AVID
We are AVID
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Our staff has committed to using Writing as a Tool for Learning in every content area—not just ELA. We're seeing students use graphic organizers and quick-writes in Science, Math, and Social Studies to process new information. This means less passive copying and more active thinking, proving our students aren't just memorizing; they're grappling with ideas.
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Through dedicated Academic Vocabulary instruction, students are transitioning from general classroom language to using precise, content-specific terms. Furthermore, students are consistently using Inquiry-based strategies, moving from simply answering "what" to asking and investigating "how" and "why." Our classrooms are now buzzing with complex, scholarly discussion.
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Talmadge staff collaboratively implemented a standardized organizational system (binders, planners, and focused note-taking) across all grades. This discipline has significantly increased student responsibility, reduced missed assignments, and taught executive functioning skills. Our students aren't just organized for school; they are building habits for life.
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Our teachers have successfully integrated meaningful Collaboration routines, moving beyond simple group work. Students are now trained in techniques like philosophical chairs and Socratic seminars, meaning they can effectively teach and learn from their peers. This peer-to-peer accountability is raising the achievement level for the entire classroom.
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The entire AVID framework has empowered students to take ownership of their education. During recent Student-Led Conferences, parents witnessed firsthand how students could articulate their own data, set personalized goals, and reflect metacognitively on their learning—a direct result of their training in Organization, Inquiry, and Reflection (OIR).
AVID Impacts:
- Provides meaningful and motivational professional learning opportunities
- Develops campus-based leadership through the AVID Site Team
- Supports campus leadership in opening access
- Develops family and community outreach
- Addresses issues of access and equity
- Increases vertical articulation
- Increases enrollment in advanced academic courses
- Provides data collection and analysis
- Supports Common Core and other state standards
- Develops students as readers and writers
- Teaches specific strategies for critical and higher-level thinking
- Utilizes WICOR (Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization, and Reading) as a foundation for learning
- Employs Socratic methodologies
- Acts as a catalyst to improve the belief system, culture, and instructional strategies for all students
- Provides support so students can meet high expectations
- Empowers students with academic, career, and life skills
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- Provides meaningful and motivational professional learning opportunities
- Develops campus-based leadership through the AVID Site Team
- Supports campus leadership in opening access
- Develops family and community outreach
-
- Addresses issues of access and equity
- Increases vertical articulation
- Increases enrollment in advanced academic courses
- Provides data collection and analysis
-
- Supports Common Core and other state standards
- Develops students as readers and writers
- Teaches specific strategies for critical and higher-level thinking
- Utilizes WICOR (Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization, and Reading) as a foundation for learning
- Employs Socratic methodologies
-
- Acts as a catalyst to improve the belief system, culture, and instructional strategies for all students
- Provides support so students can meet high expectations
- Empowers students with academic, career, and life skills
Advancement Via Individual Determination
In 1980, bussing low-income students to San Diego’s Clairemont High School created disruption at this suburban, middle class school. Expectations were low for these students. Many assumed they lacked parental support, motivation and study habits to qualify for college. Most teachers at the school thought such students would need a watered-down curriculum to graduate. English department head and teacher Mary Catherine Swanson thought differently. She believed that if the students were willing to work hard, she could teach them the skills needed to successfully complete the rigorous courses that would prepare them for four-year universities.
She was right. Despite resistance from her colleagues, AVID, Advancement Via Individual Determination, was born. Protests from her AVID students, complaining about the tedious work in keeping organized binders and taking copious notes, gave way to increased confidence in their abilities as they proved to the naysayers that they were indeed capable of academic success that would lead to college admission.
What began in that first class of 32 students now impacts nearly one million students from elementary through higher education. Today, AVID is the largest, most comprehensive college-readiness system used by schools to improve the academic preparation and performance of all students, especially those who are underrepresented in higher education institutions.
- AVID, Advancement Via Individual Determination, is a schoolwide transformation effort focused on leadership, systems, instruction, and culture, and is designed to increase the number of students who enroll and succeed in higher education and in their lives beyond high school. The AVID College Readiness System is the only elementary through higher education instructional system (K–16), which allows for regional alignment that strengthens student potential for completion. AVID-trained educators teach students academic and social skills to help them develop the habits and behaviors needed to succeed in rigorous curriculum. The AVID College Readiness System is a catalyst for developing a school culture that closes the achievement, expectation, and opportunity gaps many students face, and it prepares all students for success in a global society. AVID membership can be funded through various federal, state and local sources.
- Visit AVID Summer Professional Learning for resources about available funding.
AVID training and resources help teachers improve student performance by embedding best teaching practices, encouraging self-advocacy, providing support, and building relationships that encourage student engagement. AVID is a leader in professional learning, training more than 25,000 educators each year. Opportunities include:
- Summer Institutes
- National Conference
- Leadership trainings
- Path (core content) trainings
Across all content areas, AVID’s research-based strategies and curriculum develops students’ academic skills, like reading, writing, and critical thinking, and academic behaviors, including organization, time management and goal setting.
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- AVID, Advancement Via Individual Determination, is a schoolwide transformation effort focused on leadership, systems, instruction, and culture, and is designed to increase the number of students who enroll and succeed in higher education and in their lives beyond high school. The AVID College Readiness System is the only elementary through higher education instructional system (K–16), which allows for regional alignment that strengthens student potential for completion. AVID-trained educators teach students academic and social skills to help them develop the habits and behaviors needed to succeed in rigorous curriculum. The AVID College Readiness System is a catalyst for developing a school culture that closes the achievement, expectation, and opportunity gaps many students face, and it prepares all students for success in a global society. AVID membership can be funded through various federal, state and local sources.
- Visit AVID Summer Professional Learning for resources about available funding.
-
AVID training and resources help teachers improve student performance by embedding best teaching practices, encouraging self-advocacy, providing support, and building relationships that encourage student engagement. AVID is a leader in professional learning, training more than 25,000 educators each year. Opportunities include:
- Summer Institutes
- National Conference
- Leadership trainings
- Path (core content) trainings
Across all content areas, AVID’s research-based strategies and curriculum develops students’ academic skills, like reading, writing, and critical thinking, and academic behaviors, including organization, time management and goal setting.