Welcome to The Guide to Family Group
Web Site and Database

The Family Group Database was organized into five major categories which are: Student Support, Academic Support, Futures, Socio-Political, and Teacher Support.


Search by Topic


In Using the Guide to Family Group and the Database, We Urge You to Take Note of the Following:

  • Family Group can be implemented in any school.

  • When starting Family Group, it is best to start small. Begin with those teachers or other staff who want to do it. At first, focus on building quality rather than quantity. Work to achieve buy-in from a broader group. Then seek to expand Family Group at a pace that makes sense for your school.

  • The Guide should not stand alone. It should be used in conjunction with professional development, discussion and other resource materials.

  • The Guide is divided into sections so that it is easy to use. You may want to read or copy out those sections most useful to you or your school.

  • In this Guide, we use the term Family Group rather than Advisory. We found that terminology varies from school to school. We also use the term Advisor to describe the person who runs Family Group, even though this person is usually a teacher or may be a social worker or other staff person.

    • We Have Created The Family Group Database to Provide "Best Practice" Activites for Teachers to Use in Family Group.
    To find an activity, type in a topic into the search engine or Click one of the links below.

    Read the Full Guide to Family Group


    Dear Educators, Students and Friends:

    Working in the New York City schools presents many challenges, but also wonderful opportunities. The New York City Alternative High Schools and Programs have a rich history of providing creative and substantive educational programs to young people from many different backgrounds. One of the most innovative and effective strategies has been Family Group. Family Group builds a positive school culture that improves student performance. Through Family Group, supportive relationships between teachers and students are strengthened, and positive peer relationships are developed.

    A group of us who have been running or supporting Family Group for years got together to discuss and document the many aspects of Family Group. Through the Youth Development Institute of the Fund for the City of New York, and The Superintendency of Alternative, Adult and Continuing Education Schools and Programs of the New York City Department of Education, we created The Family Group Task Force. Our goal was to draw on our experience to develop a guide and database that would offer practical information to those seeking to implement or improve Family Group in their schools. Here are the resources that we have created. We hope you find them useful.

    We wish you well in building Family Group.

    Sincerely,

    RoseMarie Arons . Alan Baratz . Mark Chenault . Shirley Edwards . Madeline Falk
    Sheila Richards . Maria Giacone . Steve Goodman . Gertrude Karabas . Kathe Karlson
    Melody Kellogg . Elayna Konstan . Nancy Mann . Patricia Martin . Nick Mazzarella
    Amy Mulvihill . Al Nilsen . Vivian Orlen . Lilit Suffet . Camilla Saly. Maritza Tamayo


    The Family Group Task Force, a collaboration between the Youth Development Institute of the Fund for the City of New York, and the Alternative, Adult and Continuing Education Schools and Programs of the New York City Department of Education, would love to receive your ideas and suggestions about this web page. Please send your comments to:

    The Family Group Task Force
    Youth Development Institute
    Fund for the City of New York
    121 Avenue of the Americas
    New York, NY 10013

    or submit your comments via this website. The webmaster can be emailed at
    [email protected]