Advisory Council: A Partnership for Successful Health Science Programs

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Advisory Council A Partnership for
SuccessfulHealth Science Programs

• Guy Finne, Mayo Clinic

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What is an Advisory Council?

• Is it a social clubhopefully there is social
  interaction however, if we are just drinking
  coffee and chatting we may have problems
• Is it something that is just on paper to meet
  requirementsOUCH!
• Webster
• 1 having or exercising power to advise ltan
  advisory councilgt
• 2 containing or giving advice

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What is the Role of an Advisory Council?

• Best when they are win/win situations, all
  parties benefit from participation
• Can be a change agent provide consultation that
  includes outside perspectives
• Be a think tank working thru challenges
• Bring the world of health care to education
  bring the world of education to health care
• Networking and resources sharing
• A collaboration that will strengthen the ability
  to provide quality education

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What can an Advisory Council do for you?

• Guidance on Curriculum
• Guidance with Classroom Equipment Needs Set-up
• Access to Community Resources
• Professionals in the classroom
• Technology
• Workforce skills (technical and personal)
• Advocate for the Program
• To the Community
• To the School Board/Administrators
• To the Customers (students!)

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Continued What can an Advisory Council do for
you?

• Access to funding support
• Access to career education programs mentorships,
  apprenticeships, work-studies, etc.
• HOSA judging
• Special project grading such as a career display

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Who Should be on Your Advisory Council?

• The Secondary Educators
• The CTE Administrator
• Local health care organizations both large and
  small
• Local Higher Education
• Older Adult Services
• Emergency Services
• Other Health Care Specialties (i.e. Prosthetic
  Lab services, Pharmacy, Dental, etc.)
• Workforce Development
• Parents
• A Student

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What are the signs of a Successful Advisory
Council?

• Regular meetings
• Well attended meetings
• Lots of sharing, communicating, interacting at
  meetings
• Chair is not one of the school educators
• Respectful, open dialogue
• People willing to provide resources Ownership
  (more on this later)
• Focus is on the needs of students!

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Suggestion!

• Dont have folks on the Advisory just to have
  them on the Advisory! They need a purpose!

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My personal preference

• An Advisory should be closer to a partnership
  versus solely an Advisory
• I personally think you will have a stronger
  program if the Advisory feels some ownership in
  what is taking place
• When trouble arisesit is easy for Advisory
  Members to walk away if they do not feel like
  they have some skin in the game
• Ownerships brings accountability which brings a
  desire for success which brings real resources to
  the table to insure that success

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Advisory Council can help

• With Evaluationsstudent and parent (shows non
  bias effort)
• When there is troubleyou can ASK for help

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Advisory Council Pitfalls!

• Politics and Ideology
• Scheduling/time to meet conflicts (lack of
  flexibility)
• The wrong focustoo much looking in the mirror
  versus the needs of the student
• Too much talk
• Starving the Relationship
• People need assignments
• People need to feel wanted/needed
• People need to have their time used wisely

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MN Department of Education

• MN Department of Education has a tremendous too
  Career and Technical Education Program Quality
  Assessment Rubrics which can be used as a great
  guide on Advisories as well as other program
  topics
• http//education.state.mn.us/mdeprod/groups/Career
  TechEd/documents/Manual/009345.pdf

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What is the Advisory Council doing at the Health
Science Careers Center?

• We are changinga few of us became concerned
  about the Advisory Councils value add to the
  educators
• Bottom-lineif an Advisory is not a value add
  to the educators (and ultimately the students),
  then it is failing

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Health Science Careers Center

• We now offer multiple Pathways having 1 Advisory
  Council did not make sense anymoreneed a
  separate Advisory for each educator/Pathway
• Nursing Assistant Pathway
• Therapeutic Pathway
• Biomedical Science Pathway

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Structure
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Meeting Format

• Quarterly Meetings thru the school yearfirst one
  in October
• Meeting Schedule
• 3pm 4pm Pathway Advisory Councils meet with
  individual educators
• 4pm 430pm Advisory of the Whole meets to
  share and discuss common topics
• With that saidemail and phone conversations
  between meetings will be encouraged

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Questions Discussion