KIPP Delta Advisories

2008-2009

Advisories?
First, allow me to thank you for the year you are about to embark on, and for the
countless hours you have already put in to plan quality instruction for our students. I
know that all of the staff will be very busy throughout the year, and that it might
seem like this new “advisory” could be burdensome to you. It is my intention to
carefully plan for the scope and sequence of what should be happening in Advisory,
so that it does not require much advance preparation from you. Please hold me
accountable to that. If you ever feel as though I haven’t given you adequate
resources or information to facilitate a topic, please do tell. Or, if you aren’t
particularly comfortable with an activity or topic I suggest, please let me know, and I
will do my best to assist you.
What facilitating an Advisory will require of you is your good judgment and your full
attention during the time when your “advisees” are with you. They NEED you! Thank
you in advance for the dedication you will give to seeing that these students are on a
clear trajectory towards college.

Why Advisories?
This is the first year KIPP Delta will be structuring an official Advisory time into our
schedule.
Advisories will function as a team building, reflection and planning time as well as
give students a built in timeslot/opportunity to connect individually with their advisor
or the counselor when needed. While Advisories take on many different forms at
different schools, the focus of our Advisory is simply: “All College, all the time!” While
the activities may not explicitly talk about College, the skills used or developed will
fall into one of the categories of college readiness.
As I see it (and by no means do I have all or even most of the answers!), our Advisory
sessions should and will address the college preparedness and college readiness
pieces that go beyond our core academic subjects. Skills developed and topics
covered in advisory will be, in many cases applicable across subjects, and are just as
important for a student’s success in college as the classes that will go on a transcript.

How will Advisories be structured?

The advisory groups will be comprised of students of the same grade and same
gender. The average size will likely be 20-25 students.
Advisories will meet daily from 7:30-7:50 each morning and then again at Lunch. For
the 9th & 10th grades, that time will be 11:09-11:49. For 11th grade, that time is 11:52-
12:42.
As you see, we start our days with Advisory: Part I. This is powerful--Advisories have
the potential to be extremely successful & set a good tone each morning if we as a
staff value them, and expect the same from our students. That being said, the time
slots dedicated to advisory have potential to be wastelands of unproductivity, and
once that trend begins, it may be difficult to salvage.
I will give more details of what can/should happen in the morning & lunch times, but
know that the consumption of breakfast and lunch will have to be done at a quick
pace, unless you feel you can facilitate your advisory while eating.
I know and trust that the staff of KIPP Delta will agree and commit to making this
structure as valuable for our students as possible!

So what’s the plan?

Glad you asked. I have done quite a bit of research to construct this scope/sequence.
However, I want your feedback! You are all incredible, intelligent, creative people who
have all successfully navigated the high school planning, college search & admissions
process. Shoot, you even graduated! So, I am flexible to change some things around
(except items that are time sensitive surrounding important deadlines) take things
out if you don’t think they’re valuable. I never want Advisories to be wasted or for
you and the students to feel like they are a waste of your time. Also, if you have a
great idea that I have totally missed (probable), please communicate.

GOALS of KIPP DELTA: KIPP To College Programs

-To ensure each student has the skills necessary to successfully navigate and
complete high school in order to go to and THROUGH college!
-To create a college-going AND a college-ready culture
-To improve individual’s GPAs
-To increase student’s ACT test scores (with aim of all students being “College ready”
with a 23 or higher—KIPP Standard)
-To encourage each student to participate in at least one summer learning
opportunity.

To achieve these goals, the six major components of the KIPP DELTA College
Readiness Program are:
1. PREPARING
2. SELECTING
3. APPLYING
4. PAYING/FINANCING
5. DECIDING
6. GOING!

While this is the overall sequence of the components that will be covered throughout
the four years, there will be some jumping around to fit appropriate times each
school year (ex: the selection, application & funding of summer programs for
students at each grade.)

1. PREPARING
Why College? Determining the rationale for extending education
Reflecting before Preparing
How College? Figuring out the steps to take to get there, while you’re
still here
Academic Planning
4 year course load
Transcript
Study skills
Time management
Goal setting
Planning to TEST (EXPLORE/PLAN/ACT/PSAT/SAT)
Importance of scores
Career Planning
Discovering your interests
Cultivating your skills
Exploring the possibilities
Admission Planning
2. SELECTING
Which College? How to find the best fit for you to succeed
Interest Selection
For Service/Leadership
Major Selection
Program Selection
College Selection
3. APPLYING
You want into College? Components of the Admissions Application
The General information
 The Essay
The Recommendation
The Transcript
The Scholarship Application
The Extras
Optional is required
The Deadlines
Early Decision
Regular Decision
FAFSA

4. PAYING/FINANCING
Buy College? It is a rather big purchase, you know…and investment
too.
Paying for College
Scholarships & Grants
Private & Federal Loans
Other options
Saving for College (to incorporate into Middle
School)
Saving now
Saving later
Advanced College Funding Strategies (to incorporate into Middle
School)

5. DECIDING
Where, College?
The Decision
After The Decision

6. GOING!
Going to College?
Going to be independent
Going to class
Going to get involved
Going to parties
NOT going broke
Going to Graduate

Ideally, the components would be implemented as follows:

Grad Theme Components covered Notes

e
9 Developin 1 Brief overview of all
g as a 2 (partial; specifically, College searches and components should
High summer program selection) be included in
School 4 (partial; specifically, saving and investing discussion of a 4
Student for College) year plan.
10 Developin 1 (review progress, reinforce skills)
g as a 2
Learner 4 (Scholarship search, saving, investing)

11 Developin 1 (review progress, reinforce skills) In 2008-2009 year,

g as an 2 (expanding search, revisiting College list) all of these will
Applicant 3 need to be
4 introduced as
6 needed and
covered thoroughly.
12 Developin 2 (finalizing College list) Component 1
g as a 3 should be natural
Graduate 4 at this point, but
and 5 revisited when
Matriculan 6 necessary.
t

This implementation model allows for flexibility, and may not require the “All College,
all the time” advisory approach, nor daily advisories in the future.