Concurrent Sessions

By opening educational opportunities and building relational capacity, AVID can impact student health, well–being, and academic outcomes. We will review the connections between education and health for students; explore results from two studies in Southern California investigating AVID impacts on student health and well–being, including substance use, school engagement, and social-emotional outcomes; and discuss the potential benefits of implementing AVID schoolwide to impact well-being and reduce educational and health disparities for the whole school community. 

Empower your students to be leaders in their school and learning journey. Students take ownership of their learning by applying to be an AVID Ambassador in the fifth or sixth grade or final year at Pioneer School. The AVID Ambassador program has students engaging and sharing their AVID knowledge with younger students, enhancing the alignment of AVID across all grades K–6. AVID Ambassadors routinely present to classes throughout the school, lead our schoolwide morning announcements, plan school spirit activities, help at monthly assemblies, and work with younger students on AVID WICOR® and learning strategies. In teaching AVID strategies to younger students and modeling a compassionate, service-oriented community, the students themselves foster a culture of collaboration within our school. See why students are eager to apply to become AVID Ambassadors from the age of 6. Walk away with ideas to begin and strengthen your student leadership program and see the benefits of higher academic outcomes. 

Explore the transformative impact of counselors, social workers, and educators within the AVID program as they provide essential support, mentorship, and guidance to students. This presentation delves into real-life success stories, practical strategies, and the holistic approach to help AVID students navigate challenges and foster personal and academic growth. Observe the dynamic results of teamwork, enabling students to overcome challenges and achieve their highest potential. 

Las Palmas Middle School, a Title I AVID National Demonstration School in Covina, California, intentionally creates a culture focused on building relationships, holding students to high standards, and celebrating success. Learn as we share systems, practices, and celebrations we have implemented inside and outside the classroom to build relational capacity, empower students, and activate agency in students and staff. Explore ways to celebrate students, promote their connections with each other, build positive student-teacher relationships, and strengthen relationships between staff members. Create your game plan to accelerate academic growth for all students by fostering meaningful connections and leveraging relationships for learning. 

Empower your students to take ownership of their learning and future goals by providing an opportunity to showcase their progress through student-led conferences. Engage and connect with families to help build relationships to support student advancement. Walk away with ideas and resources to implement student-led conferences at your school site. 

Our session, Empowering Excellence Through Educator Agency, will highlight the importance of collaboration and shared decision-making among educators. Teacher interviews and testimonials will emphasize how the culture changes when educators work together to break down barriers and push for all students to be successful. Strategies will be discussed to promote collective agency, such as professional learning communities, teacher leadership opportunities, and mentorship. The benefits of this approach will be explored by sharing student testimonials and student and school data points. A road map to an increased sense of teacher satisfaction, improved student outcomes, and a stronger sense of college and career readiness culture will be developed for schools in attendance.

Are you ready to breathe life into your school’s culture and create an environment where every student and staff member thrives? Join us for a dynamic and hands-on workshop that will teach you the principles of cultivating a positive school culture and ignite your passion as an educator! This immersive exercise will be a memorable and engaging way to reinforce key concepts. Join Rick as he brings the fun back to professional development in an unforgettable experience that brings the concept of school culture to life with trash bags, air balloons, and water balloons!

This session will explore creating and fostering educational partnerships, focusing on connections with colleges and the AVID Elective. We will discuss the strategies and steps to establish and nurture partnerships over time while covering the role of the AVID Elective in these partnerships and how it can be leveraged to enhance the educational experience for students. Participants will gain insights into the benefits and challenges of partnerships and have the opportunity to share their experiences and learn from others.

Are you an AVID Secondary educator or leader looking to leverage AVID strategies in an advisory class? Come learn from the AVID Schoolwide Advisory Team about how you can streamline the process of integrating AVID strategies into your advisory course and accelerate efforts to foster rigorous academic preparedness, agency, and opportunity knowledge in students schoolwide.

The AVID Elective class serves as more than just WICORized instruction within the classroom. When approached with intention, the AVID Elective becomes a dynamic space where learning transcends classrooms and takes root in the community. Together, we’ll delve into the journey of Bismarck High School as they weave connections for their AVID Elective through the pillars of school mentorships, service learning, and community partnerships. Through a focused and deliberate belief in serving others, Bismarck High School has empowered student agency and rigorous leadership development within its AVID Elective system, cultivating a culture of gratitude and potential within the school and community. 

