Plans for future research
• Proposal for moving forward
• Conclusions
• References

Original POP

High schools are fast-paced environments (Cawelti, 1989), where students feel out of place and lacking meaningful connections with peers and teachers (Brown, 2001). As a response to the call to restructure high schools (Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development, 1995; Hamilton & Mackinnon, 2013), advisory programs that were in existence since the 1800s providing students vocational guidance (Galassi, Gulledge, & Cox, 1997) are now adopted by many school districts. These programs are based on effective and efficient middle school models (Manning & Saddlemire, 1998). Students are exposed to increased amounts of stress in high school due to high academic expectations, extracurricular commitments, and their future; teacher support is negatively correlated with physical and mental illnesses (Conner, Miles, & Pope, 2014).

Establishing advisor-advisee relationships establishes teacher support, fosters a sense of community (Shulking & Foote, 2009), creates an advocate for that student (Anfara, 2006), and increases levels of personalization (McClure, Yanezawa, & Jones, 2010). The current advisory program at the International School of Kenya is not fulfilling its main objective, which is to address personal and social concerns of students as well as providing that close guidance relationship between advisor and advisee (International School of Kenya, 2016). Rather, it is packed with administrative activities that interfere with group cohesion and the advisor-advisee bond.

Key highlights

key theoretical perspectives

• Social cognitive theory
• Constructivist theory
• Sociocultural theory
• Situated learning theory

Social Cognitive Theory

• Learning environment
• Promotion of self-efficacy
• Cognitive engagement

common findings

• Teachers are an integral part of the learning environment.
• Supportive environment both at home and school increases self-efficacy.
• Feeling support and autonomy increases engagement and self-efficacy.

Constructivist Theory

• Collaborative teacher-student relationship
• Student empowerment
• Student's subjective experience

common findings

• A personalized setting positively impacts students.
• Students are empowered through care and trust.
• Perceived social support from people and structures have a positive impact in student outcomes.

Sociocultural theory

• Impact of teacher-student relationship
• Impact of community involvement

common findings

• Teacher-student relationships increase feelings of membership, security, and positive behaviors.
• Culturally relevant environments increase the sense of community.
• Community involvement improves school climate and student outcomes.

Situated Learning Theory

• Impact of experiential learning
• Need for authentic experiences

common findings

• Increase in motivation, decision-making and confidence through constructive feedback.
• Students got a clear idea of what was to come both in college and beyond.

common data analysis methods and measures

• Validated scales
• Interviews (personal and group)
• Classroom observations

context/groups

• Students and teachers from socioeconomically diverse schools
• Mostly from the United States
• Mostly from middle and high school
• Mostly from public schools

plans for future research

what still needs to be researched?

• School culture
• Parental involvement
• Role of counseling department
• Student voice
• Promotion of teacher buy-in

proposal for

Quantitative & Qualitative data

• Students' preconceptions, expectations, experience, and take aways
• Teachers' preconceptions, expectations, experience, and take aways
• Administrators' expectations
• Parents' expectations, involvement and perespective

Conclusions

Conclusions

• There are more factors that affect my original POP.
• These different influences need to be defined and quantified to see their effect.
• Stakeholders will provide baseline data to define what works and what does not at ISK.

References