In 1980, as a direct response to a social problem that was manifesting in schools across the nation, Mary Catherine Swanson began AVID. She was of the belief that with enough support and determination, any student could become “college-ready.” Her dream was to change the notion many teachers held that children who bussed to schools from less advantaged areas could not succeed on par with other students (“Our”). As a result, these students were indeed only achieving as little as their teachers believed they would- a common phenomenon called expectancy effect (Sutherland, 1972). In 1992, AVID became an official nonprofit and has since been implemented in over 6,000 schools across the nation, from elementary to post-secondary institutions. Designed …show more content…
In elementary schools, AVID is not implemented as a specific class; its values are simply intertwined with the curriculum and teachers are trained to begin the process of higher learning earlier. In Secondary education, AVID seeks to recruit “students who possess a desire to go to college and the willingness to work hard,” and many of these students come from backgrounds that otherwise may not have allowed them to become college ready. “These are often the students who will be the first in their families to attend college and are from groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education,” states the AVID official webpage (“Our”). The achievement gap, although thinning, has been a longstanding known phenomenon in the United States. We find that in almost all areas of the country, white and wealthier students tend to go further in the education system and achieve higher. The main reasons are their increased access to resources, which AVID aims to make more equitable. Many studies show the achievement gap trends in term of test scores, grade point averages, and completion rates of high school and post-secondary education. In almost all of these areas, the trends are significantly similar across racial groups and categories such as SES and parental education …show more content…
The program is completely voluntary, and may be dropped from the curriculum is a student fails to meet the standards of conduct or does not show continued interest. It is not the point of the program to force a student to show enthusiasm for continued education, but it is the hope that the program will amplify a pre-existing drive for success. To do this, the program’s mechanisms work to instil AVID’s values of collaboration, inquiry, and organization. AVID encourages student-led learning, as this is proven to empower students, help them find meaning and purpose in what they are learning, take control over how and what they learn, and engage students actively in their quest for knowledge (Harper, 2013). AVID does not introduce additional material, it simply allows a space for students to better their performance in other areas. The collaborative inquiry process can be applied in a variety of contexts far into the future of their academic and professional journeys. During tutorial, students learn to explain complicated concepts in a variety of ways, better comprehend course topics with the help of their peers, and learn how to ask good