With perspective from Dr. Paolina Schiro, RIMS AVID Program Manager (CA)

The hum of conversation fills the room as educators from across Riverside, Inyo, Mono, and San Bernardino counties (RIMS) in California gather around tables. For many, this is the first time this school year they’ve stepped away from the daily whirlwind of teaching, planning, and problem-solving. They’ve come with questions: Are we doing enough? What do we want to improve in the second semester? Can we make AVID stronger on our campus? 

Dr. Paolina Schiro, the RIMS AVID Program Manager, knows that feeling well. “Often, the only time schools can have uninterrupted time to plan is at Summer Institute,” she explains. “They’re all well-intended, but things come up throughout the year that keep them from connecting. We want to provide a valuable opportunity for schools to come together, because the schools that work together are the ones that create systems.”

Midway through the school year, educators have a valuable opportunity to pause, reflect, and adjust. This is the time to review data, revisit goals, and identify strategies that will make the second semester even stronger. Whether through a formal gathering or a simple team conversation, stepping back from the day-to-day urgency allows schools to focus on what matters most: building systems that sustain student success.

You don’t need a big event to make meaningful changes. Every site can take small, intentional steps to ensure AVID strategies are working for all students, like reviewing progress toward goals, refining classroom practices, or aligning supports. Mid-year is the perfect moment to reset and re-energize for impact.

Turning Classroom Practices Into Schoolwide Systems

AVID Site Teams dive into deep questions: How do we create a college-going culture that reaches every student? How do we align AVID strategies with the initiatives already shaping our schools?

“AVID can’t be looked at as something additional, something that’s just another piece. It needs to be seen as something that helps us with the district and site initiatives we’re already working on,” Dr. Schiro explains. That mindset is what makes Site Teams so powerful. They position AVID as a tool to strengthen what schools already value. 

Reflection and Continuous Improvement

During the Site Team Conference, Site Teams review goals, analyze data, and map out next steps using the Continuous Improvement Cycle (Plan–Do–Study–Act) during their Site Team Conference, discussing vertical articulation and aligning strategies to ensure students experience AVID year after year. Educators leave not just with plans, but with momentum.

“One of the key successes of Site Team work is reflection,” Schiro notes. “It gives schools the time they need to really think about their systems and make them stronger. AVID’s not a program—it’s a college readiness system. And we need to always grow and improve.”

One reason the Site Team Conference makes such a difference is its timing—it lands right in the middle of the school year.  RIMS AVID Program Coordinator Tommy Stokes highlights the importance of that timing, “It’s a chance [for sites]   to take a good look at their site plan and goals—what’s been accomplished since summer, what evidence they’ve gathered, and what they still need to do.” 

During the summer, Site Teams often dive into planning and focused work, with many taking advantage of Summer Institute for collaborative, in-depth preparation. Once the school year begins, finding that same dedicated time becomes a challenge unless you deliberately make time for it in your schedule.  

Melanie Yates, an AVID teacher at Paris High School, agrees that having uninterrupted time is invaluable. At this year’s conference, she and her colleagues zeroed in on the Secondary Implementation Tool. “We really wanted to go through the Secondary Implementation Tool  and see how it compares to the CCI,” she said. “We were working to see what we need to change and what we can do better. The conference gave us a lot of time to do that.”

Past Site Team Conference participants have turned small ideas into big impact. One team transformed a simple AVID classroom practice, inviting parents to participate during college application day, grew into a schoolwide tradition that supports family engagement goals. Another expanded office hours, once limited to AVID students, expanded to serve the entire campus, reinforcing priorities around access and opportunity.

Collaboration in Action

This year’s conference didn’t just spark ideas—it led to concrete steps that can strengthen AVID systems across schools and districts. Highlights include:

• Cross-District Walkthroughs: Sites scheduled visits with feeder schools in other districts to align strategies and create smooth transitions for students.
• Peer Networking: New sites connected with experienced ones—admin-to-admin, coordinator-to-coordinator—planning visits to learn from each other’s successes.
• Demo Site Goals: Individual sites set ambitious goals to become AVID Demonstration Schools, mapping next steps like WICOR walkthroughs, schoolwide professional learning, and specialty planning.

The Ripple Effect

The impact of the mid-year Site  Team Conference shows up months later in powerful ways: AVID recruitment is refined and aligned, schools standardize college application days, instructional strategies spread beyond AVID classrooms, and most importantly, students succeed.

“When we sit in an arena with 3,000 kids graduating who stand up to say they’re first in their family to graduate—that’s the why ,” Schiro says, her voice steady with conviction. “They stand up to say English wasn’t their first language. They stand up to say they were under the poverty line—and they’re graduating and going to a four-year college. That keeps us going year after year.” 

The Blueprint for Success 

Want to strengthen AVID at your site? The multi-county conference works well for RIMS because of the large number of AVID schools and districts, but the concept can be easily applied in various settings—within a school, across a district, or in collaboration with AVID educators over an entire region. In all cases, consider the following:

1. Start with intentional collaboration: Schedule regular Site Team meetings and, when possible, integrate them into leadership team meetings so AVID becomes part of the school’s core decision-making. Keep the agenda focused: 15 minutes for logistics, then shift to big-picture conversations about college-going culture and instructional strategies.
2. Use data-driven reflection: Review Site Team goals, analyze progress, and apply the Continuous Improvement Cycle to refine systems. Remember, the cycle ensures AVID isn’t static, that it evolves with your school’s needs.
3. Prioritize vertical articulation: Create space for feeder schools to align strategies and share successes. Whether through a districtwide meeting or a dedicated session during a Site Team day, this alignment strengthens the student experience from elementary through high school.
4. Celebrate and share success: Highlight schools that innovate within the AVID framework, whether it’s schoolwide office hours or parent engagement on college application day. Recognition breeds replication, and replication builds momentum.