College Readiness for All: Delivering the Dream
2010 AVID National Conference
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December 9-11, 2010
Gaylord Texan Hotel and Conference Center
Dallas/Ft. Worth Area, TX
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Concurrent Session Descriptions
Featured Panelists
- About the Conference
- Who Should Attend
- Location and Accommodations
- Registration Fees
- Conference Schedule
- Keynote Speaker Biographies
About the Conference
Participants will engage in dialogue, presentations, and sessions from practitioners currently engaged in college-readiness efforts. Hear from superintendents, site administrators, teachers, students, and researchers regarding:
- Access to rigorous curriculum for all
- Strategies to help African American male and English-language learner students navigate their educational path to college
- Strategies for closing the gender gap
- Schoolwide and districtwide tactics for closing the achievement gap and increasing college-readiness
- Parent and community involvement in college-readiness efforts
- Leveraging AVID strategies across the curriculum
Who Should Attend
- Superintendents
- School Board Members
- Principals
- District Leaders
- AVID Site Team Members
- Teacher Leaders
- Postsecondary Leaders
- AVID and Non-AVID Districts
Location and Accommodations
Gaylord Texan Hotel and Conference Center (Dallas/Ft. Worth Area)
1501 Gaylord Trail
Grapevine, TX 76501
To book rooms at the Gaylord Texan Hotel at a discounted conference rate of $129 + tax, single/double,
click here, and reserve by November 7, 2010. The additional $15 per day resort fee is waived for our conference attendees staying at the Texan. Rate is based on availability, so book early.
Registration Fees
$495 for AVID member districts until November 9, 2010.
$525 for AVID members after November 9, 2010, and for non-AVID member districts.
Conference Schedule
| Wednesday, December 08 | |
| 04:00 pm - 06:00 pm | Conference Check-in |
| Thursday, December 09 | |
| 07:00 am - 06:00 pm | Conference Check-in Continues/Exhibits Open |
| 08:00 am - 10:00 pm | RD/DD Meeting |
| 09:00 am - 12:00 pm | Pre-conference Sessions |
| 10:00 am - 12:00 pm | Panel - College Readiness and Rigorous Opportunities for All Students |
| 12:00 pm - 01:00 pm | Lunch on own |
| 01:00 pm - 02:00 pm | Opening General Session with Keynote Addresses by Mary Catherine Swanson and Jonathan Grant Brown |
| 02:15 pm - 03:30 pm | Concurrent Sessions |
| 03:40 pm - 04:55 pm | Concurrent Sessions |
| 05:00 pm - 06:00 pm | Reception (with Exhibits) |
| Friday, December 10 | |
| 08:00 am - 02:00 pm | Exhibits |
| 09:15 am - 10:30 pm | Concurrent Sessions |
| 10:40 am - 11:55 pm | Concurrent Sessions |
| 12:00 pm - 01:30 pm | Lunch on own |
| 01:45 pm - 03:00 pm | Concurrent Sessions |
| 03:15 pm - 04:30 pm | Concurrent Sessions |
| Saturday, December 11 | |
| 08:30 am - 10:00 am | General Session/Banquet Breakfast with Greg Darnieder and Student Speakers |
| 10:15 am - 11:30 am | Concurrent Sessions |
| 11:50 am - 12:50 pm | Divisional Meetings |
Keynote Speaker Biographies
Keynoter Mary Catherine Swanson was born in Kingsburg, California, in 1944 the daughter of a newspaper publisher and homemaker. She earned a BA degree in English and journalism from San Francisco State University in 1966 and an MA from the University of Redlands in 1974. She taught English and journalism in four different school districts from 1966-1986.
In 1980 in response to federal court ordered bussing in the San Diego Unified School District, she developed AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) at Clairemont High School. Convinced that marginal students can meet almost any challenge if they are given the support they need, AVID became one of the most successful educational reform programs developed in the United States and the only school reform program ever launched and widely disseminated by a public school teacher.
In 1986 she left Clairemont High to join the staff of the San Diego County Office of Education, where under the auspices of state funding she was charged with the responsibility of spreading AVID to every secondary school in the county.
