AVID Center Overview: The Smaller Learning Communities Program On June 23, 2010 the U.S. Department of Education published the Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards for the Smaller Learning Communities Program. Proposals are due on August 6, 2010. The Smaller Learning Communities (SLC) program awards five-year grants to school districts and other local educational agencies (LEAs) to support the restructuring of large public high schools (i.e., schools with enrollments of 1,000 or more students) into smaller units for the purpose of improving academic achievement in large public high schools. The Department of Education defines an SLC as an environment in which a group of teachers and other adults within the school knows the needs, interests, and aspirations of each student well, closely monitors each student’s progress, and provides the academic and other support each student needs to succeed. SLCs may be structured as freshman academies, multi-grade academies organized around career interests or other themes, ‘‘houses’’ in which small groups of students remain together throughout high school, and autonomous schools within-a-school. These structural changes are typically complemented by other personalization strategies, such as student advisories, family advocate systems, and mentoring programs. An LEA can include up to 5 schools in their application. Grants will be awarded for a period of up to 60 months. The initial award will be for 24 months, with three annual awards for the final three years of the project contingent on project progress toward its goals. Each participating school may receive a five-year grant ranging from $1,750,000 to $2,500,000, depending on the size of the school (schools with under 2000 students can receive up to $2,000,000; schools with 2001-3000 students can receive up to $2,250,000; and schools with more than 3000 students can receive up to $2,500,000). Grants to an LEA applying on behalf of 5 schools will range from $8.75 million to $12.5 million. SLC Program Overview Absolute Priorities: There are two absolute priorities that you must meet to get funded: 1. Preparing All Students to Succeed in Postsecondary Education and Careers without need for remediation. To meet this priority you must: a. Provide intensive interventions to assist students who enter high school with reading/language arts or mathematics skills that are significantly below grade level to ‘‘catch up’’ quickly and attain proficiency by the end of 10th grade; b. Enroll students in a coherent sequence of rigorous English language arts, mathematics, and science courses that will equip them with the skills and content knowledge needed to succeed in postsecondary education and careers without need for remediation; 1 c. Provide tutoring and other academic supports to help students succeed in rigorous academic courses; d. Deliver comprehensive guidance and academic advising to students and their parents that includes assistance in selecting courses and planning a program of study that will provide the academic preparation needed to succeed in postsecondary education, early and ongoing college awareness and planning activities, and help in identifying and applying for financial aid for postsecondary education; and e. Increase opportunities for students to earn postsecondary credit through Advanced Placement courses, International Baccalaureate courses, or dual credit programs. 2. Common Planning Time for Teachers. You must increase the amount of time regularly provided to teachers who share the same students or teach the same academic subject for common planning and collaboration during or immediately following the school day without decreasing the amount of time provided to teachers for individual planning and preparation during the school day. To meet this priority, the common planning time must be used for one or more of the following activities: a. Structured examination of student work and outcome data. b. Collaborative professional development and coaching, including classroom observation. c. Identifying instructional and other interventions for struggling students. d. Curriculum and assessment development. Competitive Priorities: There also are two competitive preference priorities that you may meet (but that are not required). You can earn extra points if you meet the following competitive priorities: 50% of more of the schools included in your project are low-achieving (as defined in the Federal Register, p. 35894). Applicants that meet this competitive priority will earn 4 additional points. At least one but fewer than 50% of the schools included in your project are low-achieving. Applicants that meet this competitive priority will earn 2 additional points. Other Requirements: The Department of Education lists several additional requirements that an applicant must meet to be able to get a Smaller Learning Communities grant. 1. Student Placement: Students may not be placed into an SLC according to ability or any other measure. They must be placed into an SLC either at random or by student/parent choice. Testing or other judgments may not be used as the basis for placement into an SLC. 2. Including All Students: Every student within the school must be included in an SLC by no later than the end of the fifth school year of implementation. In addition, no more than 1% of the grant in any budget period may be spent on equipment with a unit cost over $500.00. The Department of Education also requires that projects with more than one school 2 have a full-time project director and that LEAs collect required performance data. No independent project evaluation is required. No cash or in-kind match is required. A complete list of the grant selection criteria is provided in separate document on AVID