In this session, we’ll explore how AVID Professional Learning Modules (APLMs) can enhance educators’ professional development and improve student outcomes. We’ll also discuss strategies for integrating APLMs into educational frameworks to promote college and career readiness. Join us as we navigate the APLMs, equipping educators with the tools to implement APLMs effectively and empower students for their future paths.

In this session, we will explore how Collegiate Edu-Nation revolutionizes education in small and rural districts through an innovative blend of the P-20 System Model and schoolwide AVID strategies, complemented by CENthia, our AI teaching assistant. By aligning policy, practice, and beliefs, we pave the way for postsecondary success and academic rigor for all students. Discover how this comprehensive approach addresses unique challenges and sets a new standard for educational equity and excellence. Join us to see how we’re turning the vision of degrees and certifications for every student into a reality.

Embark on one district’s journey to integrate AVID districtwide, ensuring coherence and equitable outcomes for all scholars. This session illuminates the nexus between AVID and the myriad initiatives districts juggle. Attendees will walk away with a roadmap to align the district strategic plan, AVID district goals, and AVID site goals for individual buildings. Discover strategies to align central office, principals, and AVID Site Coordinators with cultivating and nurturing schoolwide AVID strategies in elementary and secondary schools. Topics discussed include resource allocation optimization, sustainable practices, and structures to develop a culture of excellence for students, propelling districtwide AVID implementation toward success.

Can you imagine going straight from junior high to college? Across the country, we see expanding opportunities for students to gain college hours while in high school. Although the opportunities are available, students need an immense amount of support to gain the social and academic skills necessary to be successful in that setting, so Lamar High School has purposely paired AVID with the P-TECH early college program to bridge the gap for students. Come join us and see our thinking and planning as we pair P-TECH and AVID to have the greatest success for our students.

Join us for a collaborative session showcasing one district’s journey to ensure college and career readiness for all students by moving AVID beyond the Elective and into advanced academic classrooms. A highlight of this session will be a panel discussion featuring stakeholders, including district and campus personnel, who will provide a unique opportunity for participants to pose their unanswered questions directly to those who have successfully aligned and implemented AVID with Advanced Learning. Participants will walk away with a gap analysis and action steps tailored to specific campus and district needs.

Two Rivers Elementary went from attending its first AVID Showcase in 2019 to becoming an AVID Elementary Showcase in 2023. Learn how to achieve full implementation despite challenges along the way and how to leverage existing practices, goals, and initiatives to increase WICOR® and build Collective Educator Agency. This session will help you implement AVID Schoolwide and may inspire you to become a Showcase school as well!

Turn up the brightness on all that AVID brings into full color on your campus by empowering teachers to authentically implement and integrate AVID Schoolwide effectively and deeply. District, building, instructional leaders, and AVID Site Team members will learn to leverage WICOR® to bring new life to professional learning with intentional collaboration, reflection, and celebration through purposeful walk-throughs. From reinvigorating teachers who have long been part of our AVID journey to helping new teachers experience the brightness and possibility of what AVID helps them accomplish in their classrooms, staff and students will embrace the technicolor power of AVID.

This session explores an AVID Site Coordinator’s crucial role and responsibilities to empower leaders with tools and strategies to design, implement, effectively manage, and enhance AVID programs. This interactive session, combining real-world examples, group discussion, WICOR® strategies, and methods to measure and analyze the effectiveness of AVID implementation, will equip participants with tools needed to accurately assess program progress and outcomes. By examining best practices for program management and support, including strategies for fostering collaboration, supporting student success, and cultivating a culture of excellence, participants will discover the impact well-designed systems and strong leadership have on building a strong AVID community.

How can you align the work of a school district to ensure funding to support AVID implementation in the classroom? Tucson Unified School District is a large school district in Southern Arizona comprised of 85 Title 1 schools, of which 24 are AVID schools. In this session, you will explore how the six principles of the Title I budget process guide the sustainable alignment of Title I funding and continuous improvement plans to create schoolwide AVID programs. This cross-departmental calibration created a sustainable system that yields a return on investment of college and career readiness for all students with a meaningful impact on educators.

In our educational landscape, the pursuit of common ground is vital for fostering collaboration and achieving collective success. This session delves into the transformative power of collaborative professional learning communities (PLCs) within the AVID Elective framework. 

