Learn More about AVID.
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AVID Application 2019
AVID is not just another program…
at its heart,AVID is a philosophy
Hold students accountable to the highest standards,
provide academic and social support,
and they will rise to the challenge.
AVID, Advancement Via Individual Determination, is a global nonprofit organization dedicated to closing the achievement gap by preparing all students for college and other postsecondary opportunities. Established more than 35 years ago with one teacher in one classroom, AVID today impacts nearly 1.5 million students in 46 states and 16 other countries/territories.
Across all content areas, AVID’s research-based strategies and curriculum develop students’ academic skills such as: reading, writing, and critical thinking. Academic behaviors, including organization, time management, and goal setting, are also taught as part of the AVID System. The AVID curriculum was developed by elementary, middle, and high school educators in collaboration with college professors. Driven by the WICOR method, and based on rigorous standards, AVID’s curriculum supports high levels of academic achievement for all students and aligns to state and national content standards.
What AVID Does
Simply, AVID trains educators to use proven practices in order to prepare students for success in high school, college, and a career, especially students traditionally underrepresented in higher education.
How AVID Works
AVID brings research‐based strategies and curriculum to educational institutions in elementary, secondary, and higher education. The AVID System annually provides 60,000+ educators with training and methodologies that develop students’ critical thinking, literacy, and math skills across all content areas throughout the entire campus, in what we call Schoolwide AVID.
- Teaches skills and behaviors for academic success
- Provides intensive support with tutorials and strong student/teacher relationships
- Creates a positive peer group for students
- Develops a sense of hope for personal achievement gained through hard work and determination
As a result, policymakers and educators now consider AVID's mission to be an essential strategy for closing the achievement gap, making college access and success available to all students.
AVID Tutorials and AVID Tutors
Tutorials and tutors play a vital role in the AVID Elective class, while also benefiting other content-area classes in a school. As a key component to the collaboration portion of the AVID System, tutorials are a time and place where students come with complex questions from any content class and get guiding support to confront tough problems and solve them within their own means.
Using their knowledge and experience, AVID-trained tutors are able to conduct collaborative tutorials that lead to increased student participation and success. Trained tutors are able to create an environment where students feel comfortable asking the questions that they might be embarrassed to ask in their content-area classrooms. Training tutors is critical for effective tutorials, and AVID Center offers many opportunities, including the Tutorology strand at Summer Institute, for site team members to learn the proper techniques for training their own tutors.
Tutors are essential to the success of AVID, acting as a resource and role model for AVID students both academically and socially. AVID alumni who continue their education in college often return to AVID at local schools or their alma mater as tutors to continue their involvement with the AVID family.
AVID’s proven learning support structure, known as WICOR , incorporates teaching/learning methodologies in the critical areas of Writing to Learn, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization, and Reading to Learn. WICOR provides a learning model that educators can use to guide students in comprehending concepts and articulating ideas at increasingly complex levels (scaffolding) within developmental, general education, and discipline-based curricula. Furthermore, the WICOR model reflects and promotes the expertise and attitudes that will serve students well in their academic lives and careers. The AVID Elementary L-WICOR design introduces understanding and learning to learn for the appropriate developmental levels, building the foundation for later more in-depth uses of WICOR .