AVID
AVID stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination and is multi-grade system designed to prepare students for 4-yr college eligibility. It has a proven track record in bringing out the best in students, while still allowing course-selection flexibility.
The AVID Student
AVID targets 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 may need support in reaching their full potential. Many will be the first in their families to attend college, and are from low-income or minority families. AVID puts them on the college track: acceleration instead of remediation.
The AVID Elective
Oakland High's AVID program is growing, and we currently offer global AVID electives courses in the 10th and 11th and 12th grades. A rigorous course of study is programmed for each student and often includes the school's toughest courses, such as Honors and Advanced Placement®. In the AVID elective (which meets one period a day, every day) students learn organizational and study skills, work on critical thinking and asking probing questions, get academic help from peers using the tutorial method, and participate in enrichment and motivational activities that make college attainable, such as SAT prep and college tours. Students' self-confidence grows, and they become academically successful leaders and role models for other students.
The AVID Curriculum
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 WICOR method, which stands for writing, inquiry, collaboration, organization and reading. AVID curriculum is used in AVID elective classes, as well as in great number of content-area classes at OHigh.
The AVID Faculty
One key to a successful AVID program is a site coordinator/teacher who is a respected site instructional leader 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 the to guide students through the college application and scholarship processes.
The AVID Parent
AVID parents encourage their students to achieve academically, participate on an advisory board and in AVID site team meetings, and maintain regular contact with the AVID coordinator. Many parents and students participate in AVID Family Workshops.
Results
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. Visit the AVID website to learn more about AVID's data and research.
Professional Development
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, counselors, and administrators attend AVID's Summer Institutes and regional PATH Trainings, where they all learn techniques for bringing out the best in average students. This way, all Oakland High students are supported in content-area classrooms as well as students in the AVID elective, and even more students can benefit from AVID.
Community
A nationally recognized college-prep program, colleges demonstrate their support of AVID programs in many ways. They may provide class speakers, 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.
Where is AVID?
AVID is at work in nearly 4,500 schools in 45 states as well as the District of Columbia and 16 countries/territories. 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.