Public Engagement

AVID, which stands for “Advancement Via Individual Determination,� is an in-school academic enrichment program supported by a national non-profit organization and implemented in local junior and senior high schools.

Earlier this week, several of us at the University of Minnesota interested in service-learning and tutoring opportunities for our students met with the St. Paul School District AVID coordinator and a local foundation executive who was instrumental in bringing AVID to Minnesota and continues to serve in an advisory capacity with the school district.

The meeting was arranged by Julie Plaut, Associate Director of Minnesota Campus Compact (MCC), who wrote us the following about the AVID program, which relates to MCC’s goal of increasing educational success among low-income students, students of color, and potential first-generation college students.

The program delivers impressive results, targeting students in the academic middle, and providing the support structure to enable over 90% of them to go on to college.  AVID has been around for 25 years but is new to Minnesota.  The St. Paul School District has just completed a successful first program year and is rapidly expanding for next year.
 

The primary way that colleges and universities get involved with the AVID program is by helping to recruit tutors, who are paid to work with small groups of junior and senior high school students in their AVID classes during the school day.  Additional benefits of a partnership might include:


• Enhancing your efforts to reach back into the public education system by working with a program with proven results.

• Directly helping high school students overcome academic barriers to a successful college experience.

• Providing meaningful service-learning and/or community-based work-study opportunities for your college students.

• Aiding campus recruitment efforts by connecting your students to a diverse pool of talented high school students.
   

Link to AVID website