Witness Porter Elementary School’s transformative journey in building collective educator agency through a cohesive learning culture and discover how shared leadership and schoolwide collective commitments created its success. In this session, we will explore practical strategies integrating the four AVID Schoolwide Domains—Instruction, Culture, Leadership, and Systems—to create an inclusive learning environment, see how Porter staff utilizes AVID’s framework to deliver rigorous instruction and nurture a positive school culture while fostering staff engagement, and gain insights into aligning systems for sustainable growth, empowering attendees to drive positive change in their educational communities. Don’t miss this transformative exploration of collaboration, commitment, and excellence.

Through a huddle structure, presenters will review their playbook of replicable organizational structures that ensure the fidelity of AVID Schoolwide practices and increase student and educator agency. The presenters will walk participants through the four quarters of their championship game plan, which aligns the work, insists on rigor, and has led their school to an AVID National Demonstration School victory.

This session explores the synergy between AI and AVID’s mission and how AI can transform teaching, learning, and operational practices, aligning them with AVID college and career readiness goals. Join us to learn how AI-driven strategies can create personalized learning experiences, improve educational outcomes, and foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.

How do you move AVID Elementary from a program to a Tier 1 Initiative to a System Driver for truly transformational change on an elementary campus? Great question; we have the answers! We will discuss how we used AVID professional learning as a jumping-off point and put intentional systems in place to go from AVID as a program to a true system driver, leading to transformational change on our campus. We will discuss how we inspect what we expect through WICOR® Walks, instructional rounds, and professional learning communities to improve instruction and culture on our campus. AVID Elementary is a journey.  Come and hear how we moved with intentionality using a systemic approach to guide people’s behavior in the context of change. No matter where you are on your AVID Elementary journey, we’ve been there and are eager to share the lessons we have learned and our successes.

Dr. Reynaldo J. Carreon Jr. Academy and James Monroe Elementary School share their journeys from AVID Elementary schoolwide implementation to becoming AVID Showcase schools. During the presentation, participants will hear about some of the “bumps along the way” and the systems created to make college and career a priority for all students. As schools from Desert Sands Unified School District, where the motto is “The future starts here,” AVID has become the vehicle to ensure that all students have opportunities always and in all ways.

Leaders face myriad challenges when attempting to communicate with staff in ways that ensure shared understanding and shift educator practices. Factors like competing priorities, limited time, and non-educational issues that distract from the core work of schools can all dilute a leader’s impact. When AVID leaders fall prey to such challenges, staff can be left unclear about AVID’s intended purpose and may not feel compelled to act differently, even after attending AVID training. This session will explore specific strategies to lead AVID implementation in a clear, compelling, and actionable manner for staff, resulting in classroom and student-level impact.

Adopting the AVID College and Career Readiness Framework reduces or eliminates achievement gaps often associated with issues of equity and opportunity. Historically, students who were male, African American, Hispanic, from a low-socioeconomic background, or from parents who did not attend college were underrepresented in postsecondary education. However, AVID students with these characteristics are not underrepresented; they enroll and persist at rates that often exceed national comparators. This session highlights how certain high school opportunities and achievements are associated with greater college success rates. Audience members will discuss these and other key outcomes that all students should be achieving.

The Superintendent Panel is comprised of superintendents with comprehensive AVID implementations within their districts. The panel members will respond to various questions regarding their district’s perspectives on AVID’s impact on their communities and impart insights into their journeys of successful implementations that elevate college and career readiness.

Interactive conversations at the AVID District Director and Principal Roundtable will focus on knowledge-sharing and problem-solving around the implementation challenges of AVID Schoolwide and the AVID College and Career Readiness System. The discussion will allow networking between District Directors and principals from across the country.

This session will provide an overview of the AVID National Demonstration School Revalidation process and provide opportunities to engage with other Demonstration School leaders to connect, learn, and share best practices. Discussions will focus on how Demonstration Schools break down barriers, insist on rigor, align the work, advocate for students, and demonstrate collective educator agency as a teaching and learning center.

Join us to unlock the key strategies for ensuring a smooth and effective transition in AVID Elective programs from middle school to high school. This enriching session will shed light on implementing best practices, aligning curricula, and developing a conducive environment to prepare students for the leap. As we delve into these topics, we will also discuss how to maintain the momentum and support students, ensuring their success as they enter or continue in the AVID Elective into their high school years. This session is a “can’t miss“ for all educators committed to supporting their AVID students!

