Twenty years ago, Modesto High School began its partnership with AVID with a single AVID Elective class. Today, the school of 2,500 students is an AVID National Demonstration School, with well over 500 students participating in AVID—and their involvement with AVID is still growing.
“We’re really mindful of keeping ourselves on a continuous cycle of improvement,” says Sue Blickenstaff, full-time AVID Site Coordinator and District Director. As an AVID leader at a demonstration school, Blickenstaff says, “I’m used as a resource for any sites that need any additional coaching or training.”
The consistency and persistence of the AVID staff have paid off, as students demonstrate continued success and the program continues to grow.
AVID at Modesto
The heart of the AVID Elective program at Modesto High is a dedicated, two-room space for freshmen, sophomores, and juniors called the AVID Center. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, that room is reserved for AVID tutorials and is fully staffed by AVID tutors.
“Some of our freshmen didn't participate in middle school AVID, and therefore are really reluctant to present but by their sophomore year they want to present, they’re volunteering,” says Blickenstaff, “because they’re getting help with an area of weakness. They’re also refining their public speaking process. We end up with kids who can self-advocate and can communicate really effectively.”
Blickenstaff mentions one student who, after the worst of the pandemic, came back to in-person classes seeming nearly traumatized. Though she would participate in classes and complete her assignments successfully, she rarely said a word in class. But by the end of the year, after plenty of experience in tutorials, Blickenstaff says, she witnessed this same girl volunteer to be up at the board during class.
Schoolwide Effect
While tutorials are a critical part of the AVID Elective, the goal has always been to reach beyond the Elective class and help the entire school. On Mondays and Wednesdays, any teacher can use the AVID Center space. Classes are also invited to come in and see what AVID students are learning, and other students in the school have begun to implement the learning strategies as well. Teachers use the strategies in their classrooms, which provides students additional opportunities to use their skills.
That sort of buy-in from the entire school took time. “Part of it is culture,” says Fred Smith, a mathematics and AVID Elective teacher. “We’re really taking care of everyone and providing for everyone.” Now, students recommend AVID to their friends.
Three tutors rotate through and staff the room throughout the day, providing support for whatever a teacher might need that day. The AVID Center space at Modesto has played host to dynamic poetry readings and art classes with figure models, among other topics. The space also serves as a printing and resource hub for the entire school, with supplies available for anyone to use.
“Everyone has come to realize that this is just good teaching and good practices,” he says, “and we’re here to help all our students regardless of subject and whether they have a title and program.”
“We have a scholar-athlete class to make sure that they’re attaining grades,” says Smith. “If [students are] in pursuit of college sports, we make sure they are maintaining eligibility.”
The AVID Site Team holds monthly study nights and daily after-school tutoring. “For the year with our after-school tutoring we had 7,000 students,” says Smith, “with 46% of those seeking out math, and a 60/40 split between AVID students and non-AVID students.” Study nights consistently have more than 100 students in attendance, with 7–8 tutors available to assist. For students who can’t be there in person, Microsoft Teams is utilized. During the COVID-19 pandemic, AVID tutorials also used Microsoft Teams, with tutors facilitating tutorials in separate rooms using the digital whiteboard.
Modesto also recently opened up an AVID Senior Center. “It’s really designed to mirror more closely something along the lines of a student union,” says Blickenstaff. Housed in the school’s library, the Senior Center contains college and career research books, SAT prep books, and whiteboards. College tutors are available to help students with their applications and FAFSA paperwork. Informal AVID and scholarship clubs, run online during the pandemic, are transitioning to in-person.
Crucially, says Blickenstaff, “this is where they make their transition to the college study groups as opposed to more regimented tutorials.” Over the course of the year, tutors gradually take a more hands-off approach with their students, until by the last quarter of the year groups are functioning largely independently.
Planning for the Future
Five of the district’s seven high schools are AVID partners, as are all five middle schools. Four elementary schools are also currently starting up programs.
After graduation, AVID students are first in line to become paid AVID tutors. “We have at least 15 per semester that apply,” says Blickenstaff. “Our kids are super familiar with the process.
Their junior year we start to train them as tutors so we can implement them as cross-age tutors if we need to, or have them as support in our new AVID classrooms.”
It’s a testament to the success of the program, as well as part of the secret to that success, that AVID alumni often come back later to tutor and sometimes even to teach at the school.
Fred Smith is one such teacher. Now in his ninth year of teaching, Smith was an AVID tutor before he became a teacher. Four times a year, Smith runs tutor training. These sessions are also open to AVID Elective teachers throughout the district. The goal, says Blickenstaff, is to ensure consistency and sustainability. If a student has to transfer schools, the AVID staff wants to make sure the same quality of help follows them there.
The goal continues to be growth and making the program work even better for students and teachers. “Not being afraid to say, that really didn’t work too well, let’s try a different angle,” Blickenstaff says of the continuous cycle of improvement.
