Liberty High School AVID

Applications for the 2024-2025 School Year are Now Ciosed - Please contact your counselor

Applications for the 2026-2027 School Year are Now OPEN!!

All students in the AVID elective have been selected through an application process. The first step is to complete the online application form. Eligible candidates will then be invited to a brief interview with members of the Liberty High School AVID Site Team.

AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) is an elective class offered to students who would like to prepare for four-year universities. The curriculum features writing, inquiry, collaboration, reading, note-taking and study skills, and college/career/motivational activities. College students are in the classroom as tutors twice a week, and field trips are taken to universities in the area. Students must commit to taking notes in subject-area classes on a daily basis. Other requirements for applicants are satisfactory citizenship, good attendance, and a GPA of 2.0 or greater.

Focus For Acceptance Into AVID

GPA of 2.0 to 3.5.
Come from an “underrepresented” group.
Able to complete four-year university requirements prior to graduation.
Hard worker, have a positive attitude, and be collaborative in nature.
Need support in rigorous courses (HN, AP, Dual-enrollment)

What AVID is NOT

AVID is not an “at-risk” program. It is a program designed to support students who would otherwise not attend a four-year university.
AVID is not for students who don’t do any of their homework.
AVID is not for the consistently “D” or “F” student.
AVID is not a program for unmotivated students. They must have Individual Determination.

AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) prepares motivated students for college and career readiness and success in a global society. One important part of AVID is our college visits. These field trips provide our AVID students the opportunity to come together across the grade levels to help them find their "college fit" and understand college on a deeper level. Our second field trip of the year was to the University of Iowa on April 7th.

TEMPLATES

Brainstorm: Use this template to PLAN what will be included on your resume
Getting organized: Use this template. PROCESS the information that you may choose to include on your resume. This will be easy to cut and paste from later.
First Draft: Use this template. Here you will USE the information that you typed on the previous document. Just copy and paste and then add any additional information.

Final Resume: Almost done! Use this template. Here you will use the information from your rough draft. Just copy and paste and then add the last bits of information.

HOME TIPS: College Admission Tests

1) Reinforce the tips from the December 2023 AVID Newsletter (Issue 5)

2. Help your teen set and stick to a practice schedule, and help them to access test prep resources (many are free online).

3. For more information, see the CollegeBoard’s resource Getting Your Teen Ready for the SAT

HOME TIPS: Scholarships

Start early and organize
Research online, ask colleagues, and talk to members of philanthropic organizations, churches, civic groups, etc.
Encourage your student to APPLY. Applying for scholarships takes sustained effort, students can save themselves financial burdens and the stress of last minute applications by committing one day a week to research and apply for scholarships.

HOME TIPS: Goal Setting

Help your student identify what they want to achieve and brainstorm action steps that will lead to success.
Check-in with your student frequently to help them monitor progress toward their goals and celebrate growth.
Encourage goals related to a variety of durations (short, medium, and long term) and consider having your student post their goals and goal progress in a visible location.

Focused Note Taking

Tips for Home

1) Reinforce the tips from the September 2023 AVID Newsletter

2) Remind your student to review class notes every night.

3) REview notes with your student, and encourage them to enlist a study buddy to go over notes together to fill in gaps and misunderstandings, and to make connectinos to other material.

3) Encourage your student to access or ask for supplementary or guided notes if its in their 504 or IEP plan.

4) For most students, handwritten ntoes are best. However, for students with slow processing speed or messy handwriting, typing may be best.

Tips for Educators

1)Teach students how to take notes & review the benefits

2) Make time for notetaking application activiites

HOME TIPS: Help your student(s) establish a routine and organizational structures for home and school Post a visual or digital schedule for youth to see times and activities

Organization Skills

Tips for Home

1) Reinforce the tips from the August 2023 AVID Newsletter

2) Help your student(s) establish a routine and organizational structures for home and school

3) Post a visual or digital schedule for youth to see times and activities

4) Read More: English and Spanish + More

Tips for Educators

1)Teach and reinforce naming conventions to save digital materials.

