By integrating scaffolds into classroom instruction, AVID Excel scholars receive the support and guidance they need to progress from their current level of English proficiency to the sophisticated and nuanced academic language needed for rigorous college preparatory classwork. While experienced multilingual learners often have a high level of comfort with conversational English and can navigate informal interactions with teachers and peers successfully, they often struggle accessing rigorous content and the higher levels of reading, writing, and speaking needed in more formal, academic contexts. Scaffolds help make academic content accessible while still challenging scholars to develop rigorous academic preparedness.

Access Rigor: Scaffolds support scholars in engaging with and processing complex content while developing skills in reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

Increase Engagement: Adding scaffolds to learning tasks makes it easier for scholars to engage. Providing on-ramps to content reduces the anxiety of taking academic risks, which in turn encourages active participation and builds self-confidence.

Improve Academic Outcomes: When scholars are given the tools to understand challenging learning tasks and engage in complex content, they can process and understand information and formulate responses more successfully, ensuring deeper understanding and higher levels of academic success.

Develop Independence: Through the process of gradual release of responsibility, scaffolds guide scholars toward independence and mastery. Scaffolds need to be removed over time, based on diagnostic teaching, so that scholars develop into independent learners as they build skills.

• Anticipate the challenging parts of a lesson and intentionally embed scaffolds as part of the planning process.
• Differentiate scaffolds based on the proficiency levels and needs of individuals and the class as a whole.
• Use diagnostic teaching and formative assessments in real-time to gauge participation and understanding and adjust scaffolds accordingly.
• Provide metacognitive opportunities for scholars to reflect on their own performance so that they recognize and apply scaffolding tools independently.