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The Four Keys to Successfully Implementing AVID Strategies Schoolwide AVID National Conference 2015, San Diego, CA North Canyon High School, National Demonstration School Dr. Eric Comer: ​
[email protected] Melissa Ganas: ​
[email protected] ACRS School-wide: Ideas to Ponder ➢ AVID students promoting Cornell Notes and other Critical Reading strategies
➢ Hang map of where students have been accepted to college in a visible location as a focal point
for students, teachers, and visitors to school ➢ Students on daily announcements sharing their college experiences or “college corner.” This
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may include the application process, visits to campus, tips, helpful scholarship websites, college
success ideas, etc Building relationships with college reps on campus Guest Speakers (i.e. college professors lecture in a content class for a day) Student ID Badges include a college graduation year College pennants hanging in hallways Hang street signs with college/career terms Host College and Career Fairs on campus SAT/ACT test dates posted in each classroom and all common areas around the school Snippets of fight songs playing across intercom in between class periods College profiles scrolling on announcements -- What we call “featured college campus” Senior Awards Night celebrating college admissions and scholarships for all students College encouragement posters hanging around common areas on campus College "Wednesdays" (i.e. wear a college shirt) Scholarship Thursdays with college and career counselor during lunch College-themed door decorating contest School-wide Implementation of WICOR Strategies 1. Send "willing" and “interested” teachers to AVID Summer Institutes and PATH trainings from a
variety of content areas and levels 2. Build a "core" of experts in those WICOR strategies in each department 3. Create a professional development plan that incorporates AVID WICOR strategies so that over
the course of several years these strategies become part of the school culture for both teachers
and students. *We use monthly meetings after school to showcase and teach these strategies.
*Student forums allow students to share with the staff how these strategies have
benefited them in their classes and has helped us with staff buy-in. *Present these in a way that makes teachers feel as though these are best-teaching
practices and not adding onto their workload *The first year implementing WICOR strategies, start with ​
1 strategy​
; for example,
Cornell Notes, and focus PD sessions on the teaching and understanding of this
strategy so that teachers feel comfortable teaching it to their students and can
explain to their students why this is a valuable tool for their success. *​
We made the mistake​
of not reinforcing learned strategies throughout the school
year, so teachers felt confused about what do to and failed to use them with fidelity
in their classrooms. We have since re-grouped and seen more success in fidelity of
Cornell Notes and other WICOR strategies in all classes. Suggestions to Increase Staff Buy-In ✓ Administration sends clear message that WICOR strategies will be a focus at the school and why
they are important ✓ Until your school has its own data, show data from avid.org or other schools that have been
successful implementing WICOR strategies ✓ Send as many teachers as possible to Summer Institutes and PATH trainings to reinforce and
refresh WICOR strategies (​
support from district is crucial​
) ✓ Train all department heads in all content areas and invite them to be on the AVID Site Team ✓ Encourage department teachers to utilize WICOR strategies on a consistent basis within
departments ✓ Invite as many teachers from different content areas and levels (Honors, AP, MYP, IB) to be
members of the site team. ✓ Invite teachers to "lead" professional development sessions on a WICOR strategy they use well
(this practice builds teacher-leaders and increases the effectiveness of teaching in the building) ✓ Include WICOR strategies in school wide goals or as part of the TES (for example critical reading
strategies in all classes!) ✓ Create a "Best Practices" website as a resource for staff members to download WICOR ideas and
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templates and also to showcase the strategies they are using with student examples from their
classes Student testimonials (both current and former students) are powerful tools to help with getting
teachers on board “AVID Strategy Teacher of the Week” nominated by students Annually allow AVID site coordinator to address entire staff to talk about AVID program and
answer questions In addition, allow site coordinator to attend department meetings in all content areas to field
questions about program elements, AVID students, and/or to clear up any misconceptions about
the program Student Buy-In ▪
Planners for each student to promote organization and time management that include: ▪
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*Critical reading strategies “reference sheet” *High school and college entrance requirements *ACT/SAT testing dates reference pages *GPA tracker for all 4 years Inculcate WICOR strategies into all classrooms consistently and with fidelity so these become a
part of school culture Organize lectures or seminars where college professors present to students so they can get a
taste of college life Student Survey of WICOR strategies College Acceptance Letter celebrations (i.e. celebrate at lunch with a ceremony to place our
students college placards up in hallway College students visit with content classes (especially AVID classes) and explain the correlation
between critical reading and/or other WICOR strategies and success in college Implement a mentoring program on campus (i.e. pair up seniors with freshmen/sophomores) GPA calculator shared with all students so they can keep track of their own GPA Use announcements, school websites, and other means of social media to get kids excited and/or
interested in attending college Create a list of scholarship websites and tips to pass out to all juniors and seniors Counselors email students about college application deadlines and scholarship opportunities
(can be a generic email sent to all kids)
Encourage teachers to mention “in college you will do this” as a means to lend credence to why
we insist that they use WICOR strategies AVID Program Ideas (Especially if looking at applying to be a National Demonstration School) ❖ Host AVID Family Nights on campus and invite all students, staff, and students from feeder
middle and elementary schools
*We host THREE a year; our first TWO are also fundraising events *Champion’chip’ of Dips Night: Fall *AVID Sweet Success: Spring *AVID Awards Night: End of the school year th​
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❖ Middle School Outreach: Presentation/Activities with high school AVID kids and 7​
and 8​
graders to garner interest for the high school AVID program ❖ Create a website for your AVID program so parents and students can access the following: *AVID application for your school *Tutorials Request Forms, Grade Checks, Binder Checks *Highlights of program *Family Night Dates *Curriculum description for each grade level ❖ Involve as many staff members in the site team as possible ❖ Train site team teachers to identify. potential AVID kids and discuss the program with them ❖ Create a presentation to take out to middle schools (both charter and public) within the district
and outside to present to students and parents th​
❖ Create an informational AVID flyer to send out to 8​
grade parents in the district ❖ Encourage AVID students to volunteer in after school programs at surrounding elementary and
middle schools ❖ Create a website for the 11 AVID Essentials and upload documents, and evidence of strengths
and areas that need attention here. ❖ Invite district leaders, community leaders, business leaders, elected officials to AVID events. The
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kids and program speaks for itself! This helps with support, funding, fundraising, community
service opportunities, job shadowing, and more Invite college professors to guest lecture for the AVID kids Establish relationships with university representatives to help students with college applications
AND spreading the word about AVID tutoring positions STRONG TUTORIALS are a HUGE factor in Demonstration status. *Try a “tutorial bootcamp” each school year with ALL of the AVID students for 2
weeks. *Consider including the following: How a tutorial should function, how to fill out a
TRF, the importance of tutorials, how to ask good questions as a group member,
and what the expectations are of teacher, tutor, and fellow students *We have found that this has helped with common issues such as peer questioning,
participation itself, and it has decreased confusion about how to fill out the TRF
form *Encourage AVID seniors to become an AVID tutor next year as a college student
either at your school or another school that has AVID *Use high school AP/IB students as tutors if there aren’t enough college tutors for
all of your AVID classes *AVID Elective teachers train the high school and college tutors so expectations are
clear and the same information goes out to all tutors SAVE​
student samples of work: tutorial request forms, WICOR strategies in use, take photos of
professional development, family nights, awards nights, college visits, field trips, community
service projects, etc When creating an agenda for Demonstration visitation, include a variety of content classes to
show that WICOR is being used in all content areas
Example of Professional Development Plan ***This would be after a year of basic critical reading training to all staff members*** Teachers are broken up into “tiers” depending on their familiarity with critical reading strategies. All Tiers Establish connection to CCSS & the purpose of school wide critical reading focus I/C Map Literacy TA log-in information Methods/Strategies Resources available Literacy TA ‘Student Perspective’ Goals for C/R (with a template to support measurement of a TES goal) Skill based content specific critical reading lessons to meet both CCSS + TES expectations for the 2013 2014 school year 8/27/13 P/D to cover Literacy TA CCSS Reading/Writing Anchor standards Tier 1: Introductory ●
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Critical Reading Introductory Workshop will provide teachers with practical critical reading
strategies, instructional methods and helpful resources that will support improved student
literacy. The workshop will enable teachers to deepen their understanding of how critical
reading strategies are aligned with Common Core standards, support teacher development of a
measurable TES critical reading goal and assist in the development of skill based content
specific reading assignments. This workshop is for all teachers who need to further understand,
practice and implement critical reading strategies with the goal of meeting CCSS and TES
expectations for the 2013-14 school year. Review Cornell note taking system and invite teachers to take Cornell Notes during workshop View “Common Core Shifts” Compare Cornell Notes of Six Shifts and how critical reading will
support the six shifts. View ppt “Critical Reading Literacy Across Content Areas” o Objectives - To understand and develop o Common Core and Critical Reading o Learning goals o TES goal o Research suggests that literacy improvement is reflected in the six shifts. View “Message from a College Student” take Cornell Notes/discuss
Review BBB-Big Brown Critical Reading book o Focus on Strategies 1-7 each strategy will include teacher references to assist in the
creation of content specific critical reading assignments. o Strategy 1 ​
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Planning for Reading​
: reading with purpose:using text to create
purpose-driven reading assignments. o Strategy 2​
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Working Inside and Outside of a Text​
: strategies to prepare for reading tasks. o Strategy 3​
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Learning and Retaining Academic Vocabulary​
: the how, when and why of
learning and retaining vocabulary. o Strategy 4​
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Rereading the Text​
: building comprehension, clarifying, summarizing. o Strategy 5​
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Marking the Text​
: active reading strategy to engage critical thinking. o Strategy 6​
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Pausing to Connect Ideas within the Text​
: gaining a deeper understanding of
text. o Strategy 7​
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Writing in the Margins​
: six strategies that offer different ways to think about
texts. ●
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Culminating CR activity: Application of Strategies 1-7 will be applied to a nonfiction article. The workshop will conclude with an assignment to utilize the strategies and return to Workshop
2 with samples of student work. Workshop 2 will focus on writing assignments that will bridge
critical reading and writing as a means of assessment to measure literacy growth. Workshop 2
will also focus on resources to support teaching Critical Reading with an overview of AVID
Weekly and LiteracyTA. Tier 2: Intermediate ●
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Marking the text, writing in the margins, the connection to writing Philosophical chairs Socratic seminars: look at Literacy TA for an assessment rubric Tier 3: Advanced ●
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Revisit the purpose. Start with an article. Review marking the text. Write in the margins. Discuss. Go into writing exercise. Introduce new strategies. o Chart the text o Templates Strategy 10 Strategy 11--Creating your own Strategy 12--How does this look in other disciplines?