website. AVID is a Great Fit for the Smaller Learning Communities Program AVID supports student achievement and meets the requirements of the SLC program (more detail about the AVID program structures starts on page 5). Students must choose to be in the AVID program, and must demonstrate a motivation to work hard to achieve. AVID may not be for every student. Therefore, you will not be able to meet the student placement requirements of the grant by creating AVID-only SLCs. Instead, the academic support provided through AVID can be offered to students in any learning community to help them increase their academic achievement and prepare for college. AVID can provide the professional development, technical support, and college awareness and preparation services needed for a top-scoring project. The “quality of project services” section of the proposal is worth 60 of the 100 available points (not including the competitive priorities). AVID can help you address most of the “quality of project services” sub-criteria: (1) Creating an environment in which a core group of teachers and other adults within the school know the needs, interests, and aspirations of each student well, closely monitor each student's progress, and provide the academic and other support each student needs to succeed (10 points); AVID’s professional development helps prepare teams of teachers to provide the academic and social support students need to succeed. (2) Equipping all students with the reading/English language arts, mathematics, and science knowledge and skills they need to succeed in postsecondary education and careers without need for remediation (8 points); The AVID curriculum provides teachers with classroom activities and learning materials to support student learning in these key areas. The tutoring that AVID students receive supports their development of their academic skills. (3) Helping students who enter high school with reading/English language arts or mathematics skills that are significantly below grade-level to “catch up” and attain, maintain and exceed proficiency by providing supplemental instruction and supports to these students during the ninth grade and, to the extent necessary, in later grades (8 points); The AVID Elective teaches students how to study and how to learn so they can gain proficiency in English, reading and mathematics. 3 (4) Increasing the amount of time regularly provided to teachers for common planning and collaboration during the school day, without decreasing the amount of time provided to teachers for individual planning and preparation during the school day (9 points); Your proposal must include a plan for the teachers at each school to have common planning and collaboration time during the school day. AVID provides structures for teachers’ effective use of their common planning time. (5) Ensuring, through technical assistance, professional development, and other means, that teachers use opportunities for common planning and collaboration effectively to improve instruction and student academic achievement (9 points); AVID Center’s professional development prepares teachers to make the most effective use of their common planning and collaboration time. Technical assistance and coaching provided onsite and online provides ongoing support in using AVID strategies and teaching methodologies to improve instruction and student academic achievement. (6) Increasing the participation of students, particularly low-income students, in Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or dual credit courses that offer students the opportunity to earn simultaneously both high school and college credit (8 points); and AVID offers curriculum and instructional materials specifically designed to support students in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses. (7) Increasing the percentage of students who enter postsecondary education in the semester following high school graduation by delivering comprehensive career guidance and academic advising to students and their parents that includes assistance in selecting courses and planning a program of study that will provide the academic preparation needed to succeed in postsecondary education and careers, early and ongoing career and college awareness and planning activities, and help in identifying and applying for financial aid for postsecondary education (8 points). The AVID Elective is designed to deliver comprehensive career, college and academic awareness, planning, guidance and advising. Students in the AVID Elective explore careers and colleges and learn about the application process, college costs, and financial aid. AVID provides college information for parents as well, and prepares them to work through the financial aid process. Background: The AVID Program AVID has supported student achievement for almost 30 years. The AVID program has been adopted by over 4,500 schools in 46 states and 16 countries and U.S. Territories. AVID Center provides staff development for over 19,000 educators each year and serves more than 320,000 students annually. 