Ex. Name + Assignment Name

2) Post assignments and deadlines + prompt students to record in planners + Backwards map

3) Guide students to create and maintain organization structures & strategies

4) Encourage the use of visual (graphic) organizers

AVID's mission is to close the achievement gap by preparing all students for college and career readiness and success in a global society. To support them in their coursework, AVID students learn organizational and study skills, develop critical thinking, learn to ask probing questions, receive academic help from peers and college tutors, and participate in enrichment and motivational activities to make their college and career dreams a reality.

What is AVID?

AVID's mission is to close the opportunity gap by preparing all students for college readiness and success in a global society.

AVID Secondary (grades 7-12) helps students in the AVID Elective develop their academic skills, specifically writing, inquiry, collaboration, organization, and reading (what AVID refers to as WICOR). The AVID Elective also provides students with opportunities to increase their college knowledge and take college field trips. Students and teachers in the AVID Elective often develop a close-knit peer group, commonly known as the AVID family. AVID Secondary also acts to improve access and equity to rigorous courses on campus and professional learning provides strategies that can help all students be more college-ready, even if they are not in the AVID Elective, through the use of AVID teaching strategies in content-area classes.

Go Deeper on WICOR

Writing: Writing is basic to thinking, learning, and growth, requiring students to consider issues in new, complex ways, contributing to self-knowledge, and helping them to clarify and order experience and ideas.
Inquiry: AVID’s emphasis on inquiry focuses on the application of Costa’s three levels of “intellectual functioning," whereby learning to ask progressively more complex questions is scaffolded and students become progressively more metacognitive—aware of their own thinking processes.
Collaboration: Collaborative learning involves intentionally designed student groups engaged in “co-laboring” toward meaningful learning outcomes, using active engagement activities planned to maximize learning, and facilitating the sharing of the workload Barkley, Cross and Major (2005)
Organization: Because college students face competing priorities that are often overwhelming, organizational skills are critical to success in academic and social situations.
Reading: College instructors consider reading a basic skill, one that all students should have acquired before entering college.

What is AVID Schoolwide?

AVID takes a systematic approach to ensure that all students are prepared for life after high school. It begins with meaningful professional development which focuses on best practice for every educator. AVID emphasizes goal setting, collaboration, self-advocacy, organization, and student-centered instruction. While these strategies are implemented throughout the building for all students, the elective classes are specifically tailored for those who plan to attend college directly after high school and are in need of support and resources to help them get there.

Why does AVID matter?

AVID is "a style of teaching that was geared to conceptual understanding, not just memorization of facts and formulas."

"Students learn how to take notes, question teachers, manage their time, plan for college, plan for life, make effective presentations, write persuasively, and develop other skills that the regular classes did not have time for. "

Our understanding is that AVID provides a framework for learning. It combines lots of best practices in specific areas such as note-taking, organization all the way to a variety of soft skills such as listening, public speaking, and delivers in a comprehensive package. It is a great framework to hold everyone (students and teachers) to the highest standard.

[Source: Question Everything (Mathews, 2015) ]

Our Liberty High School Site Team:

AVID is a systematic approach to thinking and learning. The members of the AVID Site Team have attended one or more intensive training to create a culture of learning that is embedded with AVID strategies and methodologies that engage students and prepare them for success both inside and outside of the classroom.

AVID = the HOW

Content/Subject Area = the WHAT

Jenny Mick: AVID 10 and 12, English

Guy Meyer: AVID 9, Spanish

Tom Cronk: AVID 11, Success Center, PE

Shelby Bryce: School Counselor

Emily O’Donnell: Assistant Principal

Marianne McGrane: Earth Space Science

Conrad Nichols: Social Studies

Mary Binzley: English

Michelle Baxter: Math

AVID Teacher Features