Since RISD implemented AVID in its schools in 2005, the AVID team at RHS has aspired to earn the highest title AVID bestows on schools. The RHS AVID team was met with success this year as it joined the 118 AVID demonstration schools (out of a total 4500 AVID schools worldwide).
AVID schools are validated for one, two or three years, with most AVID schools getting no validation at all. With a ‘1’ indicating a good job and a ‘3’ indicating an exceedingly exemplary school, AVID awarded RHS its highest honor after four years of work and preparation.
The requirements for this title are quite extensive. To a paint a picture, RHS AVID coordinator, Coach Brown, describing in an interview how much is required from a school to be a demonstration site, said “Do you see those binders over there?” pointing to a shelf compact with some nine two-inch binders, “Those are the requirements.”
To get the gist of it, any visitor at a demonstration school should observe a strong and committed leadership, evidence of outstanding student achievement, models for excellent inquiry-based AVID tutorials, and a school-wide, college-going culture with college readiness as a basic expectation.
Furthermore, the award is based on SAT scores, school grades and the extent to which AVID teaching and organization methods are infused in class – AVID or non-AVID.
After exceeding their minimum requirements, the RHS AVID team applied for becoming a demonstration school and had to go through an eighteen months coaching process, where an avid personnel gave tutorials and worked with Brown.
With the training process completed and the all the requirements met, RHS was finally named a demonstration school.
As a result, RHS is a now mentoring site where Richardson teachers will help teachers from all over the world improve AVID or implement it successfully at their schools.
As for RHS teachers and students, the bestowed honor validates what teachers are doing to make students as successful as they can be, similarly providing validation that students are excelling remarkably and exceeding AVID expectations.
Furthermore, being AVID students at a demonstration school solidifies that the education students received in high school is indeed excellent, and it adds to more successful college resumes and applications.
As Brown puts it: “If you say you’re an avid student, it looks good on your resume, but saying you’re an avid student at a demonstration school is like saying you come from an Ivy League school versus some other regular school.”