AVID: “Tried-and-True” Program Brings New Opportunities to High School Students
In its first year at East View High School, AVID – Advancement Via Individual Determination – has made a profound impact on the school. The program, a four-year elective course, is a transformative educational approach designed to empower students with the skills and tools necessary to achieve their dream of going to college.
“When reviewing AVID applicants, we look for motivated students who want to go to college but may need an academic push,” Christen Jonse, East View AVID Instructor said. “We give them the support to get their grades up, but they have to want to be here and fully engage.”
Students enter the program as freshmen and take the course up until they graduate, and they must be in at least one advanced course.
“AVID tutoring has really helped me understand things that I struggle with in my advanced classes,” East View freshman Emma Rivas said. “With all the organizational and study habits we practice, the program has really helped me stay on track.”
During an AVID class period, students spend half of the class doing tutorials and the other half learning basic skills to improve their every day learning – things like note-taking, studying strategies, and time management skills.
“In tutorials, we present a problem from another class to our peers, and they help us get to the solution,” East View freshman Omar Davila said. “It can be a small group doing geometry, biology, reading…Whatever it is, we figure out the answer together.”
Students use TRFs, or Tutor Request Forms, to request help with something they are stuck on in another class. Working with an AVID tutor and other students in a small group, each student presents their problem to their peers. In a collaborative exercise, students use the inquiry process to help each other understand their points of confusion.
This learning strategy is part of AVID’s WICOR model, an instructional approach that increases classroom rigor through Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization and Reading.
“AVID has already helped me a lot,” Davila said. “When I think about the next four years, I hope it will help me get into a good college and pursue the career of my dreams.”
Jonse, who served as an AVID instructor and coordinator in other districts before coming to GISD, is committed to helping as many students as she can achieve their academic goals.
“AVID is unique in that we give students all the tools they need to succeed,” Jonse said. “It equips students with confidence and preparedness to get the most out of their high school experience and prepare them for college and career endeavors.”
Students tour a variety of college campuses to get exposure to what college is really like. This year, students visited Southwestern University and have field trips planned to Temple College, Texas State and more.
“A lot of students in the program are first generation college-bound individuals and have no idea what to expect at a university,” East View Principal Alfonso Longoria. “In AVID, students explore majors, navigate the college application process, and learn about FAFSA - the federal application for financial aid.”
All students, along with all teachers, can benefit from AVID’s unique, student-centered instructional strategies. Longoria has made an effort to expose all teachers at East View to the WICOR learning model in an effort to implement these strategies across the campus.
“The research is there, the student success is there,” Longoria said. “It’s a tried-and-true program that changes kids' lives.”
This program is made possible by a grant from the Georgetown ISD Education Foundation.
To learn more about AVID, visit the program’s website.