4 AVID has proven to be one of the most effective ways to increase the likelihood that a young person who comes from a low-income family will graduate from high school and go on to enroll in postsecondary education with no need for remediation. Most AVID students are underrepresented minorities – about 50% are Hispanic (only 20% of all school-age children nationally are Hispanic), and 19% are African-American (compared to the national average of 15.3% of school-age children).i Many of these students do not have a college-going tradition in their families. The academic success of these AVID students helps close the achievement gap.ii AVID students are much more likely to complete the courses required to enter a four-year college. Nationwide, 89% of AVID students complete the sequence of courses necessary for four-year college acceptance. The national average for all students is 34%. AVID students are much more likely to take algebra in eighth grade – 51% of grade 8 AVID students compared to 22% nationwide. Students who take algebra in eighth grade are prepared for more advanced coursework in math and science in high school. They also are more likely to attend and graduate from college than are eighth graders who do not take algebra. AVID opens access to Advanced Placement courses for minority students. The proportion of Hispanic students taking AP exams is almost five times higher among AVID students (at 57%) than among U.S. students overall (12%). AVID students are more likely to graduate from high school. In California, for example, 99.5% of high school seniors in AVID graduate from high school, compared to only 82.4% of all high school seniors statewide. In Texas, over 95% of high school seniors in AVID graduate, compared to 89.9% of all high school seniors statewide. Minority students who participate in AVID are much more likely to enroll in a four-year college. Over half (55%) of the AVID African-American students who participated in AVID for three years enrolled in four-year colleges, compared to a national average of 33%, and 43% of the Latino students who participated in AVID enrolled in four-year colleges, compared to the national average of 29%. • AVID students are more likely to persist in their college studies. Once they enter college, most AVID students (80%) stay continuously enrolled, despite having to work as well as attend school. Their persistence is much higher than average for low-income and underrepresented college students in community colleges and universities nationwide – over 50% of public community college students drop out before completing a degree, and about 40% of public university students never complete their degrees. iii AVID is an extensive educator and student support system. AVID targets B, C and even D students in grades 4 through 12 who want to go to college but are not achieving at the level needed to reach that goal. AVID places these students in college preparatory classes (including honors and advanced placements classes), and then provides them a scaffold of social and academic structures to help them succeed. These structures include an AVID elective that teaches study skills and college preparation; inquiry-driven problem solving to support achievement in rigorous academic classes; curriculum and inquiry-based teaching and learning methodologies that stress writing, reading and collaboration; and extensive professional development that prepares teachers and school leaders to implement the program. 5 The key components of the AVID program for high schools include: The AVID Elective. Each participating student (grades 9-12) enrolls in an AVID elective course, which is a part of the student’s regular schedule. The course meets daily (or less often for longer periods if the school is on an alternative schedule). Two of the five class periods per week focus on academic training and college entry skills. On these days, students learn study skills, note taking, time management, critical reading, library research, test preparation, essay writing, testtaking strategies and how to write college entrance essays and prepare for entrance exams. One of the five class periods each week focuses on career exploration, understanding the academic preparation required for career choices, and researching colleges. The final two class periods per week are spent in AVID tutorials, collaborative inquiry groups conducted by college and peer tutors trained in inquiry-based collaborative coaching techniques. Students participate in these tutorial groups to both support their success in their college preparation courses and to help develop the habit of intense studying with classmates. AVID Teaching Methodology. “AVID Methodology” is not about changing curriculum – it is about providing most students access to a rigorous college preparatory curriculum, and providing professional development teachers who learn proven strategies to better serve the learning needs of all students. The teaching methodologies most effective in this quest include Writing as a Tool for Learning; an Emphasis on Inquiry; a Collaborative Approach; and Reading to Learn (WICR). • AVID Curriculum. To provide teachers with the tools needed to support students in their academic achievement, the AVID program provides rigorous, sequential curriculum materials and extensive professional development to teams of teachers from participating schools. AVID provides “Write Path” curriculum materials and professional development in English Language Arts, Mathematics, History/Social Science, and science. Curriculum materials are available for Advanced Placement courses in all of these content areas. AVID also provides curriculum designed to support the teaching of critical reading and writing strategies to English Language Learners. The AVID Tutorial Support Curriculum Resource Guide helps teachers enhance the skills of tutors by modeling and practicing effective group strategies, higher-order questioning techniques, writing review and collaborative problem solving. • AVID Professional Development for School Site Teams. Each participating school forms an interdisciplinary team of content-area teachers, counselors and administrators to lead the implementation of the AVID program. The team sets quantifiable goals for school improvement based on site data. Intensive professional development is provided to members of the school team to prepare them to implement and expand the AVID program. AVID professional development activities include: o The