In 1992 she founded the not-for-profit AVID Center and served as its Executive Director until her retirement in 2006.
Swanson and the AVID program have been widely honored over the past couple of decades. Among the awards are features in every edition of Marquis' Who's Who in America since 1990, being cited specifically for her "outstanding achievement in education, thereby contributing significantly to the betterment of contemporary society." In 1995 the California School Boards Foundation presented its Golden Bell Award to AVID "for an innovative, exemplary program which has been replicated in more than 500 schools within the state by educators whose efforts have made a demonstrated difference for students." In 1993, Swanson received the Freedoms Foundation Valley Forge Teachers Medal for Excellence "for designing a program which allows all students to achieve academically and become contributing members of our democratic society..." In 1991 she earned the Charles A. Dana Foundation $50,000 Award for Pioneering Achievement in Education. The Dana Foundation singled out Swanson "for heeding the teacher's calling at the highest level of professional dedication in your development of AVID, an imaginative restructuring of schools that has given thousands of students the skills, support, and guidance that they need to fulfill their potentials..." In 2002, Swanson was awarded the McGraw Prize in Education, the highest award an educator can receive in the United States, and was featured on 60 Minutes II, CNN and in Time Magazine where she was featured as America's Best Teacher. She has delivered numerous university commencement addresses and has received three honorary doctorates.
Swanson has been married to Tom Swanson, a retired bank president, for 40 years. They have one son who teaches Advanced Placement History and AVID at a San Diego high school.
Jonathan Grant Brown, a graduate of the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, is a highly sought after motivational speaker, and a positive role model and mentor. He is the West Texas AVID Consultant and Master Tutor for the Midland/Odessa area. This extraordinary young man began his journey in the foster care system, and has emerged as the embodiment and the hope of what is possible when any student is nurtured and guided by caring educators, high expectations, a loving family, and a committed community.
Gregory M. Darnieder began his career as a junior high school teacher. He has a BA in Sociology, a K-8 Teaching Certificate from St. Louis University and a MA in Christian Education from Wheaton College.
From the mid-nineties to the present he has acted as President for The Center for Impact Research and Treasurer of The Albert Pick Jr. Fund. He is also on the Board of the Steans Family Foundation, The Roberta Bachmann Lewis Scholarship Fund, Scholarship Chicago, The Illinois Education Foundation and The North Lawndale College Prep Charter High School.
Greg was executive director of the I Have a Dream Foundation which grew from a single program to twelve throughout the Chicago area. He was the founding executive director of the LaSalle St. Community Youth Creative Learning Experience (CYCLE), which was an after-school and summer youth academic and career exploration program for kindergarten through college-aged students in the Cabrini Green Public Housing Development. As executive director, he created numerous scholarship programs that financially supported over 225 students.
In 1992, he was named executive director for the Chicago Cluster Initiative. He coordinated a multi-agency public/private response to the academic achievement needs of students from four neighborhood high schools. In 1994, he became the executive director of the Steans Family Foundation. He designed and implemented a comprehensive initiative in the North Lawndale community in partnership with numerous community-based organizations. He leveraged governmental, philanthropic and business resources to improve and/or develop educational programs, affordable housing, economic development, health and human services, and youth development and employment goals and oversaw the organizational capacity building strategies of over 50 non-profit agencies.
Greg was responsible for the establishment of the Department of Postsecondary Education and Student Development and for designing and implementing an assortment of postsecondary, academic, financial, and social support programs. He was responsible for enhancing the Chicago Public Schools' infrastructure around postsecondary education and establishing supportive services at every CPS high school. He is also responsible for building university, corporate and civic partnerships to enhance college access. Greg was director of Chicago Public Schools' newly formed Department of College and Career Preparation that consisted of the Department of Postsecondary Education and Student Development and the Department of Education to Careers.
In 2009, U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, named Greg the Special Assistant to the Secretary for College Access at the U.S. Department of Education, where he currently serves.
Archive
View highlights from last year's conference.