The El Dorado AVID Program

AVID targets students in the academic high middle — low A's, B, and even C students — who have the desire to go to college and the willingness to work hard.  These are students who are capable of completing rigorous curriculum but are falling short of their potential.  Typically, they will be the first in their families to attend college.  AVID pulls these students out of their unchallenging courses and puts them on the college track: acceleration instead of remediation. 

Not only are students enrolled in their school's toughest classes, such as honors and Advanced Placement, but also in the AVID elective.  For one period a day, they learn organizational and study skills, work on critical thinking and asking probing questions, get academic help from peers and college tutors, and participate in enrichment and motivational activities that make college seem attainable.  Their self-images improve, and they become academically successful leaders and role models for other students. 

The AVID curriculum, based on rigorous standards, was developed by middle and senior high school teachers in collaboration with college professors.  It is driven by the WICR method, which stands for writing, inquiry, collaboration, and reading.  AVID curriculum is used in AVID elective classes, in content-area classes in AVID schools, and even in schools where the AVID elective is not offered.

One key to a successful AVID program is a site coordinator/teacher who is a respected site instructional leader who works well with secondary school personnel and college students and faculty, who can organize curriculum as well as activities, and who is committed to serving the needs of target students. The coordinator also works with colleagues to implement AVID methodologies schoolwide, to place students in college preparatory curriculum, and to work with counselors to guide students through the college application process.

Tutors are essential to the success of the AVID elective class, where they facilitate student access to rigorous curriculum. As students from colleges and universities, tutors receive formal training and also serve as role models. AVID students who continue their education in college often return to the program as tutors.

State-funded, independent research, together with AVID’s own data, validate that the AVID college-readiness system works. Consider: AVID students are more likely to take AP classes, complete their college eligibility requirements, and get into four-year colleges than students who don’t take AVID. Almost all AVID students who participate for at least three years are accepted to college, with roughly three quarters getting into four-year universities. AVID also helps ensure students, once accepted to college, possess the higher-level skills they need for college success.

The AVID elective class is led by a teacher who's been trained in the program's methodologies.  AVID's professional development, however, goes further than that.  Teachers and administrators from throughout the school and district attend AVID's Summer Institutes, where they all learn techniques for bringing out the best in average students.  This way, AVID students are supported in content-area classrooms as well as in the AVID elective, and even more students can benefit from AVID .

Colleges demonstrate their support of AVID programs in many ways. They may provide class speakers, offer college credit courses to AVID high school students, include AVID students in residential, academically-oriented summer bridge programs, and follow and support the progress of AVID students during their college careers. The community supports AVID by providing speakers and summer apprenticeships for AVID students.

AVID is at work in over 3,500 schools in 45 states and 15 countries [Fall 2007]. Large urban schools, tiny rural schools, resource-rich suburban schools, struggling schools — they all find that AVID meets the needs of their students in the middle.