Cedar Ridge Middle School student Jimmy Pritchett meets daily with Assistant Principal Tommy Davis, but he isn’t in trouble.

The eighth-grader is a participant in a program dubbed “advisory,” which at least nine schools in The Daily’s coverage area have begun.

The aim of the program is to help teachers get to know students better and make them feel part of the school. The principals believe the program will improve the graduation rate. The state graduation rate is 85 percent. In this area, graduation rates range from 94 percent in the Athens system to 85 percent in the Morgan County system.

Pritchett and his classmates are seeing a different side of Davis, who spends most of his time on discipline issues.

“He’s strict, but we’ve seen that he can be fun,” Pritchett said. “We’ll talk about stuff like how our weekend went. It’s more of a friendly conversation.”

West Morgan High School Principal Bill Hopkins said his school started the advisory period after a suicide at Falkville High School last year. The hope is teachers and students will get to know each other by spending time together. With this knowledge, the teacher should notice unusual changes in the student or the student would confide in the teacher, he said.

Brewer High School Principal Cliff Booth, whose school holds advisory twice a month, said research shows students who get into trouble the most and are most likely to quit school are disengaged in school. They don’t get involved in school activities and they don’t get to know their teachers.

“We want them to feel like they’re a part of the school,” Booth said.

Cedar Ridge Principal Beth Weinbaum said that connection is particularly needed for middle school adolescents.

“Sometimes a teenager doesn’t feel comfortable going to a counselor or their classroom teacher, but maybe he might be willing to talk to his advisory teacher,” Weinbaum said.

Helping to sooth

Cedar Ridge sixth-grade teacher Bess Shannon said a student came to her because she didn’t understand why she got a grade on an assignment from another teacher. Shannon provided a teacher’s perspective and soothed the girl’s anger.

West Morgan allots seven minutes a day in the schedule. The time includes schoolwide announcements and promotion of college scholarship availability.

West Morgan English teacher Matt Adams said he tries to talk to a different student daily and he believes the philosophy works.

“A couple of students (in his class) don’t play team sports, but they’re into skateboarding and motocross,” Adams said. “I wouldn’t have known that if it wasn’t for this time.”

Hopkins requires teachers call their advisory students’ parents and get to know them too.

7 Habits

Cedar Ridge holds a 12-minute advisory period. The teachers developed a curriculum that combines the “7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens” program and the state’s character education requirements. They also have days to work on their math or writing.

The school is doing book study on Jim Stovall’s “The Ultimate Gift,” a story about a deceased father who leaves a series of life lessons in his will for his youngest son. Seventh-grade teacher Amanda Lee said the discussions build character and give her insight.

“Their answers really tell a lot about themselves,” Lee said.

Starting advisory

At least nine schools in The Daily’s coverage area recently implemented an advisory program: