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PACE (Professional Advisory in Career Education)
Mission Statement
To provide each student with an advisor who will aid them in maximizing
their high school experience.
Preface to the Teacher
The advisory committee will prepare lessons for all PACE activities.
The advisory committee will prepare guidelines for the PACE folder.
The advisory committee will train the teachers as necessary.
The counselors and teachers will receive in-service credit for the
training sessions.
Benefits of Advisory to Teachers
Advisories protect instructional time.
Advisories model teamwork, caring, and other desirable outcomes.
Everyone develops a more complete view of school.
Faculty interacts with students in a different setting.
Parents and other community members can become involved.
Introduction to the Academy Advisory
We, the educators at Jack E. Singley Academy, strive to provide the
best education possible for our students. Our goal is to work with
students and parents in order to produce graduates of the highest
caliber, mature young men and women who possess the skills and
confidence to meet any challenge their futures may hold.
We must acknowledge, however, that many obstacles exist in the typical
education systems of today:
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Students may not see how what they learn in one
classroom is related to what they learn in others.
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Students may not understand the relationship between
their education and their future, whether they plan to seek further
education and training or enter the workforce immediately after high
school. The student must assess where he or she is, seek options, make
decisions, and plan in order to go from where they are to where they
want to be.
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Students may feel “lost in the crowd” because they do
not find a supportive peer group or a specific adult they can turn to
for guidance and individualized attention. This is especially true of
ninth-graders, who may experience difficulties in the transition from
middle school to high school.
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Students and parents may feel powerless because they are
not allowed enough input about their future plans. Additionally, some
may feel the high school preparation is too general and unclear to be
useful.
We believe that when students cannot overcome obstacles
such as these, a variety of problems can follow. As frustration rises,
some drop out; others quietly fail. Some disrupt classes; others are
truant.
One major long-term consequence is that these young adults will have
fewer and fewer options for employment in today’s competitive workplace.
If students are to have a chance for a job that will allow them to
support themselves and the families they will later have, then earning a
high school diploma is a critical first step.
Our intent is to address the root causes of student dissatisfaction in
the hope that more will complete high school successfully. We have
designed this advisory program with all these concerns in mind.
How Advisory Works
Approximately every week, students will attend advisory for 35 minutes.
Each advisory class will have about fifteen students, to ensure better
personal attention.
The advisory teacher will present a lesson designed to improve some
aspect of the high school experience. These may be provided in a variety
of formats, from team-building activities, to group discussions, to
video presentations and more. In particular, some topics covered will
be:
The student’s specific team will design other advisory
sessions to discuss important issues.
Advisory teachers will assist students in compiling a folder that will
assist them in defining their career path and choosing courses for the
following year. The student folder may include such items as:
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