Yesterday’s was Paige’s last parent/teacher school conference for the year. Despite her sassy mouth and talking too much in class, her teachers really like her and say she adds “spark” to the classroom. Her grades are great too. She has 7 As, 1B, and 1C. I’m proud of her for the effort she is putting forth. But, even more so – I’m proud of her for what she MIGHT be doing next year! One of her teachers recommended that she participate in the AVID program that is available for 8th graders. So, we went to talk to the Leader of the program yesterday to get more information, and an application form.
AVID stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination. It is a program that targets kids in the middle academically. The purpose of the program is to provide support to these kids and help them with college eligibility and success. It takes a very big commitment from the kids too, which is why I’m so impressed with Paige’s desire to participate. She will be required to take an Honors level class next year ( and I think each year she participates). She takes an AVID class daily, that is considered one of her “elective” courses so she has to give up other electives to participate. She is required to carry a HUGE AVID binder with her to all classes and take notes in all of her core classes – for a total of 20 pages of notes a week. The leader said “even if your friends are taking notes, and your teacher doesn’t tell you to take notes.. you do it for AVID. And we check your binder each week.”
They bring in college graduates to talk about different careers and college life. They get to take tours of college campuses.
One of the coolest things about this program is that these kids in her AVID group will stay together for 5 years. When they transfer to High School, the continue in the AVID program for four years in the highschool with the same group of kids that they started with in 8th grade. What a great support system!
So, we will fill out the application and cross our fingers that she gets accepted.
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