Essential skills, 21st-century skills, soft skills—you’ve heard all the terms. But in a time when technical skills are evolving faster than ever, Durable Skills—the ones that last, transfer, and apply almost everywhere all the time—are mattering more and more. Explore the AVID-aligned Durable Skills essential for the 21st-century workforce. Our session delves into America Succeeds’ pioneering research, revealing how these transferable competencies are vital across all sectors. Learn to embed these skills within high school curricula and programs, ensuring students are equipped for future success. In our session, we’ll share the implications of our work and strategies to weave these critical competencies into the AVID College and Career Readiness System.

Student agency is a critical attribute of a college- and career-ready student. This session will introduce the AVID Student Agency Survey, which measures the extent to which students believe in themselves and act with intentionality. We will share Initial findings from students in grades 4 to 12, including how AVID provides students with a more consistent and equitable education experience that reduces gaps in student agency. In addition to AVID Center’s perspective, participants will hear how district leaders use the AVID Student Agency Survey and data to inform their work in schools.

The world needs more students who analyze problems like engineers, develop hypotheses like scientists, think analytically like mathematicians, recognize the power of individuals like historians, create like artists, and record their thinking like authors. Disciplinary literacy is a schoolwide approach to providing students with the tools and strategies for success in every content area to empower them to design their future. This session will explore the concept of disciplinary literacy, its importance, and how elementary educators can leverage it to increase engagement, foster critical thinking, and deepen understanding of content.

The world needs more students who analyze problems like engineers, develop hypotheses like scientists, think analytically like mathematicians, recognize the power of individuals like historians, create like artists, and record their thinking like authors. Disciplinary literacy is a schoolwide approach to providing students with the tools and strategies for success in every content area to empower them to design their future. This session will explore the concept of disciplinary literacy, its importance, and how secondary educators can leverage it to increase engagement, foster critical thinking, and deepen understanding of content.

Over the last three years, AVID and Think Together have collaborated to rethink expanded learning spaces, focusing on building relational capacity, developing student skills, and fostering student agency. In high school, this work has taken the shape of a mentorship program. Through the mentorship program, high school students receive comprehensive support that helps them navigate their educational process. In this session, participants will explore the approach, tools, and resources that support the effective implementation of an AVID-aligned mentorship program for expanded learning.

Desert Sands Unified takes you on its journey toward AVID Districtwide. AVID Center challenged us with the mission of District Strategic Planning, and we chose to accept it. Learn how this opportunity uncovered who was missing at the table, providing a common language where district leaders, together, undoubtedly solidify “All means all in Desert Sands.”

This educational session explores the journey from articulating a mission statement to actualizing a living culture within schools. It emphasizes that true culture transcends written words and is shaped by the actions and experiences of all community members. We’ll share actionable strategies for educators to foster a culture that supports student success and teacher retention. The session also highlights AVID’s role in advocating for students and the importance of belonging for all stakeholders to drive impact.

Take the next steps through this timely and imperative NatCon session, where we open the door to building student agency in classrooms invigorated by the unassuming yet effectual use of AI. This session underscores how AI integration helps foster vital skills in students, cementing their college and career readiness in a rapidly digitizing world. Be prepared to delve into practical instances of knowledge and skill activation through responsible and ethical use of AI and consider the unintended ramifications of unequal exposure to such transformative tools. Imagine a classroom where students can access rigorous content on a level playing field and have the opportunity to comprehend and apply their knowledge. This session is targeted at educators aspiring to boost their teaching practice, unlock enriching resources, and redefine perspectives, all while maintaining a firm focus on augmenting student agency.

Roadtrip Nation captures empowering stories that give students the tools and confidence to find a career that matters to them. Join us for a deep dive into the AVID and Roadtrip Nation partnership and experience how the combination of Roadtrip Nation stories and AVID WICOR® strategies empower students to discover what drives them and use that passion to define their road to college and career. Come experience how this partnership develops opportunity knowledge and accelerates college and career readiness for all students.

This session explores the impact of high expectations in the classroom and strategies to achieve them. Drawing from research on self-determination theory and intrinsic motivation, we examine how instructional AI can be implemented to scaffold student growth, encourage buy-in, and expand teachers’ impact. We’ll use examples from Hillsborough County Public Schools to spotlight how AI raises the floor and ceiling for student success by accelerating rigorous standards. Attendees will gain insights into fostering a shared commitment to high expectations between students and teachers while leveraging instructional AI to propel learning and break down barriers to student success.

This session explores the application of AVID learnings via a panel of AVID alumni. Each alumni brings a unique perspective of the different stages and transitions along their journey of conquering many firsts, and hope to give back to other alumni and educators by sharing their struggles and successes in navigating college, career, and life. They will reflect on the strategies they learned in AVID and how they continue to leverage them. Attendees will hear and see the AVID College and Career Readiness Framework personified. This session will inspire and connect your teaching and learning of AVID strategies to AVID’s mission and your site goals by witnessing the end in mind: AVID alumni in the real world.

Step into the realm of educational transformation where every student’s potential is nurtured and celebrated. Join us on a captivating journey through the innovative landscape of AVID Elementary. Marie Curie STEM Elementary School, a dual language school, is the only AVID Elementary showcase in Eastern Washington and demonstrates the elements of AVID for all students.

In this session, we will explore innovative approaches to enhance English language acquisition through the integration of AI technologies and WICOR® (Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization, and Reading) strategies. This session will highlight the synergy between AI tools and proven pedagogical methods to create a dynamic and personalized learning experience for English language learners.

Transform your building with AVID and make a positive impact in your school community! This session will help you develop systems for AVIDized master and bell schedules, create structures for year-long AVID event planning, roll out, and recruitment, and establish routines to integrate AVID into every classroom’s daily activities. You will also learn how to cultivate an AVIDized school culture and climate that extends into and serves the wider community. Maximize opportunities for all students to excel through structured AVIDized advisory periods that provide enrichment, extension, and intervention for every student every day. Take advantage of the provided templates and resources to continue your school’s journey towards AVIDization.

Empower educators to enhance AVID’s sustainability across districts and sites using a strategic “Systems Binder” blueprint. The blueprint is designed for various stakeholders and promotes sustainable AVID operations with comprehensive support. Engage in activities to strengthen alignment to accelerated programs, identify AVID best practices for sustainability, and pinpoint system barriers. The objective of this session is to collaboratively create a blueprint that supports students’ academic preparedness and exposure to college and career pathways, promoting AVID as a system that consistently fosters educational advancement.

Join us for an inspiring session showcasing Deer Park Independent School District’s 12-year journey using the AVID Math Summer Bridge to transform our students’ math trajectories. Learn firsthand how to establish, expand, and sustain a Math Summer Bridge program that propels students into advanced math courses. Additionally, we will share how we have expanded summer math enrichment into the lower grades to help support our advanced math initiative. We will explore the strategies that have enabled us to help hundreds of students move into and remain in advanced math courses. Through hands-on activities, we will share practical insights and techniques to empower educators to foster academic success.

Students who want to do it all struggle to commit to AVID for multiple years and miss many of the benefits. Ridge Point High School recognized this barrier and built a schoolwide culture of celebration and support for all students, encouraging AVID retention and campuswide student involvement. Learn how this school retains involved students by recruiting the right students from the start, building relational capacity where all students feel supported and welcome, recognizing student success through district and campus awards, and creating a master schedule that breaks down barriers for all students.

Join us for an insightful session uncovering the remarkable transformation of Utterback Middle School, once a failing institution, into an AVID National Demonstration School. We will explore the journey toward academic excellence by implementing AVID through a potent blueprint, steering educators, students, and communities toward rigorous academic preparedness. Participants will delve into the strategies, hurdles, and triumphs encountered while harnessing AVID to rejuvenate struggling educational establishments. This session will focus on practical insights to replicate these outcomes within your educational setting through real-world examples and data-driven insights.

Is your district excited about AVID but facing challenges funding it? Join us on a “funding AVID journey” where you’ll discover essential techniques to secure funding for your AVID system while learning actionable strategies to help you navigate the grant writing process effectively. We’ll explore funding needs, strategies, and sources to help you create a funding plan.

This session addresses the implications of current research on engagement, gamification, and game-based learning for language classrooms. Multilingual, emergent, and academic language learners can benefit from game-based learning strategies that lower the affective filter (decrease anxiety) to promote successful language acquisition in low-stake learning contexts. Participants will engage and “play” with various tools, technologies, and instructional strategies as we model game-based learning and gamification practices to increase engagement, WICOR® skills, and rigor among all learners.

Are we providing all students with what they need to be successful? The practices discussed and modeled in this session will help participants address the opportunity and expectation gaps that negatively affect so many young people. Helping all students succeed is not about changing what you are doing as an educator, but changing how you do it—the delivery, the scaffolding, and the relationship building. The strategies shared in this session can be implemented immediately to increase the level of success, engagement, and rigor for all students. This session will help educators reflect on their practices, learn new ones, and ask, “Does all mean all?” when it comes to meeting the needs of learners in their classrooms.

Supporting AVID programs beyond site and district funding can be challenging. In this interactive session, participants will build their opportunity knowledge by hearing the story of a successful partnership between the AVID program and the broader community. Erin Dollar, AVID Site Coordinator and lead AVID Elective teacher, will share how San Clemente High School funded field trips and professional development opportunities and provided students with guest speakers and interview coaching. Additionally, we will share nationwide associations with philanthropic initiatives. Participants will have the opportunity to interact with other AVID educators who have built successful community partnerships.

There are so many resources, tools, and strategies available to support multilingual learner success, but with so much out there, it’s easy to get lost. Join us and experience how AVID Excel®, a middle school elective for experienced multilingual scholars, leverages the Foundations of Instruction to distill all that down to a playbook of five clear and defined instructional moves that empower multilingual learners to achieve. This interactive presentation will explore how the AVID Excel Foundations of Instruction transform instruction and unlock the potential of all multilingual learners by celebrating their unique voices, accelerating language acquisition, and deepening academic success.

Combining the power of AI and AVID strategies can significantly enhance student engagement and achievement in K–12 classrooms. In this session, participants will gain a deeper understanding of the potential of generative AI in the classroom and develop concrete ideas for integrating this technology into their teaching practice to foster WICOR (Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization, and Reading) skills in their students. The presentation is interactive and engaging, focusing on active learning strategies and collaborative discussions. Participants will experience curated activities deploying AI tools and engage in collaborative brainstorms as they plan applications for their educational contexts. By the end of this session, participants will be equipped with strategies and ideas to help students engage with AI in positive, ethical, and rigorous ways.

AVID Weekly: Literacy Connections Schoolwide provides teachers with ready-to-go lessons that bring disciplinary literacy to life in every classroom. Monthly content updates include at least one multilingual learner lesson, various texts with readability levels from grades 5–12, and optional blended learning opportunities and support for teachers. In this session, participants will embark on a journey that will allow them to navigate the site, explore an AVID Weekly text and lesson, and investigate resources as they engage in the AVID Critical Reading Process to gain knowledge and understanding of how to cultivate literacy in their classrooms.

AVID^® Elementary Weekly: Literacy Connections Schoolwide provides teachers with ready-to-go lessons that bring disciplinary literacy to life in every classroom. Monthly content updates include at least one multilingual learner lesson, various texts with readability levels beginning at kindergarten, and optional blended learning opportunities and support for teachers. In this session, participants will embark on a journey that will allow them to navigate the site, explore an AVID Weekly text and lesson, and investigate resources as they engage in the AVID Critical Reading Process to gain knowledge and understanding of how to cultivate literacy in their classrooms.

Becoming an AVID Certified Educator means demonstrating dedication to continuous reflective practice centered on the AVID Foundations of Instruction. Get a sneak peek into how becoming an AVID Certified Educator supports educators in creating classroom experiences that improve college and career readiness for all students. Participants in this session will learn more about this new opportunity for classroom educators to demonstrate and validate their commitment to applying the AVID Foundations of Instruction through daily instructional design. Site and district leaders will learn how supporting teachers to become AVID Certified Educators can positively impact collective educator agency on your campus and learning experiences for your students.

AVID Elementary Descriptors help bring the AVID College and Career Readiness Framework to life through “What Students Need” and how that looks in an elementary setting. With each grade level represented, educators can apply the Elementary Descriptors to locally defined content and standards to support student success. Participants will learn how the Elementary Descriptors are scaffolded through the gradual release of responsibility from educator encouragement and modeling to monitoring as students become more independent in their skills. Participants will work with other educators to apply the Elementary Descriptors to their professional practice to support student success.

Join us for an interactive session on utilizing interactive notebooks to enhance critical reading and note-taking skills across content areas. Participants will engage in hands-on activities, including collaborative note-taking and text annotation, to deepen their understanding of the AVID Critical Reading Process. Through shared insights and collaborative learning, attendees will explore the benefits of using graphic organizers and processing activities to showcase their learning. This session is for educators seeking practical strategies to promote collaboration and boost student engagement in both reading and note-taking activities.

Discover the pivotal role of the AVID Tutorial Process in shaping students’ college and career readiness! With AVID students devoting 40% of their time to tutorials, creating engaging, meaningful, and rigorous experiences is critical. Uncover strategies to move students from compliance to commitment, ensuring they are prepared and eager to participate actively in tutorials that drive academic excellence and readiness.

Is your site struggling to find reliable college tutors or meet the student-to-tutor ratio? Empower your students to take ownership of the tutorial process and capitalize on student leaders in the AVID Elective classroom. Learn how to identify potential peer tutors, develop selection criteria, and outline a tutor training plan. Walk away with resources and replicable steps to implement peer tutors at your site!

Join us in digging into the differences between game-based and gamified learning, and see examples of how you can enhance teaching and learning through 3D immersion. We’ll cover how game-based learning integrates specific learning objectives into a game framework, with measurable outcomes and informative feedback. On the other hand, we’ll show how gamification relies on extrinsic motivators (like badges or rewards) to enhance engagement and is separate from content. What’s right for your students? Join us to find out!

In this session, immerse yourself in seven easy and innovative inquiry-infused strategies that promise to elevate rigor and engagement in your classroom. These strategies are not only simple to implement but also require minimal preparation, making them accessible to teachers of all experience levels. Join us to discover practical techniques that immediately enhance student learning and engagement. Don’t miss this opportunity to infuse your classroom with inquiry-based strategies that amplify rigor, collaboration, student engagement, and relational capacity!

Intellectual citizens make the connection between learning and civics; they are leaders and change agents in local, national, and global communities. How can we use WICOR strategies to help students become intellectual citizens? The goal of this session is to prepare students to be college- and career-ready and key contributors to our democracy and global society. Participants will learn and apply instructional practices to cultivate habits children need to be successful students and citizens through WICOR strategies. In line with an educator’s mission to educate the whole child, participants will develop strategies to foster academic excellence and civic-minded thinking. This topic is pertinent in all aspects of education; we all share the responsibility of building powerful, life-long learners and citizens.

Whether you’re a site just starting your AVID journey or one that has had AVID for years, replicating the magic of the AVID Elective class across your building can seem daunting. Fear not! Come and see how intentionally leveraging the four AVID Schoolwide Domains of Instruction, Systems, Leadership, and Culture can completely transform your campus into the place you dream it can be. You’ll learn how to immediately impact instruction, build strong, committed Site Teams, design schoolwide systems that help spread WICOR across the campus, and build a rock-solid culture of college and career readiness. If you build it, they all can succeed!

Low-stakes writing strategies increase rigor and promote critical thinking, foster a profound understanding of course material, develop student writing while building writing stamina, and encourage engagement to deepen learning. This session will teach educators how immersing students in low-stakes writing strategies helps them progress from engagement to ownership of their learning.

Calling all middle and high school AVID Elective teachers, AVID District Directors, AVID Site Coordinators, and administrators: Unlock the power of partnerships with AVID Weeks at a Glance! Join us to discover easy-to-use lesson plans and digital resources and take away a practical AVID strategy for your classrooms. We promise a fun and interactive session, including polls, group discussions, and tips about using tools from partnerships like Tallo, EVERFI, and Packback. This is your chance to supercharge your teaching practices and help your students thrive.

Learn how AVID’s unique tutoring principles contrast traditional models and explore strategies to infuse these methods into your schoolwide tutoring programs. Gain insights on fostering critical thinking, empowering students, and enhancing academic language. This session promises to provide the tools needed to increase student outcomes through a reimagined tutoring approach.

Insisting on Rigor is a critical part of the AVID College Readiness Framework and a cornerstone of the Instruction Domain. Presenters will present the ways that identifying and ensuring rigor in the AVID Elective helps students develop the necessary skills to be successful in the most challenging courses. AVID Electives, District Directors, and Administrators will leave with a better understanding of AVID’s definition of rigor and how to identify and coach it.

