Running head: Implementation of AVID

Implementation of AVID in Northwest Independent School District

Todd Anderson
University of North Texas

Implementation of AVID

Abstract
One of the latest buzz-words in education is the notion that students need to be College-andCareer Ready. Ideally, every student that walks through our doors would exit with the education
they need to succeed in a college or career field. Realistically, this does not occur. Schools, and
by virtue of oversight, districts, are keenly interested in seeing that their students leave with a
foundational education that will be a springboard to future opportunities. Pre-Advanced
Placement (PAP) and Advanced Placement (AP) classes challenge students to take rigorous
coursework to prepare for a post-secondary education. However, statistics show that particular
student minority groups are much less likely to take an AP course. With those statistics in mind,
the Northwest Independent School District (NISD) implemented the Advancement Via
Individual Determination (AVID) program at all secondary campuses, beginning with middle
school campuses during the 2015-2016 school year and extending to three comprehensive high
school campuses in the 2016-2017 school year.
Keywords: AVID, College and Career Readiness, Advanced Placement

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3
Implementation of AVID in Northwest ISD

NISD currently serves in excess of 22,000 students in grades kindergarten through high
school senior (K-12). In its mission statement, the district states that it will be the best and most
sought-after school district where every student is future ready: Ready for College, Ready for the
Global Workplace, and Ready for Personal Success (NISDTX.org, 2016). At its core, NISD
encourages all students to challenge themselves through rigorous coursework to include the
taking of PAP and AP courses. While the district has seen overwhelming growth in its AP
program over the last couple of years, district leaders still want to see typically underserved
demographic groups achieve college and career readiness through rigorous AP coursework.
In its determination to ensure college and career readiness, NISD has begun implementing the
AVID program. According to Huerta and Watt (2015), AVID is a college readiness system that
includes components such as rigorous curriculum, tutoring, and other forms of college
preparatory scaffolding for students who are in middle school and high school (p. 20).
Coordination and Monitoring
In NISD, the district director of College and Career Readiness, Kyle Seipp, serves as the
AVID district coordinator. Mr. Seipp works with each of the AVID Site Coordinators (typically
an associate or assistant principal) in responding to AVID site needs, assisting in building
respective capacities around implementing AVID, team training, as well as coordinating and
approving the data collection process. In addition, Mr. Seipp works with each AVID site to
coach them through the AVID certification process around the 11 AVID Essentials. Ultimately,
Mr. Seipp will submit each site for AVID certification. Mr. Seipp is still working to evolve his
AVID district level team and stated that is one of his goals for the 2016-2017 school year (K.
Seipp, Personal Interview, October 4, 2016).

Implementation of AVID

Ideally, this district level team will coordinate district efforts to ensure the implementation of
AVID meets the programs objectives and the district receives benefits from the monies it
allocates for the program. Mr. Seipps team will monitor for effectiveness in increasing
underrepresented ethnic and socioeconomic status participation rates and success in advanced
coursework. The district has a distinct reason for doing so. Its mission statement and vision detail
its desire to ensure all students are future ready.
The districts rationale for choosing AVID lies in AVIDs track record of successes. Huerta
and Watt (2015) found that, AVID graduates who enrolled in universities or attended
community colleges, many of whom may have otherwise not enrolled in college, exhibited Fallto-Fall retention rates that were similar to or higher than national averages (p. 27). Schools, and
by virtue of oversight, districts have a keen interest in ensuring not only that students graduate
from their schools but are also equipped with skills necessary to be successful in post-secondary
education.
History of AVID in Northwest Independent School District
According to Seipp, What we know for a fact is that students that take AP courses are

more likely than their peers to be successful in entry level college courses, and in turn, be better
prepared to persist to their chosen degree. This very much falls in line with what Smith, Elder,
and Stevens (2014) identified when evaluating the effectiveness of AVID in Metropolitan
Nashville Public Schools. They stated, If students have been exposed to a rigorous curriculum,
the college acceptance rates will reflect and enhance the correlation rates between the students
aptitude and the individual schools approach on educational outcomes (p. 27).
With this in mind, the AVID program was implemented during the 2015-2016 school year
at the five NISD middle school campuses with a goal of challenging middle-level learners with

