AVID Coordinator: Denise Rush
AVID Mission Statement
Close the achievement gap by preparing all students for college readiness and success in a global society
PURPOSE OF AVID
"The purpose of the AVID program is to prepare traditionally underserved students for four-year college eligibility and to restructure the teaching methodologies of an entire school to make college preparatory curricula available to almost all students.
AVID recognizes that the only way students can get into or through college is by perseverance, hard work, and, as the program name reveals, 'individual determination.' AVID students get no special break—only a chance. AVID provides what first-generation college students may lack, and what advantaged students receive from their parents and community: high expectations, encouragement, day-to-day help, a vision of college as attainable, an advocate, and guidance in how to negotiate the system. AVID involves students in a strong group of peers and adults who share a commitment to academic achievement.
Ultimately, AVID provides scaffolding, a social and academic structure to support students as they work to succeed.
AVID targets students of mid-range ability who have the potential to succeed in a rigorous academic program but who would not succeed without support. It is not a remedial program for students who are failing, and it is not for gifted students who are already performing well. It serves the students in the middle, who are capable of success but are not performing up to their potential. AVID is, at heart, a program that equips ordinary students to accomplish extraordinary things." www.rimsavid.org
An Average Week in AVID Elective
WICOR
(The AVID Elective is designed to support students in skills for success throughout their academic schedule with a curricular focus on writing, inquiry, collaboration, organization, and reading (WICOR).
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Tutorial
(College tutors are available to facilitate tutorials. Their job is to guide the students to understand, not to give answers. Students are graded on the level of inquiry, preparedness, participation, notes, and reflection)
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WICOR
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Tutorial
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Binder Check
Bi-weekly grade report
Guest speakers
Team Building
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Binder Organization
AVID students are required to keep one binder for all of their classes (unless a teacher requires a separate binder for that class). Binders are a MUST for AVID students and are to be brought to every class, every day, including the AVID Elective. Binders are checked weekly and include the student planner, Cornell notes and work from all classes, tutorial forms, supplies, and dividers in the order of the student's class schedule.
Additional Support
In addition to twice weekly AVID Electiveschedule tutorials, our college tutors are available to AVID students after school two days each week.
Amelia Earhart Middle School has adopted AVIDmethodologies school-wide such as Cornell note-taking in all classes, inquiry-based instruction, students working collaboratively, and AVID-trained college tutors working in content classrooms to further support Earhart students toward academic success.
Over 90% of the teaching staff have participated in AVID Summer Institute training in San Diego and are well-versed in AVID methods to support their own content curriculum.
FieldTrips
In the spring of 2010, 8th-grade AVID students were impressed and delighted to visit the University of California, Irvine campus. This was an opportunity for the college experience to become"real" to the students and made the vision and goal of college in their future that much more attainable. California State University, Fullerton is the site for the 2011 8th grade field trip and students are looking forward to learning about college life and expectations.
For the past four years, young ladies in AVID have been invited to participate in the "Live Your Dream" conference sponsored by Soroptimist International. Students spent the entire day exploring careers, listening to the guest speakers, and being mentored by professional women from throughout Southern California
7th and 8th-grade AVID students are invited each year to the Path to Success Tour where students visit the campuses of Riverside Community College and the University of California, Riverside. This program is sponsored by Supervisor Bob Buster and the 1st District Youth Advisory Council of Riverside County. This is another example of an opportunity for our AVID students to experience life on the college campus. Students met with campus mentors, and speakers, toured classrooms, labs, and dormitories, and to even eat lunch with college students in the campus commons.
Community Service
All Amelia Earhart Middle School students are encouraged to be engaged in community service. This year, our AVID students donated over fifteen large bags of toys to the Salvation "Christmas angels" program, wrote letters to soldiers overseas for the OperationGratitude program, helped to create quilts for American soldiers, and help their peers organize their backpacks and binders in the "GO" (GetOrganized) program.
Transition to High School
AVID Elective teachers work closely with our local high school to assure our students are prepared for the next step in their education. High school counselors come to campus to speak to our AVID students, interview them one on one for application to high school AVID, and hold a parent information meeting every year here on campus. Each year, AVIDElective teachers meet with the AVID coordinator and teachers from the high school to discuss ways our students can prepare now for a successful transition to high school.
National Demonstration Site
Staff and students at Amelia Earhart Middle School are proud that of over 4,500 AVID schools nationwide, we are one of only fifty-one middle schools that have earned the designation of National Demonstration Site. As such, we were honored to host an AVID Awareness, in which sixty teachers and administrators from throughout the Inland Empire came to visit and learn what our students are able to accomplish and to share in the enthusiasm and expertise of our administration and entire teaching staff.