Explore the transformative power of language acquisition and student engagement in AVID Emerge classrooms through viewing and treating our multilingual learners as language architects: a perspective shift that empowers students to utilize their unique voices, backgrounds, and life experiences to access and produce rigorous, language-rich content. This session discusses and demonstrates how to effectively implement language-building routines, scaffolded instruction, and strategies to foster an environment that nurtures student autonomy, boosts confidence, and enhances academic performance across grade and language proficiency levels. We will provide examples from the AVID Emerge Secondary and Elementary Digital Toolkits that exemplify the foundational aspects of instruction used in AVID Emerge implementation, including building positive relationships, creating an appropriate learning environment, designing strategic lessons, setting clear learning objectives, and applying diagnostic teaching. Leveraging the Real-to-Ideal Gap Analysis, we will formulate actionable steps that attendees can readily implement in their classrooms post-session.

Discover the tailored approach of AVID’s innovative multilingual learner programming, explicitly designed to amplify language development and academic acceleration across elementary and secondary schools. Learn how AVID’s transformational instructional model, supported by the AVID College and Career Readiness Framework, blends different learning techniques, embodies life experiences, and leverages asset-based instruction. With our focus on creating a nurturing environment for multilingual learners to thrive and develop self-efficacy, we unravel how AVID addresses the opportunity gap for students of all language proficiency levels. We’ll also delve into our unique strategy of implementing differentiated instructional routines that value individual differences, establish trust, foster agency, and develop leadership traits. This session is an essential guide for educators to experience and comprehend how responsive teaching practices and high-quality professional learning—AVID Excel®, the Academic Language and Literacy Community of Practice, English Language Development Summer Bridge, and AVID Emerge—can alter the trajectory of multilingual students’ learning path toward success.

Participate in a meticulously planned lesson walkthrough modeled through the AVID Critical Reading Process. Our dynamic team will guide you in focusing on the Essential Skills: Elementary Descriptors and fundamental elements of Student Agency and Opportunity Knowledge within your classroom. This session is designed for those who already have a strong foundation in WICOR® and Rigorous Academic Preparedness and are ready to unlock new ways of thinking. Join us as we explore how to leverage resources, including AI, to strengthen lesson plans and help students master what students need—rigorous academic preparedness, student agency, and opportunity knowledge.

Without relational capacity rigor is just hard. This session will equip participants with practical ways to make the learning environment safe, logical, fun, and memorable so rigor is attainable for all students. Educators will leave with an action plan for shifting how learning happens so students can rise to new levels.

Supporting AVID students in earning college credits while enrolled in high school can substantially ease the transition to higher education and make college more accessible. In this interactive session, you will build your opportunity knowledge by hearing the story of one successful AVID and International Baccalaureate school from AVID Site Coordinator and Head Elective Teacher Erin Dollar. We will share data on student success, highlight suggestions for master scheduling, and address vertical articulation challenges and opportunities. In addition, participants will have the opportunity to interact with other AVID educators who support students in AP, dual credit, and other college credit-bearing options.

This session will provide an overview of the steps to becoming an emerging AVID National Demonstration School. It is intended for secondary AVID schools and will review the criteria, guidelines, and rationale that schools need to meet and how they can take a step toward becoming a National Demonstration School.

Empower your students to step beyond rote memorization and engage deeply in mathematics to own their learning by articulating their thinking to make conjectures, connect to prior knowledge, and refine problem-solving approaches. In this session, you will engage in strategies to foster a culture of collaborative expression as you experience the power of learning through mathematical discourse. Walk away with resources to develop a roadmap to begin and strengthen your discourse journey.

Are you looking for impactful ways of engaging students and empowering their learning? Makerspaces support the development of resourcefulness, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills among students. This interactive session will immerse participants in easy-to-implement makerspaces that they can use in their classrooms and schools as tools to promote hands-on learning and foster creativity and innovation among students. Educators and administrators will walk away with resources and tools to help guide the immediate implementation of makerspaces.

Get ready to transform your phonics instruction and create student-centered learning experiences! Join us in this engaging session where you’ll discover how to WICORize your phonics lessons using powerful AVID strategies. We’ll start by reviewing Scarborough’s Reading Rope Model and connecting it to the AVID College and Career Readiness Framework. Participants will be immersed in a WICORized phonics lesson and walk away with practical tools to help students build strong literacy skills and take ownership of their learning. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to promote student agency and take your phonics instruction to the next level!

Empower your students to step beyond rote memorization and engage deeply in mathematics to own their learning by articulating their thinking to make conjectures, connect to prior knowledge, and refine problem-solving approaches. In this session, you will engage in strategies to foster a culture of collaborative expression as you experience the power of learning through mathematical discourse. Walk away with resources to develop a roadmap to begin and strengthen your discourse journey.