| Abstract: | The question of advocates for students in public schools has generated diverse responses. Administrators may believe that an unnecessary adversarial relationship will be encouraged by an outside advocacy organization. Yet, administrators polled for this study estimated that as many as 50% of students may not have advocates, and the advocates of an additional 25% are relatively unskilled in their advocacy attempts. Considering that the presence of advocates has been shown to increase student retention and academic success, it seems imperative that exemplary programs be identified and modeled throughout our public school system. |
