The Power of Shared Leadership

For many schools, leadership transition brings uncertainty. Priorities shift. Initiatives lose momentum. Systems quietly erode. 

At Inver Grove Heights Middle School (IGHMS) in Minnesota, leadership change became a stress test. In a short time, the school experienced turnover across several key roles, including directors of learning and building administrators. Yet during this same window, IGHMS not only maintained its AVID National Demonstration School designation but also strengthened the very systems that support students most. 

The reason wasn’t resilience by accident. It was resilience by design. 

Early Indicators of Stability 

Even during transition, the student experience at IGHMS remained consistent and measurable. 

• 800 students served in grades 6–8.
• 18% had an AVID footprint, including 106 AVID Elective students and 35 AVID Excel students.

• 87% of AVID scholars identified as first‑generation college students.
• 81% of 8th‑grade AVID scholars self‑selected Honors or AP coursework for high school.
• 5,363 Spartan Shout-Outs were issued to date.
• 100% of AVID scholars received personalized recognition.

These numbers tell a deeper story. When systems are clear, students keep moving forward even when adults navigate through change. 

Anchor the Vision Before the Transition Happens 

The defining move at IGHMS happened before leadership officially changed. 

Rather than waiting to react, site and district leaders partnered closely with Jen Moe, AVID Site Coordinator, District Director, and AVID Elective teacher. They re-anchored their plan around a single, non‑negotiable vision: sustained, high‑fidelity AVID implementation leading to successful Demonstration School revalidation. 

This early alignment mattered. While IGHMS has a veteran staff experienced in AVID, the day‑to‑day focus had drifted. The solution was clarity. 

Everything that followed was intentionally built to protect instructional consistency, student access to rigor, and a shared language for learning and belonging. 

What Held the Work Together 

1. Systems to Sustain: Codifying What Cannot Be Lost 

Leadership transition often exposes an invisible risk: Institutional knowledge lives in people’s heads. 

At IGHMS, that knowledge was intentionally captured through “Systems to Sustain” one‑pagers—living documents such as the AVID Student Profile and the Recruitment Timeline that clearly articulate how AVID works in the school. 

These one‑pagers: 

• Preserved institutional memory during leadership change.
• Accelerated onboarding for new leaders and staff.
• Anchored reflection and continuous improvement.

• Became a mentoring tool for other districts through IGHMS’s role as a regional Center of Teaching and Learning.

Instead of depending on who was in the room, the school depended on shared, documented systems. 

2. Weekly AVID Walk-Through Emails: Visibility as Alignment 

During transition, inconsistency often creeps in quietly. IGHMS countered this with weekly AVID walk-through emails that made expectations visible to everyone. 

These emails highlighted: 

• Real classrooms implementing AVID strategies
• Specific instructional moves aligned to revalidation goals
• Teachers taking risks and refining practice

Just as importantly, the emails broke down silos. Staff saw what AVID looked like beyond their department. Conversations shifted from “What are we supposed to be doing?” to “How did you do that?” 

Shared internally and externally with families, walk-throughs reinforced trust and transparency while celebrating the work already happening. 

3. Replacing Tracking With Access: Advanced Options for All 

One of the most consequential decisions at IGHMS predated leadership change but proved critical during it: eliminating traditional Honors tracks. 

In their place, the school implemented Advanced Options across all content areas, ensuring classroom demographics reflected the student body and access to rigor wasn’t gatekept. 

The impact shows in student behavior, with 81% of AVID scholars voluntarily choosing Honors or AP coursework in high school. This choice matters.  

Even during periods of leadership transition, students kept leaning into the challenge because the system had already normalized belonging in rigorous spaces. 

4. AVID Excel: A Systemic Lever, Not a Stand-Alone Program 

IGHMS launched the AVID Excel Elective in 2024–25. It became a stabilizing force for multilingual learners, which was particularly important during leadership transition. 

Rather than operating on the margins, Excel was embedded into the broader AVID Framework, strengthening language acquisition, academic confidence, and consistent expectations. 

By positioning Excel as a core system, not an intervention, IGHMS ensured multilingual learners experienced continuity, clarity, and high expectations, regardless of who was leading the building. 

5. Flex Lessons: Student Agency on the Schedule 

While adult leadership shifted, students experienced predictability through schoolwide Flex lessons led by the AVID Site Coordinator. 

Because these lessons were centrally designed and embedded into the master schedule: 

• Every student received the same instruction.
• All staff used a shared AVID vocabulary.
• Organization, reflection, and goal‑setting became routine, not optional.

Flex lessons functioned as a stabilizing force for students, reinforcing self‑advocacy and executive functioning skills at a time when consistency mattered most. 

6. Affirmation as Infrastructure: Spartan Shout-Outs 

Cultural stability doesn’t happen through rules alone. 

At IGHMS, Spartan Shout-Outs function as a Tier 1 system by recognizing positive behavior wherever it happens: classrooms, hallways, activities, and peer interactions. 

With 5,363 shout-outs issued this year: 

• Staff intentionally look for what’s going right.
• Families receive real‑time positive communication.
• Instructional time is reclaimed by reducing reactive discipline.

The result is measurable belonging: nearly every student in the building has been personally recognized. 

Communication as the Throughline 

At IGHMS, communication helped prevent the uncertainty and drift that often accompany leadership transitions. 

The school established a predictable, schoolwide cadence so staff and families had clarity every week. Communication became a core system that sustained the work. 

Each week includes three consistent AVID touch points: 

• Sunday: A staff newsletter sets a clear AVID expectation, creating focus and alignment before the week begins.
• WICOR Wednesday: The AVID Site Coordinator shares an AVID in Action email, featuring real classrooms with photos and snapshots of strategies in use.
• Friday: The principal’s community update highlights AVID implementation, celebrating classrooms, teachers, and practices from the week.

This rhythm made the work visible. Staff could see AVID across classrooms and departments, not just their own. Regular recognition reinforced strong practice and encouraged continued risk-taking. Over time, communication became both a mirror and a driver of implementation. 

Family communication also served as a strategic lever. By sharing concrete classroom examples, IGHMS helped families understand what AVID looks like and how it supports all learners, building trust and clarity when consistency mattered most. 

Evidence the Systems Worked—Even Through Change 

The strongest proof of continuity isn’t found in documents; it’s found in student outcomes. For IGHMS, these outcomes meant: 

• AVID scholars confidently enroll in rigorous coursework.
• Students transition seamlessly to high school.
• Students earn college credit through AP, Honors, and concurrent enrollment.

These outcomes didn’t pause during the leadership changes. They accelerated. 

Additional proof of continuity is IGHMS’s continued designation as an AVID National Demonstration School, recognition the school earned since 2018. Maintaining the standards of a National Demonstration School reflects fidelity to systems intentionally designed to outlast leadership cycles and protect what matters most: student opportunity, agency, and belonging. 

Put It Into Practice: Systems That Support Fidelity 

• Codify institutional knowledge through living one‑pagers.
• Anchor the year to a single, shared AVID vision.
• Use walk-throughs as alignment and celebration tools.
• Replace rigid tracking with inclusive access to rigor.
• Embed student skill‑building into the master schedule.
• Design affirmation as a Tier 1 system.
• Measure success through student choice and persistence.

Inver Grove Heights Middle School At a Glance 

AVID Partner Since 2011 

AVID National Demonstration School Since 2018 

Enrollment: 790 students 

• White: 42%
• Hispanic: 30%
• Black: 12%
• Asian/Pacific Islander: 10%
• Two or More Races and Native American: 6%
• Free or Reduced-Price Lunch: 59%