AVID Summer Institute, a weeklong intensive training event attended by the entire site team; o School site-based training sessions that focus on using the AVID Path series curriculum in content area courses; o Web-based seminars and online training courses on AVID principles and implementation; 6 o Monthly site team meetings to reinforce the AVID training and develop the team’s leadership. o Ongoing and sustained monitoring and coaching for the school site. These professional development activities help schools develop communities of practice among their teachers, who work together to plan instructional and academic support activities for their students. Their collaborative work helps reinforce teachers’ commitment to effective teaching, to successful students, and to continuous improvement at their school. This enhances teacher motivation and satisfaction and can help promote teacher retention at the school site. AVID has a positive impact on Leadership Effectiveness. Since AVID's inception in 1980, leadership training has been a key area of focus in order to promote college readiness across an entire campus. AVID Center provides professional development for site and district administrators, AVID Secondary and Elementary teachers, counselors, content area teachers, and administrators through a wide variety of training sessions throughout the school year and at AVID Center's Summer Institutes. Current AVID Center Leadership efforts include: AVID District Leadership (ADL): AVID Center works with over 800 school districts in 45 states. ADL training is required of the district leader who oversees AVID. ADL training offers on-site visits, training, and facilitation to help district leaders build local capacity for implementing, sustaining and constantly improving quality AVID programs in their schools. District leaders are supported in efforts to monitor the quality of AVID elective and elementary classes, implement the AVID Essentials, and promote schoolwide college readiness. Principals' Leadership Academy: In partnership with the Flippen Learning Group, AVID Center offers a year-long (19 days) training focused at developing principals' relational capacity, understanding of college readiness factors, as well as the systems, tools and strategies to lead their schools to greatness. Principals participate as a cohort and maintain communication electronically between face-to-face sessions. Leadership for College Readiness - Administrator Training: These two-day trainings are designed for participants to actively participate in assessing the structures, processes, and systems needed to create "Culturally Gifted Schools" and "College Ready" cultures on their campuses. Participants take a case study of a hypothetical school and begin the process of building a mission, vision, and core principles for that school. Participants begin the process of learning how to operationally define their campuses. AVID National Conference: AVID Center will offer superintendents, district leaders, principals, teacher-leaders, counselors and school board members an opportunity to develop and craft a plan to close the achievement gap; a plan that is cost-effective, proven, and easy to replicate. Participants engage in dialogue, presentations, and sessions from practitioners currently engaged in college-readiness efforts. They will hear from superintendents, site administrators, teachers, students, and researchers regarding: Access to rigorous curriculum for all Strategies to help African American male and English-language learner students navigate their educational path to college Strategies for closing the gender gap 7 Schoolwide and districtwide tactics for closing the achievement gap and increasing collegereadiness Parent and community involvement in college-readiness efforts Leveraging AVID strategies across the curriculum AVID creates a college-going culture that drives whole school reform. Although AVID was originally developed to meet the needs of underachieving ethnic and linguistic minority and lowincome students, its implementation at a site often results in the complete transformation of the academic, college-going culture of the school. As AVID grows and becomes embedded in the school, teacher belief systems change. This supports whole school change. Students from all backgrounds begin attaining higher levels of achievement. AVID helps reform schools because it confronts a fundamental systemic issue: the de facto tracking that tends to keep low income and minority students out of college preparatory programs and which results in lower levels of academic achievement. AVID offers an effective way to address these challenges: 1. AVID accelerates under-achieving students into more rigorous courses, instead of consigning them to remedial programs that do not fulfill the prerequisites for college. 2. AVID incorporates the intensive support students need to succeed in rigorous courses. At the elementary level, it is an embedded sequential academic skills program intended for non-elective, multi-subject, self-contained classrooms, and starts the college-going culture early in the students’ academic life. At the middle and high school level, additional support is formally structured into the academic AVID elective and is intensive – AVID classes meet every day and students apply AVID study methods in every class. Support also is continuous: AVID students are required to participate for at least three years in high school, and the ideal is to remain in the AVID program from the upper elementary grades through high school. 3. AVID addresses instructional methods as well as access. AVID classes incorporate a collegial approach and Socratic methods that specifically target the needs of underachieving students. AVID also incorporates practices such as inquiry-based, collaborative study groups that help students become independent learners. All AVID strategies are based on research on best practices and the influences of peer groups in student achievement. 