Being college-ready means students understand what is expected in a college course, can cope with the content knowledge presented, can take away from the course the key intellectual lessons, and have both the mindset and disposition necessary to enable understanding.

The AVID College Readiness System works to ensure students are college-ready by equipping them with the skills, academic behaviors, and college knowledge necessary to succeed at every level from elementary school to college. AVID helps students develop a vision for their future, gain confidence in their abilities, and take ownership of their learning.

The AVID Elective targets students in the academic middle who have the desire to go to college and the willingness to work hard. These students are capable of completing rigorous curriculum but are falling short of their potential. Often times, they will be the first in their families to attend college, and many are from socio-economically disadvantaged families.

Teachers, administrators and/or other faculty typically recommend students, and the selection process usually involves an interview. Though AVID provides guidelines and expectations, final selections and processes are left to the schools.

Students in the academic middle often move through our educational systems without any special recognition, positive or negative. While many of these students go on to graduate from high school, since they haven’t been pushed academically, they are often not ready for rigorous coursework in college upon graduation.

When a school has AVID, students in the AVID Elective and throughout the school are held to higher expectations and given the support they need to succeed and prepare for postsecondary opportunities. By pushing students into more rigorous coursework, encouraging, assisting, and advocating for them every day, AVID greatly increases the likelihood of students making it to and through college.

AVID tutorials and AVID tutors play a vital role in the AVID Elective class, while also benefiting other content area classes in a school. Using their knowledge and experience, AVID trained tutors facilitate learning in study groups by subject that leads to increased student participation and success.

Tutors are typically college students, often AVID Alumni that create an environment where students feel comfortable asking questions and deepen their understanding of content and concepts in a collaborative, supportive setting. Tutors are essential to the success of AVID, acting as a resource and role model for AVID students both academically and socially.

AVID Secondary goes beyond the AVID Elective course to affect an entire campus or district by creating a college-going culture that increases the number of students who enroll and succeed in higher education and their lives beyond.

The AVID Elective is the core of AVID Secondary. It targets students in the academic middle with the desire to go to college and the willingness to work hard. Typically, they will be the first in their families to attend college, and come from groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education. These are students who are capable of completing rigorous curriculum but are falling short of their potential.

AVID places these students on the college track, requiring them to enroll in their school’s toughest courses, such as Honors and Advanced Placement®. To support them in the rigorous coursework, AVID students learn organizational and study skills, develop critical thinking, learn to ask probing questions, receive academic help from peers and college tutors, and participate in enrichment and motivational activities to make their college dreams reality.

To ensure success, AVID Secondary needs an AVID site coordinator who is a respected site instructional leader and works well with secondary school personnel and college students. The AVID site coordinator organizes curriculum as well as activities for the AVID Elective classes and is committed to serving the needs of students.

The coordinator also works with colleagues and counselors to implement AVID methodologies schoolwide, place students in college-preparatory curriculum, and guide students through the college application process. The AVID site coordinator not only embeds best teaching practices, supports students, develops family and community outreach, but also works with the districts and divisions that oversee AVID’s implementation.

AVID parents encourage their students to achieve academically, participate on an advisory board and in AVID parent and site team meetings, as well as maintain regular contact with the AVID coordinator.

Community support is vital for a strong AVID Secondary implementation. The community can support AVID by providing speakers and summer apprenticeships for AVID students. Colleges can demonstrate their support of AVID in many ways, such as providing class speakers, offering college credit courses or summer programs to AVID high school students, or following the progress of AVID students during their college careers.