AVID
We have incorporated the national Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program as our college readiness program. The AVID program provides us with tools and resources designed to promote and nurture academic excellence as an outcome for our students. We accomplish this goal by providing AVID’s dynamic, research-backed curriculum that is taught by specially trained teachers. As we raise the level of expectations, we believe our students will rise to the challenge!
We offer AVID as an approved elective course taken during the school day. We teach our students organizational and study skills, critical thinking, and methods to asking probing questions. Students receive academic help from peers and college tutors as well as participate in enrichment and motivational activities. As our students progress in AVID, their motivation and self-image improves. Knowing that college is now attainable, 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 WICOR method, which stands for writing, inquiry, collaboration, organization, and reading. AVID curriculum is utilized in the AVID elective class and in content-area classes including English language arts, math, science, and social studies.
History
AVID began in 1980 by Mary Catherine Swanson, then-head of the English department at San Diego's Clairemont High School. The federal courts issued an order to desegregate the city's schools, bringing large numbers of inner city students to suburban schools. While applauding the decision, Swanson wondered how these underserved students would survive at academically acclaimed Clairemont High.
Her answer was AVID, an academic elective. But it's more than a program, it's a philosophy. Hold students accountable to the highest standards, provide academic and social support, and they will rise to the challenge.
Today
Beginning with one high school and 32 students, AVID now serves over 425,000 students in more than 4,800 elementary and secondary schools.
Although AVID serves all students, it focuses on the least served students, those in the academic middle. The formula is simple: raise expectations of students and, with the AVID support system in place, they will rise to the challenge. What differentiates AVID from other educational reform programs is its astounding success rate. Since 2005, nearly 125,000 AVID students have graduated from high school and planned to attend college. Of the 27,891 AVID graduates in 2011, 91% plan to attend a higher education institution.
Our policymakers and school administrators now consider AVID an essential strategy for closing the achievement gap and making the college dream accessible to all students.