AVID, Advancement Via Individual Determination, is a college readiness system for elementary through higher education that is designed to increase schoolwide learning and performance. The AVID College Readiness System (ACRS) accelerates student learning, uses research based methods of effective instruction, provides meaningful and motivational professional learning, and acts as a catalyst for systemic reform and change.

“While others talk about what should be done to prepare students for college, AVID is doing it. For more than 30 years, the AVID College Readiness System has helped thousands of students, many of whom are overlooked and underserved, rise above the obstacles they face to achieve academic success.”

AVID is a program that is funded by the state and targets potential college students.

AVID classes prepare students for college by teaching them study and organizational skills.

AVID students are enrolled in advanced level college preparatory courses and are given academic support through tutors AVID is a program designed to prepare students who have a willingness to learn and work hard toward four-year college eligibility.

AVID is an elective class at each high school and middlel school in Humble ISD. AVID helps to place students in a more personally challenging course load supported by specialized tutoring and lessons on organizational and study skills. Guest speakers are also a major part of the class. Each semester the AVID class will visit a college campus and experience, for that day, what college is like.

AVID Facts:

• AVID stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination.

• AVID was founded by Mary Catherine Swanson in 1980 at Clairemont High School in the San Diego Unified School District.

• AVID prepares students for four-year college entry.

• AVID serves over 30,000 students throughout California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tenessee, Texas, Virginia, Asia, Central America, Europe, Middle East and the Pacific.

• Since 1990, over 20,000 students have graduated from AVID programs.

• Over 93% of AVID's graduates enroll in college.

• AVID graduates persist in college at an 89 % rate.

• Over 60% of the AVID graduates enroll in four-year colleges. The AVID network of schools includes over 900 sites.

Some of AVID's awards include the Salute to Excellence Award for Staff Development and Leadership from the National Council of States on Inservice Education, the Dana Foundation Award for Pioneering Achievement in Education, and the A+ Award from the U.S. Department of Education for Efforts to Reach the National Education Goals.

Official AVID website link: AVID.org

The Cornell note-taking system is a widely-used notetaking system devised in the 1950s by Walter Pauk, an education professor at Cornell University. Pauk advocated its use in his best-selling How to Study in College, but its use has spread most rapidly in the past decade.

Help with Cornell Notes:

• cornell note blank paper

• cornell note graph paper

• model cornell notes

• cornell notes rubric

Five Rs of Note Taking

1. Record. During the lecture, as many meaningful facts as possible are recorded.

2. Reduce. As soon after class as possible, ideas and facts are concisely summarized in the Recall Column. Summarizing clarifies meanings and relationships, reinforces continuity, and strengthens memory.

3. Recite. Most of the page is covered and the student tries to recall as much of the lecture as possible, using only what has been written in the Recall Column. This procedure helps to transfer the facts and ideas to the long term memory.

4. Reflect. The student's own opinion is distilled from the notes. This also has the effect of training the mind to find and categorize vital information, leading to more efficient memorization.

5. Review. The student reviews the notes briefly but regularly. Because of the highly condensed nature of the notes, the student remembers a significant amount of material.