Implementation of AVID

taking more rigorous coursework. Targeting the districts middle schools for the implementation
of the AVID program is the correct approach. Research shows that introducing techniques to
prepare students for more rigorous coursework should start at an early age. In fact, Huerta et al.
(2013) found that, findings reaffirm the notion that the longer a student is engaged in college
preparation activities and AVID in particular, the more prepared that student is for high school
rigor and college readiness (p. 34). In its inaugural year, the AVID program on the middle
school campuses resulted in the enrollment of approximately 291 students. The targeted
demographic, according to the districts middle of the year superintendent report, was to
provide support for students who previously have not taken a PAP course. (NISDTX.ORG,
2016).
Budget
According to Mr. Seipp, budgeting for the AVID program in Northwest ISD utilizes a
district-level budgeting model, where the money for the AVID program is allocated, managed,
and spent at the central district office. As the district grows the program over the next several
years, Mr. Seipp sees this model shifting from a central office responsibility to a campus
allocation of funds for training, tutoring, supplies, and miscellaneous costs such as field trips.
Figures provided by Mr. Seipp showed that for the 2016-2017 school year, the Northwest
ISD central office allocated approximately $132,000 for the AVID program. Of these funds,
$36,950 (28%) were allocated for membership fees at the eight secondary campuses with AVID
programs. 39.6% of the funds---$52,200---went towards the AVID Summer Institute and
Professional Development to train teachers in the AVID program. $15,645 (11.9%) was
allocated for AVID Libraries and supplies for the 8 campuses. Mr. Seipp stated that this line item

Implementation of AVID

will change in the future as the program continues to grow. Approximately $27,000 (20.5%) of
the budget was allocated for discretionary pay of tutors at all eight campuses.
According to Seipp, budget dollars allocated by the district do not take into account match
funding for tutoring associated with Compensatory Education Allotment. Mr. Seipp anticipates a
supplementation of approximately 40% added to the tutoring line item once figures are finalized.
The funding of AVID in Northwest ISD is one of the most difficult aspects of implementing
the program, as it often is with any new program in a public school setting. In fact, this is one
particular issue to program implementation identified by Bernhardt (2013).
Bernhardt found that allocating and increasing funds to develop AVID programs will enable
schools to address academic and social needs of those populations historically underrepresented
in postsecondary education. During difficult economic times, however, it is common for the
resources supporting AVID and other programs to be cut from district and school budgets. (p.
217)
Indeed, Mr. Seipp stated it is more expensive to start the program than it is to sustain. Mr.
Seipp stated that he anticipates settling around a figure of $130,000 per school year, as he has
inked several deals with local colleges to supply work-study tutors to assist the AVID program.
These tutors will not cost the district money, as they are paid via federal funds via the college.
This in turn should help keep program costs down in the long-term. This will help with keeping
the program active should economic conditions take a turn for the worse.
Student Population
The AVID program in NISD targets what Mr. Seipp calls middle-level learners. This
targeting of middle-level learners falls in line with the AVID targeted demographic goals
identified by Watt et al. (2008). AVID targets students from the academic middlethose who

Implementation of AVID

earn Bs, Cs, and Ds and who have the willingness and potential to succeed in more rigorous
coursework (p. 18). According to the districts June 2016 AVID program summary, the 291 7th
and 8th grade students enrolled in AVID in 2015-2016 represented approximately 6.03% of the
4,803 middle school students in NISD.
A closer look at the student population within the AVID Program data shows that minorities
are represented in AVID at levels above the district population data mentioned above. In fact, of
the 291 students enrolled in the AVID program during the 2015-2016 school year, 59.4% (8.35%) were identified as White (Non-Hispanic), 25% (+5.56%) Hispanic/Latino, 12.37%
(+5.89%) African-American, 1.4% (+0.75%) American Indian/Alaska Native and 1.4% Asian (1.79%). In regards to gender data within the AVID program, female students are better
represented, with 169 of the 291 students (58%) identified as enrolled in AVID. Socioeconomic
status data was not provided from the district information provided by Mr. Seipp. But according
to TEA data, the district has a low-socioeconomic status population of 19.2% (TEA, 2016)
Projected enrollment figures for the 2016-2017 school year (current figures are yet to be
finalized) showed that the district expected to enroll 461 students at its secondary schools within
the AVID program. During the 2016-2017 school year, the AVID program of instruction was
extended to the three comprehensive high school campuses, with a projected enrollment on those
campuses of 99 students.
Staffing
Mills, Huerta, Watt, and Martinez (2014) identified leadership attributes and the reasoning
behind selecting strong teacher leaders to lead in an AVID program:
Whether the teacher is functioning in a formal or informal leadership position, the decisions
of who becomes a teacher leader, how those leaders are chosen, and how successful the teacher

