AVID Fact Sheet
About The AVID Program (Advancement Via Individual Determination)
• AVID is designed to increase schoolwide learning and performance. The mission of AVID is to ensure that all students, and most especially the least served students in the middle capable of completing a college preparatory path:
- will succeed in the most rigorous curriculum,
- will enter mainstream activities of the school,
- will increase their enrollment in four-year colleges,
- will become educated and responsible participants and leaders in a democratic society.
• The AVID program works within the regular school day and includes an elective class, trained tutors, an AVID teacher, and a site team of teachers, focusing on college preparation, writing, inquiry, collaboration and reading.
• AVID serves over 70,000 middle school and high school students at 1,500 schools in 21 states and 15 countries.
AVID Results
What differentiates AVID from other school reform programs is AVID’s success rate. Independent research statewide in California, and national yearly data collection by the AVID Center have shown the AVID Program to be effective in preparing so-called average students for college. For example, since 1990, 30,000 AVID students have graduated from high school and gone on to four-year universities or colleges. Other program measures include:
• Ninety-five percent of AVID students reported enrolling in college, 77.1% in four-year institutions and 17.2% in community colleges. This is a four-year college going rate three times higher than the California state average (CREATE, 1999).
• Over 80% of AVID graduates are enrolled continuously in college since leaving high school (CREATE, 1999; Mehan, et al, 1996).
• Eighty-five percent of the AVID students expect to graduate from college in four to five years. Their mean college grade point average is 2.94 (CREATE 1999).
• African-American AVID students who participate in AVID for three years are enrolling in college at rates which are considerably higher than national averages. Fifty-five (55%) of the AVID African-American graduates enrolled in four-year colleges, while the national average was 33% (Mehan, et al, 1996).
• Of the Latino students who participated in AVID, 43% enrolled in four-year colleges. This exceeds the national average of 29% (Mehan, et al, 1996).
• AVID graduates complete the sequence of courses necessary for four-year college acceptance at an 84% rate; the California state average is 34% (CREATE, 1999).
THE CHALLENGE:
Although college remains the road to the American Dream, tremendous inequity exists, especially among minority and low-income populations. Closing this gap will strengthen our future workforce and our democracy.
THE SOLUTION:
AVID is designed to increase the
number of students who enroll in four-year colleges. Although AVID serves all
students, it focuses on the least served students in the academic middle. The
formula is simple—raise expectations of students and, with the AVID support
system in place, they will rise to the challenge.
HOW IT WORKS:
AVID students are enrolled in a school’s toughest classes, such as Advanced Placement, and receive support in an academic elective class—called AVID—taught within the school day by a trained AVID teacher.
RESULTS:
What differentiates AVID from other educational reform programs is its incredible success rate. Since 1990 nearly 30,000 AVID students have graduated from high school and gone on to college. Ninety-five percent of AVID students reported enrolling in college, 77% in four-year institutions and 17% in community colleges. This is a four-year college going rate three times higher than the California state average (CREATE, 1999). The national average for four-year college enrollment is 35%.
IMPACTS ON MINORITY
STUDENTS:
Latino AVID graduates attend four-year colleges at almost two times the national average, and the program’s African-American graduates at one-and-a-half times the national average. After two years, 89% of the AVID students in one four-year university were still enrolled and on track for graduation; this retention rate is far higher than the college average. (Mehan, 1996.)
WHAT OTHERS SAY:
AVID Founder and Executive Director Mary Catherine Swanson was CNN and Time Magazine’s 2001 America’s Best Teacher. She also received the prestigious McGraw Prize in Education. AVID has been featured on 60 Minutes II and in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and hundreds of other newspapers.
Contact Information
AVID Center
5120 Shoreham Place, Suite 120
San Diego, CA 92122
858.623.AVID(2843) voice
858.623.2822 fax
avidinfo@avidcenter.org