On an ordinary fall day, Cockeysville Middle School teachers walked onto campus expecting another...
What Am I Missing? The Question That Sparked Systemwide Change
What am I missing?
That question changed everything for Freeport School District 145.
For more than 25 years, AVID strategies had succeeded in classrooms. Students were engaged. Teachers saw results. Yet at the system level, something wasn’t connecting.
“We noticed that we were leaning on AVID instead of leaning into AVID,” says Georgia Mathis, Director of Curriculum and Instruction.
AVID was widely viewed as Freeport’s most impactful initiative, but the infrastructure to scale it wasn’t. The district lacked frameworks for instruction, MTSS, and alignment across departments. Leadership recognized the need for systemwide buy-in, which meant aligning AVID to the district’s core systems and strategic vision.
The Turning Point
Dr. Julia Coates, Associate Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction for the district, remembers the turning point. “We wanted to go districtwide but weren’t getting traction,” she recalls. “While at National Conference, I asked, ‘What am I missing?’”
Freeport had enthusiasm. What they lacked were the systems to support it.
That’s where AVID Districtwide Strategic Planning (DSP) came in. DSP is a customizable, district-driven service separate from AVID membership that helps leaders align AVID with strategic goals and build systems that support students and educators.
DSP gave Freeport a structure to unify efforts, align AVID with strategic goals, and build systems that support students and educators.
“We knew things would not change until we had all the systems aligned,” Coates recalls. “AVID wasn’t in our strategic plan or school improvement plans. So first, we put it in the district strategic plan.”
That commitment is now formalized in Strategy 1.1 of Freeport’s Core Commitment #1: Academic Excellence, which calls for establishing a culture of learning grounded in the AVID Framework and the Framework for Teaching (FFT) Clusters.
For deep, systemwide implementation to take hold, AVID had to also become part of school improvement plans. Through the DSP process, district and school leaders aligned priorities and wove AVID into their planning. “Now, it’s embedded in everything,” Coates explains. “Even our math priority calls out AVID strategies explicitly.”
A Voice at the Table
DSP also prompted a shift in leadership thinking by creating space for reflection, collaboration, and courageous conversations.
“We couldn’t have asked the tough questions before because we didn’t know what we didn’t know,” says Mathis.
Through the DSP process, it became clear that meaningful change required dedicated leadership. And Coates made a bold decision: appointing an administrator to lead AVID. Giving AVID its own administrator ensured the program had a voice at the table and accelerated its integration.
That decision sparked measurable change:
- Coherence and Consistency: Schools implemented AVID with greater fidelity because one leader aligned expectations, monitored implementation, and ensured PD was consistent across campuses. “We became partners in the work so much more naturally,” Mathis explains.
- Improved Instructional Focus: WICOR expectations, walk-through tools, and coaching cycles were centralized. Teachers began using strategies like Collaborative Study Groups, focused note-taking, and academic language routines more frequently.
- Stronger Teacher Capacity: Professional learning became systematized—PD calendars, AVID Site Team coaching, and onboarding routines improved. This led to more teachers implementing AVID strategies outside the elective, building strong AVID Schoolwide.
Most importantly, the effects reached students. “Our graduation rates have increased overall over the past 3 years,” Mathis notes. “Schools that embed AVID into their improvement plans have shown growth in both reading and math. We’re seeing more students enroll in rigorous courses and prepare for college.”
The Transformation
Today, AVID is woven into the fabric of Freeport.
“I can’t go to a PLC without hearing AVID mentioned,” Coates says. “It’s just how we do business now.”
Mathis adds, “If a district wants AVID to truly come alive and be implemented with fidelity, they need the strategic sessions. They build leadership culture. They strengthen systems. They make the work real.”
For Freeport, that commitment paid off. “This was by far the most beneficial professional learning I’ve ever experienced with AVID,” Coates says. “It meets you where you are and moves you forward. Where we were then versus now is light-years apart. It launched us into a new way of doing AVID. It was transformational.”