Implementation of AVID

leaders are become crucial issues for teachers and administrators alikeThat is no more evident
than in the AVID program where the administrator places his or her trust in the teacher to carry
out the intentions of the program with clarity. (P. 151)
According to Mr. Seipp, when choosing AVID elective teachers, the central office is
looking for teachers that can act as agents of change within their school. Identifying change
agents as AVID teachers is at the core of the AVID mission. Mills et al. (2014) identify this as a
key to the success of AVID. AVID teachers are at the forefront of AVIDs mission, whether
inside the classroom to improve student achievement or as change agents implementing school
reform efforts (p. 147).
At the secondary level, each campus has at least one AVID elective teacher, with nine total
teachers at the eight secondary campuses serving as AVID elective teachers. At the middle school
level, the AVID elective is provided by six teachers, three of whom only teach the AVID course.
Of the remaining three teachers at the middle school level, only two of the teachers teach a core
content subject in addition to the AVID elective. Each high school campus has one AVID elective
teacher, with all of the teachers teaching an additional content area.
Over 130 district teachers have attended AVID professional development in the last two
school years. These teachers attended the AVID professional development in order to better
understand the AVID program and the students that would be in their core content classes during
the school year. Ensuring that these teachers function as formal or informal AVID leaders is
important for the overall success of the program in NISD. Mills et al. (2014) stated, Student
outcomes are more likely to improve when leadership is distributed throughout the school and
teachers are empowered to make the necessary instruction decision needed to improve their
learning (p. 151).

Implementation of AVID

Curriculum and Instruction

Mr. Seipp stated that the curriculum and instruction within the AVID program consists of a
regimented AVID curriculum that is grade specific for each AVID grade level in the AVID
College Readiness System.
One of the particular goals of the AVID program in Northwest ISD is to incorporate the
regimented AVID curriculum to the previously identified middle-level students. Students in the
AVID course, through the AVID curriculum, are taught critical core skills that are necessary to
achieve success in a more advanced track of study. These include: determination, study habits,
ability to use perceptive filters to process information, recall information in an exam setting, set
study habits, form study groups, and asking targeted questions for support. In fact, Bernhardt
(2013) identifies this as a necessity for students to negotiate the expectations that rigorous
coursework entails. He states, AVID helps students develop a web of relationships within the
school to foster connection, purpose, and consistent encouragement (p. 213).
Conclusion
Research shows that underserved students participating in the AVID program have better
educational outcomes. This in turn is positive for the school and district, as student success is one
metric used to provide rankings for schools. By adopting the AVID program in NISD, the district
is taking a positive step forward in ensuring that typically underserved minority groups receive
training and assistance in the goal of taking more advanced coursework. By starting the program
in the seventh and eighth grade years, the district has followed established research
recommendations showing that the earlier college preparatory programs begin, the better the
outcome for students involved in the program.

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References

Bernhardt, P.E. (2013). The Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) Program:
Providing Cultural Capital and College Access to Low-Income Students. School
Community Journal, 23(1), 203-222.
Huerta, J.J., & Watt, K.M. (2015). Examining the College Preparation and Intermediate
Outcomes of College Success of AVID Graduates Enrolled in Universities and
Community Colleges. American Secondary Education, 43(3), 20-35.
Huerta, J.J., Watt, K.M., & Butcher, J.T. (2013). Examining Advancement Via Individual
Determination (AVID) and its Impact on Middle School Rigor and Student Preparedness.
American Secondary Education, 41(2), 24-37.
Mills, S.J., Huerta, J.J., Watt, K.M., & Martinez, J. (2014). AVID Teacher Leadership:
Administrator and Teacher Perceptions of Leadership Attributes. Journal of School
Leadership, 24, 146-163.
Peabody Jr., P. T. (2012). Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) System's Impact
on Diversity and Poverty Issues in Education. National Teacher Education Journal, 5(4),
21-24.
Smith, J. B., Elder, E.C., & Stevens, K. (2014). Evaluation of a College Readiness Program:
Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID). Review of Higher Education and
Self-Learning, 7, 23-60.
Texas Education Agency. (2016). Snapshot 2015: District Detail [Data File]. Retrieved from
http://tea.texas.gov/perfreport/snapshot/index.html
Vo, H. (2016, May 9). Superintendents Mid-Year Report. Retrieved from
http://www.nisdtx.org/workspaces/one.aspx?objectid=430233&contextId=426237
Watt, K. M., Johnston, D., Huerta, J., Mendiola, I.D., & Alkan, E. (2008). Retention of FirstGeneration College-Going Seniors in the College Preparatory Program Avid. American
Secondary Education, 37(1), 17-40.