New research suggests that the college-readiness system known as AVID—Advancement Via Individual Determination—may be effective in preparing underserved students to succeed in college.
The National Student Clearinghouse found that high school graduates from 2010 and 2011 who participated in the AVID program persisted through their freshman and sophomore years of college at a higher rate than their peers who were not in the program. While 87 percent of the avid students enrolled in a second year of college, 77 percent of students did overall.
AVID is a San Diego-based nonprofit that serves K-12 students in 5,000 schools in 44 states and 16 countries. It trains educators to help students who are in the “academic middle” and who have the desire to go to college to develop critical thinking, literacy, and mathematics skills.