4. AVID trains content area teachers in instructional methodologies that meet the learning needs of a broad range of students in rigorous content classes. AVID provides ongoing teacher coaching and follow-up to embed the training in teachers’ classroom practices. 5. AVID works to influence the college-ready culture of the entire school. AVID incorporates and gives life to an explicit belief system: that low income and minority students can achieve at high levels and succeed in college. This philosophical underpinning and the success of AVID help to change the expectations that teachers and students throughout a school have of disadvantaged and minority students. AVID makes the success of under-achieving students a schoolwide issue and leads to significant changes in course assignment policies, instructional methods, and school culture that contribute to their success. 6. AVID is a schoolwide initiative, not a school within a school. AVID addresses many aspects of the education system. The role of teacher is redefined from lecturer to advocate and guide. The role of counselor changes from gatekeeper to facilitator. The school-based peer group for AVID students 8 becomes one that values achievement. AVID provides the academic training necessary for success in rigorous curriculum. 7. AVID incorporates something badly needed by schools and teachers engaged in the daunting task of reform: strong collegial support. Each AVID site team is based on the notion that the success of students is a shared responsibility. As staff work together throughout the year as well as at Summer Institutes and regional events, they encourage and inspire one another. National and regional AVID centers facilitate this network by sharing information about successful practices and sponsoring training. 8. AVID promotes continuous improvement in schools. The AVID Certification program documents and recognizes schools that have fully and successfully implemented the AVID model, and serves as a continuous improvement process. The AVID Certification process includes a school site selfstudy followed by a site visit. Schools incorporate the findings of their self-study and certification site visit in their ongoing site development plan. Most jobs in the U.S. that offer earnings above a living wage require good English language and math skills and at least one year of postsecondary education. AVID provides preparation for any type of postsecondary education that requires strong academic foundations – a four-year college, a two-year college, or a shorter certificate or training program – without the need for academic remediation. Once implemented, AVID can be sustained without significant ongoing expenditures. AVID Center’s structures and services are designed to support the sustainability of your district’s broader and deeper implementation of the program: • AVID provides a management system to fit the needs of school districts. AVID Center provides a comprehensive training and support structure to prepare district staff members to coordinate the AVID program. • AVID can be implemented by a school’s current staff members. AVID Center will train a school’s existing FTE teachers to implement the AVID instructional model and scaffold of supports. • AVID Center has the capacity to ramp up training quickly. With more than 500 experienced trainers, AVID Center is ready to conduct AVID Path training at your district sites. • AVID Center launches training through Summer Institutes across the nation. AVID Summer Institutes provide valuable collaboration time for district and school site teachers and staff to work on the academic components of their school improvement plans. • AVID Center can support your district with comprehensive strategies to support students in Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or in dual-enrollment college classes. AVID Center also offers comprehensive strategies to support students who are English Language Learners and African American male students in AVID. 9 AVID Center Contact Information For more information, please contact: California Division Julie Elliott, California Director 9246 Lightwave Avenue, Suite 200, San Diego, CA 92123 Phone: (858) 380-4778 Email: jelliott@avidcenter.org Central Division Rosemary Ellis, Central Division Director 8303 N. Mopac Expressway, Suite C250, Austin, TX 78759 Phone: (512) 669-5900 Email: rellis@avidcenter.org Eastern Division Ann Hart, Eastern Division Director 3 Corporate Boulevard, Suite 118, Atlanta, GA 30329 Phone: (404) 963-9300 Email: ahart@avidcenter.org Western Division Karen Lewis, Western Division Director 5889 Greenwood Plaza Blvd, Suite 210, Greenwood Village, CO 80111 Phone: (303) 436-2200 Email: klewis@avidcenter.org AVID Center Headquarters Granger Ward, Executive Vice President 9246 Lightwave Avenue, Suite 200, San Diego, CA 92123 Phone: (858) 380-4781 Email: gward@avidcenter.org References i U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, October Supplement. ii AVID Center Data Collection System (2008). http://reports.avidcenter.org for AVID data California Department of Education (2008) www.cde.ca.gov for statewide data. CREATE (2000). Longitudinal Research on AVID 1999-2000. Burlingame, CA. CREATE (2002). The Magnificent Eight: AVID Best Practices Study. Burlingame, CA. Mehan, H. et. al, (1996). Constructing School Success: The Consequences of Untracking Low Achieving Students. New York: Cambridge University Press. iii U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1996/01 Beginning Postsecondary Longitudinal Study (BPS: 96/01). 10