Revising the Routine: Hamilton Has Opinions on Advisement
Photo from Hamilton School District.
Gia Quast
This year, there have been a myriad of changes to scheduling. The music students of course have been dealing with changes for years, but now there has been a change that affects all students: advisement.
The student body and staff all have gone through these changes together; however, not all are aware that these changes are not the last. Starting in the fall of the 2025-26 school year, every single day will have advisement from 12:30 to 1:05 p.m. Basically, all days next year will be like the current Wednesday advisements.
This year, the HHS administration piloted a Wednesday advisement to see if a different time than usual would work. Going into it, they knew teachers would lose class time, but they felt the makeup time from advisement would allow teachers to have the time to connect with kids and regain lost class time. To make the schedule more consistent, they’ve adjusted all advisements in the coming year to match the same time frame as Wednesday. Associate Principal Mr. Doyle told me that it is all intended to be in students' best interests.
When asked for the rationale behind this upcoming change, Mr. Doyle said that this setup is intended to benefit both students and teachers. Since at this point in the day three classes will have passed, the administration believes that advisement after third block will be a better time for study and review. They also believe that it will allow teachers to be more responsive to the needs of the students.
Mr. Doyle also wanted to iterate that Flex has come a long way this year. With the advent of a brand new scheduling system and many more travel days, it has come to be a much more useful way of going about advisement scheduling than previous years. The hope is that after this year, it will be a more proactive and intentional way for students to get the help they need and that teachers may use it intentionally for catchup and small group instruction.
However, with new changes come new opinions of course, so I sent out surveys to both teachers and students. Given it was a voluntary response survey for teachers and students, some of the opinions expressed may be leaning towards an extreme of liking or disliking. Both had questions relating to feelings on the changes, what they feel could improve, and even if there would be a better time for advisements. Since so many students responded, it is safe to generalize the given views to the entire student body. However, only a small portion of teachers responded despite the anonymous survey, so unfortunately their opinions may not give the same representation.
Included below are the survey questions, the percentages of respondents, and a few quotes pulled that were representative of survey trends.
Teachers:
Rate how you feel about the current advisement scheduled time (between first and second block)?
Out of 20 HHS teachers, the average approval rating was 6.80 out of 10 stars.
Explanations:
“I'm somewhat fine with it but feel it would be most beneficial to have at the beginning of the day (and make it optional for students with C averages or above in classes but required for students with less than C’s). This would make every day kind of a late start but would be more focused on students that need extra support.” (Rated 3 stars)
“I think it is fine. I don't strongly like or dislike the schedule.” (Rated 6 stars)
“It is a nice break early in the day so students can get some homework done before their classes in the afternoon as well as give their brains time to wake up for the rest of the day.” (Rated 8 stars)
“I have mixed feelings. I think students should get more settled into their daily schedule before going to advisement.” (Rated 5 stars)
Do you feel the current advisement schedule is beneficial?
65% said ‘yes’ while 35% of teachers said ‘no.’
Explanations:
“Yes. It does not matter much to me when the advisement period is throughout the day. I am just happy that we have one every day. The more flex advisement periods we can have, the better.”
“Yes. I do believe it helps students. Many students use it as a study hall to get homework done (which is obviously beneficial), and I use some of the advisement periods for study sessions and MTSS tier 2 support for identified students. Advisement enables teacher access to students during the school day instead of meeting before/after school (which gets tricky for both teachers and students).”
“No. I feel like Advisement will remain a waste of time regardless of when it takes place.”
“Yes, [it] breaks up the morning and [is the] optimal time to get work done.”
Would you prefer a different time for regular advisement?
55% said ‘it depends’ while 20% said ‘no’ and 20% said ‘yes.’
If it were up to you, what time would you prefer advisement be scheduled?
20% said before first block would be the preferred time.
“This is how a lot of schools do it. It would mean that we could give students with good grades a chance to come late.”
“This would allow students to pick a teacher after they attempted to complete the previous evening’s homework and go to where they really need help most by being better informed.”
35% said between first and second block would be the preferred time.
“I feel that if it moves to between third and fourth as it likely will, it will lead to a further "check-out" for students in fourth block. It creates a transition where students will begin to mentally end their day, the number of classroom management issues will rise, and student learning will be negatively impacted.”
“Honestly, the timing doesn't make a huge difference to me. However, earlier in the day would mean more students (particularly upperclassmen) are still in the building. And it gives students a chance to prep for their upcoming classes.”
15% said between second and third would be the preferred time.
“Advisement around lunch time would be a better fit. [It would] give student[s] more [of] a break in the middle of the day. Growing brains need downtime.”
“Two things: (1) Advisement before lunch makes the lunch schedule more practical (eating ‘lunch’ at 10:15am feels pretty absurd). And students will be pretty hungry by the time they get home. (2) Students won't want to do programmed tasks in advisement that late in the day. They'll be worn out from their classwork. Motivation to do ‘non-essential’ tasks will be low.”
20% said between third and fourth block would be the preferred time.
“Advisement towards the end of the day seems better. Students would have more homework to be working on. I wouldn't want it to be after fourth block, however, because I think that would create a lot of attendance issues.”
10% said after fourth block would be the preferred time.
“If we really want this time to be usable, we should allow students to come at the end of the day. I think this time would be more useful for students than splitting between blocks 3–4 and provides a better path to starting homework than midday. It could also be incentivized for students with high grades/good behavior to go home early so teachers can target students who really need or want the support.”
How do you feel about the new Wednesday advisement?
The average approval rating was 5.40 out of 10.
