Inside Advancement Via Individual Determination

September 2013 | Houston, Texas
BY: Amy Williams

Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID), founded in 1980, began in one high school and has grown into a comprehensive system that is now present in more than 4,900 schools nationwide, including 89 in Australia!

Patrick Briggs, Director of AVID in Texas, works closely with a team to support avid college and career readiness in Texas schools.

"AVID is not just a program down the hall in one classroom," explained Briggs. "AVID is a true College Readiness System that is meant to affect all kids in the building."

AVID accomplishes this through its careful implementation of 11 Essentials that guide schools to college readiness success. One of the 11 Essentials includes having a Site Team, made up of administrators, counselors and teachers, in the school that attends the Summer Institute. This team is then able to hold professional trainings at the campus level so that the entire school is on board.  

Throughout the year, AVID remains a backbone of support to the districts by offering a wide variety of speeches, conferences and professional developments, classroom visits and mentoring opportunities.

"AVID training teaches you how to teach using research-based strategies so that all students are engaged, and the level of rigor is raised," said Briggs. "The goal is to help teachers become better so that the kids are the recipients and beneficiaries."

And the numbers support this. Across the nation, students in schools who have implemented the AVID College Readiness System met four-year college entrance requirements at more than twice the rate than that of the national average. Moreover, AVID students’ graduation rates have reached 99 percent.

^{Ninety-two percent of AVID students in Texas met the four-year college entrance requirements, in comparison to non-avid Texas students’ rate of 39 percent. Data collected from AVID and The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.}

"We have been able to analyze [data] for the past 33 years, so we do have proof that it works when you have fidelity for the AVID College Readiness System," said Briggs.

AVID is available for elementary through higher education institutes. Currently, there are 880 schools in Texas committed to the AVID system — making Texas the second largest state for AVID implementation nationally.

Learn more about joining the AVID family by visiting their website or attending an AVID Informational Session.  Also, check out the AVID National Conference, which will be held in Grapevine, Texas. The conference is open to the public, and there are more than 70 break-out sessions for participants to choose from.