In the News

February 03, 2012

College-ready Course Helps Students Break Barriers
Fontana Herald-News

Identified as one of the "best-of-the-best," Fontana High School Principal Dr. Lisa Romero will join 11 other AVID National Demonstration School principals in the inaugural meeting of the California AVID Principals' Leadership Collaborative (APLC) in San Diego on March 15. Dr. Romero and the other principals were selected because of their leadership abilities that drive high academic expectations for all students, and because they are leading the way to implement the AVID College Readiness System school-wide...
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February 03, 2012

College-ready Course Helps Students Break Barriers
Fairfax Times

Fairfax High School senior Micaela Soto, 17, had a good day on Wednesday. After sharing news with fellow students that she received a letter of acceptance from Christopher Newport University in Newport News, she discovered by email she had been named a semifinalist for a $20,000 scholarship given by the Dell Scholars Program, a scholarship program established by Dell computer founder Michael Dell and his wife, Susan. While scenes like this might be typical for other high school seniors who have long-known they were on the college track, for Soto the moment was special...
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February 02, 2012

Carrabec Elevates the Bar
Morning Sentinel

Eleven sophomores at Carrabec High School sat in a classroom Wednesday beneath painted ceiling tiles depicting the colleges they dream of attending: Harvard University, Marist College, University of Georgia, University of New England. The students were selected specially to participate in a new program this year called Advancement Via Individual Determination, or AVID, which targets "students in the middle." They are smart students but can benefit from learning new study skills and taking demanding courses...
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January 23, 2012

Ray High School, Driscoll Middle School Students Discuss College Readiness
Corpus Christi Caller Times

A group of Ray High School students shared some key advice Friday: Don't be afraid to start thinking about college in middle school. "Hopefully it gets through to them that school isn't a joke," Ray junior Kyle Russell said after he talked with some seventh-graders at Driscoll Middle School. "You only get this chance once." Kyle, 16, was one of eight Ray juniors who talked with about 40 Driscoll Middle School students during two class periods, explaining that investing in their education can pay off - in good grades, supportive friends, improved study skills and narrowed college plans...
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January 22, 2012

Houston Schools Try to Boost Diversity in AP Courses
Houston Chronicle

Trying mightily not to dissolve into tears, Ayasha Greene glanced at her class of Klein Forest High School seniors. The students, their desks arranged in concentric circles, were engaged in a vigorous debate about online piracy. Their points were sharp, their retorts grounded in research, their analytical thinking skills honed through practice. When this group of mostly Latino students first came into Greene's class as freshmen, many were afraid to speak in public, a few struggled to write complete sentences and none were in advanced classes...
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January 19, 2012

Nicholas Orem Students Learn Importance of Grades, Career Aspirations
Gazette.Net: Maryland Community News Online

For some Nicholas Orem Middle School students, a motivational presentation Wednesday was the first time they'd had to put some serious thought into their careers and responsibilities. "I want to go to college," said eighth-grader Elijah Connolly, 13 of Hyattsville. "It's important so we can pay for an apartment and get a good salary." ...
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January 19, 2012

AAUW Tackles Tough Subject of Bullying with Speech Trek
Village News Network

Seven AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) students being mentored by members of the Fallbrook branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) are participating in Speech Trek, a AAUW California speech competition for high school students. The program is in its sixth year and Fallbrook is participating for the first time this year. The seven Fallbrook girls have researched a designated topic and will give a five minute speech on the subject...
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January 18, 2012

Hunter High Teacher Uses Sundance as Lesson in Adversity
Salt Lake Tribune

Phaedra Johnson's Hunter High students have something in common with the Lithuanian national basketball team. The basketball team overcame the odds and won a bronze medal in the 1992 Summer Olympics. Because of that accomplishment, the team will be the subject of the documentary "The Other Dream Team," which will be screened at the Sundance Film Festival...
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January 15, 2012

Take Note: Buy-in Required for Teaching Success
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Naomi Lemberger says the way she takes notes in class helps things stick in her brain. She doesn't use the usual approach (scribble for page after page, then promptly forget - I've been doing it all my life). In a typical instance, she takes those conventional notes within a box covering the upper right section of a sheet of paper and equal to about half the sheet. In a column on the left side of the paper, she writes down questions or sometimes phrases that her main notes cover...
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January 08, 2012

AVID Program Prepares Public School Students for College
The State Journal-Register

At first, Wendall Lytle wasn't sure he wanted to go to college. That changed for the 2011 Southeast High School graduate thanks to a program that helps students with average grades develop higher-level thinking skills and become better organized. Called AVID - or Advancement Via Individual Determination - the national program started at Southeast in 2005. By 2009, it was operating in all of Springfield's middle and high schools...
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