Explanations:
“I think it makes the day feel incredibly long and is disruptive to the schedule. Advisement for the vast majority of students is simply a study hall, which I am going to argue is not comparable to in-class academic time. Why are we shortening academic blocks and instructional time to give students a study hall on a day where they already show up late?” (Rated 1 star)
“Having PLC and my regular schedule plus advisement is getting to be too much.” (Rated 1 star)
“It's nice to have the flexibility to meet with students every day.” (Rated 8 stars)
Would you rather have it at another time on Wednesday?
While 35% said ‘no’ and 35% said ‘yes,’ 30% of teachers agreed we should not have Wednesday advisement.
How has the way advisement is scheduled (especially on Wednesdays) affected your day?
“It has not changed the flow of my day all that much.”
“I am still not used to Wednesdays.”
“Having to reschedule lessons/assessments on Wednesdays because of the shortened class periods.”
“I don't like that classes are 10 minutes shorter. That adds up.”
If you could make one change what would it be?
“Run the same schedule every day, for consistency's sake. A days/B days, late starts, shifting advisements…It's all too much.”
“I don't have strong feelings about the schedule/timing of advisement, but how the time is used or structured could be better.”
“Bring back commons.”
“No more required curriculum for home advisements. It aggravates everyone.”
“I recommend we move advisement to the beginning of the day and make it optional for students with C averages or above in classes but required for students with less than C’s.”
Students:
Rate the current advisement schedule (between blocks 1 and 2) on a scale from 1-10.
Out of 103 Hamilton students, the average approval rating was 7.28 out of 10 stars.
Do you feel the current advisement time (after first block) is beneficial?
20.4% of students said ‘no’ while 79.6% said ‘yes.’
Explanations:
“No. Since I've only been in one class prior to advisement, I don't have much homework to do.” —Caroline Doherty, freshman
“No. I normally have no work to do at this time. Having advisement later in the day would be better because I would have more work to do.” —Anonymous, sophomore
“Yes, I think kids will be too tired to complete their work when given a later advisement time, and this is evident on Wednesdays.” —Madelynn Arthur, junior
“Yes. Only when I have work time, but I don't feel productive when I don't have anything to do.” —Anonymous, freshman
Would you prefer regular advisement to be later?
When asked, 66% said ‘no’ while 34% said ‘yes.’
What is the ideal time for advisement?
9.7% said before first block would be ideal; 51.5% said between first and second; 4.9% said between second and third; 16.5% said between third and fourth block; and 17.5% said after fourth block.
How do you feel about the new Wednesday advisement?
This answer came as the most varied, resulting with an average rating of 5.64 stars out of 10.
Explanations:
“I am not as fond of the Wednesday advisements because the schedule is changed so drastically. It messes up my internal clock and many of my friends also. Most people are not hungry for lunch at 10:30 in the morning if they have A lunch, and some people go to the wrong classes because the classes are shorter and there is a different schedule.” —Kirsten McMillan, freshman (Rated a 2)
“I hate having to go right from first hour to second hour, and by the time I get to advisement, which is after lunch for me, I have no work to complete or that I can complete within an advisement, or I'm too tired to do it.” —Madelynn Arthur, junior (Rated a 3)
“I like having the extra time to work on homework and meet with teachers, but it makes the day feel more dragged out because you're not going to fourth block and getting the day over with; you have to cram in another thing.” —Anonymous, freshman (Rated a 5)
“I like the Wednesday advisement because it gives me more opportunity to do homework and make up tests.” —Caitlin LaVoy, freshman (Rated an 8)
Would you prefer Wednesday advisement to be at a different time?
20.4% of the surveyed students said we should not have Wednesday advisement while 36.9% said ‘no’ and 42.7% said ‘yes.’
What would be a good time for Wednesday advisement?
“The normal time it’s at every day or not at all. It was perfectly fine without advisement
last year and the first semester this year. It’s confusing to throw at students halfway through the school year, especially those with work experience as this probably messes up the routine they established of going home to do homework. I feel that students who have work experience fourth block should be able to leave after their third block on Wednesdays regardless if they need to be at work right away or not.” —Addison Lunde, junior
“I would prefer Wednesday to be at the same time as the rest of the days. Between throwing off my entire schedule and not being long enough to do anything in, it's not worth it to have Wednesday advisements.” —Ara Schultz, junior
“I think I just like having it between first and second block because that's what we're used to, and I feel like I am more productive then than during the end of the day.” —Anonymous, junior
Final Statements
After reviewing the opinions of both students and teachers, I do not see a clear reason as to why the advisement schedule had to change or why it will change going forward. The general opinion is too varied for it to be something that satisfies all parties. Particularly the teachers’ negative opinions on their dislike for it strikes the biggest cord within me; after all, if it doesn’t benefit the educators, how can it be expected to benefit their pupils? The frustrations would trickle through the hierarchical levels.
Change for the sake of change is not worth it. In my opinion, it has the potential to worsen a system. If advisement is going to have a schedule change, give it more rationale. There needs to be a better connection between the thoughts of the ones experiencing the changes and the ones doling it out, because it currently feels like that is lacking.
Especially since so many students treat advisement as a social period, I don’t personally understand why class time has been sacrificed on Wednesdays and will continue to be for the sake of one extra day per week compared to the previous years.
Since I have gotten the unique privilege of seeing what (most) of the teachers and students think, I believe that we should have regular advisement--from 11:02 to 9:25--every week day except Wednesdays. Wednesday schedules should not have advisement included. It is a misuse of time in many people’s eyes, including my own.
I’d like to add that there have been positive changes. The needs-based daily scheduling through flex has a good reason behind it and can be useful when used correctly. It was a good idea to test a later advisement; however, I think that it would have been better to get a consensus before definitively planning out the 2025-26 schedule to match.
