AVID (Advancement in Individual Determination)

AVID prepares and supports middle and high school students to take rigorous courses that prepare them for career and college.

AVID helps students to build academic, career and life skills to be used in middle and high school, and beyond. AVID provides school wide support for best practices in all classrooms. Students who may benefit from more direct support can take the AVID elective course. A normal week in AVID elective consists of two days of skill building, two days of tutorials and other activities that support thinking in other core classes, and one day of exploration into future planning such as careers and colleges. AVID is proven to help prepare students to be successful in courses they need to be ready for career and college.

What is AVID?

AVID is a college and career readiness system that provides professional learning and support to educators in preparing students for and delivering academically rigorous curriculum. It is a catalyst for schools to help identify capable students and to provide them with the skills needed to be the independent learners and creative problem solvers who then can succeed in higher education and the 21st century workplace. AVID is a tool for schools to build a culture of college and career readiness that inspires teachers and students to achieve and succeed academically. 

AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) is a foundational and holistic system designed to engage all teachers and students in a high quality of learning. The driving theory behind the AVID system is that students will succeed in rigorous courses and be college and career-ready if provided the proper support and access to rigorous courses.

AVID’s proven learning support structure, known as WICOR, incorporates the following teaching methodologies:

Writing as a Tool for Learning
Emphasis on Inquiry
Collaborative Approach
Organization
Reading to Learn

Learning and utilizing these skills allows students to comprehend at levels of complexity for a variety of applications in higher education and career preparation. The AVID system restructures the teaching methods of an entire school to open access to rigorous curricula.

Benefits of AVID

Surveys of employers indicate that what they are seeking in the workforce are people who get along with other people and can come up with creative solutions to new problems in collaborative ways. AVID’s scaffold of social and academic structures instills these qualities in students, while improving outcomes in academic performance, building critical reading and thinking skills for technical and college readiness coursework, and fostering collaboration among students, as well as educators.

In today’s sophisticated and rapidly changing workplace, the skills, strategies, experience, and confidence acquired by students working with the AVID system are integral to success in postsecondary education and career preparation for all fields.

Details of the AVID Methodology

AVID Methodology is about allowing students access to a rigorous college and career preparatory curriculum and providing professional learning to support teachers. Students learn how to set and work toward goals, how to manage their time, how to take notes, how to use binders to structure and organize their notes, and how to study using their organized materials. More details on the WICOR instructional strategies are included below: