AVID
Advancement Via Individualized Determination, or AVID, is a national, nonprofit college readiness system offered to students of all academic levels in grades K-12. The system is designed to equip students with the necessary intellectual skills and behaviors for academic success in rigorous coursework. AVID empowers students with critical thinking skills to navigate the educational landscape through an explicit focus on high expectations. AVID emphasizes the development and refinement of student competence in writing, inquiry, collaboration, organization, and reading, or WICOR.
AVID’s College Readiness System is comprised of three primary components: AVID Elementary, AVID Schoolwide, and the AVID Elective course.
At the elementary level, AVID components are embedded into the daily instruction of all classrooms, across entire grade levels, to impact school-wide structures. AVID Elementary Essentials focus on four areas to ensure that all students are poised for academic success: Instruction, Culture, Leadership, and Systems.
AVID Elementary Components
Student Success Skills – encompassing communication skills (e.g. listening, speaking, writing), self-advocacy skills, note-taking strategies, critical thinking, and study skills.
Organizational Skills – both mental and physical; students learn to use organizational tools, as well as learn and practice skills around time management and goal-setting.
WICOR Lessons – emphasize instruction on writing to learn, inquiry, collaboration, organization, and reading (WICOR) to learn in all content areas.
Partnerships – among students, classrooms, grade levels, schools, feeder patterns, families, and communities.