Image by kharied via Flickr"H--o---oooooo---pe! Where are you?"
"Hope. Are you in there?"
Posted July 30th, 2010 at 8:33am in Education 39
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Yesterday, President Obama delivered a major speech on education in an effort to garner support for his Race to the Top grant program and his push for national education standards and tests. The President’s remarks came on the heels of a speech delivered by Education Secretary Arne Duncanon Tuesday at the National Press Club, during which Duncan attempted to paint the Administration’s policies as part of a “quiet revolution.”
Duncan certainly got the quiet part right. Since his Administration came into office, President Obama has quietly been reworking the country’s education system, doing an end-run around normal legislative procedure. With the U.S. Department of Education’s (DOE) funding doubled thanks to the so-called “stimulus,” the Administration has little need or incentive to bother negotiating its education agenda through Congress. Instead, the DOE is using that windfall of funding and power to stage a significant overhaul of local schools; dangling grant money before cash-strapped states on the condition they adopt key pieces of the Obama education
AVID's mission is to close the achievement gap by preparing all students for college readiness and success in a global society.
Our mission is student-focused, but our work transforms the behaviors and expectations of the teachers who support the AVID student. Our mission centers on the goals our students set out to achieve.
At AVID, we seek to close the achievement gap by improving the performance of all students, especially those who have not traditionally succeeded in completing college entrance requirements: students who are underrepresented in four-year colleges and universities, students in the academic middle, students who are the first in their family to go to college.
A common misconception about AVID is that we focus solely on minority and low-income students. Not at all! AVID is a college readiness system that starts in elementary school. We have a schoolwide approach for elementary grades where AVID is available to ALL students. In middle and high school, we target a core population of students who enroll in an AVID elective class. As the system takes root in secondary schools, AVID gradually expands schoolwide to serve all students. AVID Postsecondary continues to support students in their efforts to earn a college degree by developing the skills needed to persist in college.
Because AVID provides students with a clearly defined and delineated road map, they gain the confidence needed to pursue their dreams of college. AVID prepares students for the rigors of college, and provides them with academic skills, content knowledge, and social adaptability needed for college success.
The AVID system empowers students by instilling in them the academic and social skills needed to successfully complete college and become responsible participants and leaders in our global society.
