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Choice Check for February: AVID

Posted February 9, 2022, 9:35 AM. Updated January 26, 2026, 1:00 PM.

Advancement Via Individual Determination

During the 2021-2022 school year, APS is highlighting some of our many programs through a monthly feature called Choice Checks. One of the advantages of being a large urban-suburban-rural school district is offering so many choices. The APS Choice Checks webpage as well as the 2021-2022 wall calendar distributed to families and employees across the district, feature just a few of the many educational opportunities we provide students – from dual language and dual credit, career-based and college-based learning, college prep and marketable job skills, fine arts and competitive sports.

What is AVID

AVID, which stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination, is now offered at 9 APS high schools, 20 middle schools, and 2 K-8 schools. AVID strategies also are taught in 24 APS elementary schools. 

AVID provides a support structure for typically lower-income, under-served students who often are the first in their families to attend college. These students show academic potential, with average to high test scores, good grade point averages, and a desire and determination to succeed in school. The mission of AVID is to prepare these students for college, career, and success in a global society.

Why AVID Works

AVID places students in a rigorous curriculum and gives them the support to succeed through positive peer identification, trained teachers who serve as student advocates, and adult professional and college tutors who visit classrooms weekly to facilitate small-group discussions.

AVID's curriculum is based on 

  • Rigorous standards
  • WICOR (Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization, and Reading)
  • Cornell note-taking
  • Socratic Seminars

AVID succeeds by

  • Developing students as readers and writers
  • Teaching specific strategies for critical thinking and higher-level inquiry
  • Providing support so that students can meet high expectations
  • Influencing the belief system, culture, and instructional strategies of a campus
  • Providing meaningful and motivating professional development

AVID supports by

  • Advancement Via Individual Determination
  • Preparing for College Readiness
  • Accelerate, Not Remediate
  • Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization, Reading
  • In-Class Tutoring
  • Grit, Resilience, Growth Mindset
  • College Field Trips

More Information

AVID logo