Effective ADVISING Powers Choice-Filled Lives
Build the advising infrastructure that puts students at the center.
A Student Essential
Student advising should go beyond class schedules and applications, and it should start well before junior year. An effective advising program is a critical support system that helps students navigate diverse paths to postsecondary success in college, careers, and the military.
In Texas, advisors juggle a range of tasks to meet the individual needs of students and schools—and they have limited bandwidth.
We need to equip them for success by creating school-wide ecosystems of advising support.
Effective advising means having trained professionals who understand:
- The full range of college and career options, including high-quality pathways aligned to regional labor market information
- Crucial postsecondary resources and processes like FAFSA, TASFA, college applications, industry-based certifications and resume development
- Developmentally appropriate experiences that support students’ goal setting, like self-exploration, career exploration and work-based learning
Explore Advising Student Transitions Resources
Use Frameworks that Align Advising to Student Success
CCMR success is a natural result of relevant and effective advising. The best advising programs have a strong structure to steer students down paths that intersect with their long-term goals.
Without clear, forward-thinking guidance, students may enroll in coursework or pursue credentials that don’t support their goals. This inflates CCMR scores without making a lasting impact. A student interested in mental health counseling, for example, should probably be looking at classes within the state’s Human Services Career Cluster rather than a digital media class taken solely for the sake of obtaining an industry-based certification.
An optimal advising framework keeps students moving forward with intention.
Advising is the force that brings coherence to CCMR efforts.
Build a Schoolwide Culture of Advising
Advising is not a one-time or one-place event. Ideally, it encompasses a student’s entire range of daily activity. Effective advising extends beyond counselors and becomes embedded in the fabric of school culture. Teachers, coaches, and even parents should be part of the advising ecosystem.
Imagine if every adult involved with students understood the basics of postsecondary advising. Students would be surrounded by guidance, encouragement, and informed recommendations.
This advising work should start early. For example, seventh graders are beginning to discover their interests, but it’s natural that they’re still exploring and developing a sense of direction. At this stage, they’re just starting to learn about the wide range of careers and lifestyles available to them.
Through effective advising, these students can gain new perspectives on their interests and the practicality of future careers by exploring the myriad pathways that exist for postsecondary life, with support from the adults they come in contact with regularly.
Contigo Ed Resources
Bridging the Gap with Faculty & Staff
5 Strategies for Engaging Faculty in College and Career Readiness
Beyond Traditional Pathways
Practical knowledge about apprenticeship programs and how to integrate them into college and career conversations
Coaching Guide
A guide for administrators to shape advising programs
Postsecondary Pathways Microcourse
Identify viable postsecondary pathways that lead to early career opportunities
Future Plans Microcourse
Resources for career advisors to help uncover postsecondary pathways for students
Individual Advising Toolkit
A guide for advising students individually, to complement group advising
Family-School Collaboration
Contigo Ed’s tips for bridging the famly-school engagement gap
Group & Individual Advising
An overview of and hub for on-demand advising resources
Contigo Ed Professional Learning
An introduction to Contigo Ed’s CCMR micro courses
Make CCMR Meaningful Through Personalized Advising
Being ready to begin college, career or the military is the floor, not the ceiling. Advising drives what CCMR is all about: actual lifelong success for students rather than just indicators of readiness for that success. Effective advising turns compliance into opportunity, keeps students at the center of the discussion, and helps districts capture future funding all at the same time.
CCMR Outcomes Bonuses are a powerful means to enhance advising infrastructure. 55% of Outcomes Bonus funding is required to be reinvested in CCMR efforts, and effective advising is one of the most impactful ways to amplify district success while keeping students’ unique long-term goals at the center of the discussion.
Set up your advising program to do more than check boxes. Make it a transformational force in students’ lives.
