Trustee Talk...

AVID Schoolwide offers a bright future for students

By Trustee Alex Cassadas

Kindergarteners learn more than their ABCs in our District. By the time they’re five years old, they’ve already learned about the importance of college and their future.

From our perspective in the Banning Unified School District, it’s never too early to dream big, so we’re implementing a nationally recognized college and career readiness program, at every grade level in every school.

It’s called Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) Schoolwide.

The AVID difference

Four years ago, Banning Unified was one of the first school districts in Riverside County to adopt AVID Schoolwide. We’re investing $46,000 into the program each year training teachers and providing students with binders, spiral notebooks, pens, pencils, highlighters, and college road trips.

In 2010, AVID expanded its mission and went from offering the program as an elective in middle school and high school to creating AVID Schoolwide to reach every student from kindergarten to 12th grade. About 2 million students are enrolled in AVID programs across the United States.

About 20 years ago, I first learned of the AVID program while sitting in an assembly as an eighth grader at Nicolet Middle School. The experience changed the trajectory of my life. I went from being a struggling “C “student to earning two college degrees and becoming a human resources manager.

http://www.banning.k12.ca.us/District-Administration/School-Board/Alex-Cassadas-Trustee/index.html

Within three to five years, we’re planning on having every teacher in our District trained in AVID Schoolwide. At the moment, more than half of the District’s teachers are trained in AVID Schoolwide.

For example, at Banning High School, training in AVID techniques has been as high as 75 percent for teachers, according to AVID coordinator Nathan Valdivia.

AVID Schoolwide

While AVID harks back almost 40 years, it’s not a curriculum and the program doesn’t change what is taught; AVID only changes how things are taught. AVID is taken from the Latin word avidus, which means “eager for knowledge.”

In classrooms, AVID Schoolwide creates its own vibe: teachers don’t lecture to rows of students with their hands up; teachers and students generally sit in a circle engaging in free-flowing dialogue and critical thinking exercises about class material.

AVID students take class notes in a three-and-four column format popularized at Cornell University and use a binder to organize their studies. They also sign a contract to do least two hours of homework every night. AVID classrooms have walls adorned with college banners, posters, and pennants as part of a college-going culture, and students often take road trips to tour their favorite colleges. AVID Schoolwide methods are also useful in the workplace.

College-bound

At Banning High School, AVID Schoolwide is dramatically increasing the college-going rate for those enrolled in the program.

In 2018, 97 percent of AVID Schoolwide students at Banning High attended either a four-year-college or a community college and every student except one is still enrolled, statistics show. Banning High is also on its way to becoming a Schoolwide Site of Distinction, the highest rating a school can achieve under the program.

And so as we strive to offer AVID Schoolwide to every student, we recall the words of AVID founder Mary Catherine Swanson:

“Teachers don’t understand the power they have”