2008 Grant Proposal Details

AVID: College into the Classroom   South Eugene High School

Total: $2000

Description:  This project will provide UO and LCC college students to serve as paid tutors in a very special 9th grade class. South Eugene High School is pioneering a program called AVID for School District 4J. AVID stands for “Advancement Via Individual Determination” and has had incredible success in high schools across the country. 95% of those students who are enrolled in AVID for four years go on to college and are more successful than others in college. Students are carefully selected for this program, as described later in this proposal. These students attend an AVID class daily, which provides them with specialized curriculum and support. Two days each week, the class is divided into small groups that are led by college tutors who are paid and trained in special methodologies that help AVID students develop solid study skills and higher level thinking skills.

Why is this important?  Data clearly describes our district’s Achievement Gap where underserved populations (e.g. Latino, Black, Native American, ELL, and Free/Reduced Meals) are not achieveing at levels as high as White and Asian students. Consequently, relatively few enroll in higher level courses or attend college. AVID is all about getting these students the skills and support they need to be successful in higher level classes and to develop the attitude and will to attend and complete college. The AVID tutors play a critical role, both as instructors and also as role models who graduated from South and continue to excel in college.

Who will be served?  This year, our AVID class includes 30 carefully selected students. All of these students have demonstrated through academic data that they have that potential to succeed, but there are factors holding them back. Many are from the underserved populations described above, while others are dealing with various difficult circumstances. The program will ultimately serve many more students in future years. In addition, the tutors benefit greatly through this experience that can help them determine if education is a career path for them.

How will this be evaluated?  The AVID organization is highly developed on a national level and requires our school to have an AVID site team which meets regularly, to set specific targets in our site plan, and to collect data to measure our progress. This includes gpa, attendance, enrollment, and test score data on every AVID student. This data will not only be tracked but will be compared to other students of similar background who were invited to enroll in AVID but chose not to participate. We will present our data to our site council, to HS/MS principal groups, and to the 4J school board.

Does this build on existing programs?  The AVID program is a component of our School Improvement Plan. Last year, we implemented a Freshman Advisory Program. Our AVID students were selected from the larger pool of Advisory students, and our AVID teacher is part of our Advisory Team. The other Advisory teachers are beginning to use some fo the same techniques and strategies as our AVID class.

Budget:  Our request is to support the AVID Tutoring component of this program. We are paying our college tutors $10/hour which is the low end of the AVID organization’s suggested range. Consequently, our budget is as follows: 5 tutors @ $10/hr @ 40 hrs/tutor = $2,000.- Tutorial sessions are conducted every Tuesday and Thursday. This funding will cover 20 weeks of our year. We are soliciting other donations to cover the remaining 16 weeks. Because the tutorial sessions represent 40% of the classroom interaction each week, funding for these college tutors is critical to the success of our program.

Proposal #:  102