AVID NORTH CANYON HIGH SCHOOL There are 2,000,000 minutes in your high school career. What are you going to do with yours? AVID​
– Advancement Via Individual Determination ​
is an academic program that prepares students for college by teaching them the skills and characteristics needed to be successful in college through rigorous content, leadership opportunities, and tutorials. Students enrolled in the AVID program are required to take honors and AP/IB courses as well as an AVID Elective class in which the skills of writing, inquiry, collaboration, organization, and critical reading (WICOR) are utilized. AVID students also conduct college and career research. The AVID Elective is taught by a trained teacher and strategies utilized by AVID are integrated school wide to promote student achievement for all kids. AVID Student Profile The AVID student is a student with ​
academic potential and meets at least 1 of the following criteria​
: *Average­to­high test scores
*Desire and determination to be successful *At least a 2.5 GPA *College potential
*First in family to attend college
* Special circumstances *Historically under­served in four­year colleges (underrepresented racial or ethnic group, socio­economic circumstances) AVID at NCHS *We are an AVID National Demonstration School and our program is highlighted in national publications. *Been on the North Canyon campus since 2005 and began with one elective section of 25 students. AVID now has 10 elective sections (9­12) totaling close to 300 students. Our program thrives and continues to grow. *The skills the students learn from AVID and their Honors/AP/IB courses have translated into improved test scores; 100% of our students apply to multiple 4­year universities *AVID creates a “family” atmosphere for students in the program where they feel safe, comfortable, and encouraged to share and pursue their goals and dreams for the future. Tutorials An integral part of the AVID program is the tutorial process. Students are able to collaborate Tuesday and Thursdays to work through their difficult content classes. AVID college tutors serve as facilitators of these peer tutorial groups in which students work through a point of confusion in a content area and determine how to best answer their questions for those content classes. Students also turn in grade checks to monitor their progress in their classes and with their GPA. College and Career Since 2009 AVID seniors have been accepted to the following universities: Arizona State University, University of Arizona, Northern Arizona University, Grand Canyon University, Colorado University, Penn State University, Duke University, Johnson and Wales, Notre Dame, Southern Utah State, Menlo College, University of New Mexico, University of San Francisco, Indiana University, Cottey College, University of Illinois, and University of Tampa, and Smith College, just to name a few. This year North Canyon will graduate its 6th AVID senior class 54 students. Our AVID students visit all of the in­state university campuses and conduct extensive career research on several career choices. They then match­up that research with the best university for that degree so they are able to make the best choices when deciding which university to attend upon high school graduation. Scholarships/Awards In the past 3 years alone, AVID seniors have acquired over $1.3 million in merit awards from universities and private scholarships. This is a testament to the hard work, determination, and support of the AVID program at NCHS. Extracurricular AVID students at North Canyon have been members of MSAN, NHS, yearbook, varsity sports teams, STUGO (student government), and have volunteered in many community service programs such as Camp Swift and The Boys and Girls Club. Additionally, AVID students are leaders at our school and have won titles such as Homecoming Queen, Principal Extraordinaire, Varsity Captain, Yearbook Editor, Student Class President, and Arizona Youth of the Year. WE WANT YOU! If you are interested to know more about the program, please visit our website at: https://sites.google.com/a/pvlearners.net/nchs­avid/​
to download an application or contact: ​
[email protected] for more information. Websites to check out: Prezi: ​
http://prezi.com/fr6d1hakwxx_/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share NCHS North Canyon AVID: ​
https://sites.google.com/a/pvlearners.net/nchs-avid/ AVID: avid.org Please feel free to contact us at any point for comments, questions, and cool ideas to
share! Thank you! Dr. Eric Comer: ​
[email protected] Melissa Ganas: [email protected]