Idea Synopsis Results

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1 7 Middle s 4 High s 1 State College Vertical Articulation Collaborative Recruiting a Community Partner Recruiting Tutors from Within Principals, Deans, District Directors, District Level and AVID Project Coach meet 4 times a year to grow professionally by sharing successes and being trained in new ways of work for schools based on the four domains. The group walks classrooms in one another s schools for calibration and learning purposes. Feeder pattern leaders have an opportunity to share with one another ideas for consistency between schools as well as within schools. Principal, AVID Coordinator, and students reached out to a local business owner who was looking to invest in the students at APHS that would eventually impact the community. We hosted the business owners for breakfast and a teacher/student presentation. Charles and Stephanie Devlin of DevTech, Inc. were all in after this initial meeting. They have paid for our students to have matching t-shirts and hosted all of our AVID students to their business building for lunch and a tour. This year, they are paying for t-shirts for our new students, food for Family Nights, some travel expenses, and classroom supplies. They visit our AVID students and frequently ask the students questions about their goals, grades, and college plans. Because of scheduling conflicts, it was difficult for our school to maintain consistent college tutors. We decided to also recruit tutors from our Advanced Placement and Dual Enrollment students. They are formally trained, serve as interns in the AVID classroom and receive service hours for NHS and scholarships. Communication lines are open across districts as well as within districts. Leaders grow professionally and learn from one another. s have a stronger foundation for college readiness for all students because they are working collaboratively rather than in isolation. Our AVID students are recognizing that there are successful businesses rooted in STEM in their own hometown. AVID students have two more caring adults to invest in their future. The community is becoming more exposed to what AVID is and the impact it is making! Peer tutors have taken ownership of the AVID kids, tutoring and mentoring. The AVID students have a caring peer on campus to turn to when they need advice or a listening ear. The tutors have become better students/more college ready and are proud of their role in the AVID classroom.

2 Hardee Junior High Hardee Senior High Walkthroughs with Teachers Once a month, a group of 6-8 teachers walk 8-10 classrooms with the instructional coaches, administrative team, and District Director. After each visit, the group debriefs in the hallway and discusses the answer to the following question; What did you see? The group discusses what was on point and how things could improve. Teachers borrow ideas from the walls as well as the instruction. Teachers are implementing best practices campus wide. The closed door policy has been replaced with a desire to see other people teach. Students are receiving better instruction. Avon Park Middle WICOR Walkthroughs and Monument Walkthroughs We implemented a weekly walk through program utilizing the AVID Coordinator, Reading, Math and Science Coaches. On Tuesday and Thursday we hired one sub for the day and they cover 4 teachers for 2 periods of the day. The teachers get one-on-one time with a coach to discuss their strengths and wealkneses, followed by a carefully planned visit to classrooms for observation. This is made clear to all participants that this is not evaluatory. It is more like thanks for letting me steal some ideas that are working great in your room. These ideas have helped with our instruction and culture. Teachers are no longer fearful when the classroom door opens for visitors. Teachers are getting the time to do what they have wanted to do for years See other teachers in action. The following schedule is used for WICOR walk throughs. Each Wednesday 3 teachers, the AVID coordinator and an administrator tour classrooms aound the campus searching for AVID strategies.

3 AVID Family Potluck Dinner An invitation was sent in the mail for an end of the year celebration potluck. Every student was encouraged to bring a dish that was representative of their family and culture. Over 150 attended and students/families were proud to bring their family dish to the table. AVID Family Holiday Card Site Team Round Robin PD Every AVID student had a picture Holiday Card sent in the mail to their home. It featured pictures from the first semester of AVID and a Happy Holidays message from the APHS AVID Family. Site team members planned and presented in pairs one of four WICOR strategies in an effort to take the strategies schoolwide: Quick Writes, GIST, Philosophical Chairs, and Gallery Walk. All site team members were involved and all teachers learn five strategies in one day using a graphic organizer/foldable to record how each strategy could be used in their classroom. Parents became more involved in AVID Family Nights and in their student s education. AVID strategies are being used schoolwide. Site team members became the primary PD team for the school year. Personalized PD Plans Teachers are creating their own personalized PD path for the school year. Tailored PD is offered every other week through Coffee Talks on Wednesday mornings and afternoons. ANYONE can present/teach ANYTHING they feel would benefit others and anyone can choose to or not to attend. This allows anyone to take on the teacher leader role. Teachers may also opt to take advantage of Live PD in which they observe another teacher at anytime to learn something new. The teacher observes and then meets with his/her academic coach to discuss how to implement the strategies observed. All teachers are empowered to lead! Teachers are getting out of the four walls of their classroom and learning from their peers. Teachers no longer feel like they are wasting their time in PD sessions that do not pertain to them.

4 Freshmen "Ownership of Learning" Initiative All APHS Freshmen are keeping a 3 inch binder with all subjects (similar to the AVID Binder). Binders are being organized and graded in the freshmen leadership classes every other week. All freshmen are keeping assignment logs for each subject and complete a learning log every Friday (also graded in the leadership class). Fewer failures than in previous years for the first nine weeks! Students have fewer missing assignments. and DeSoto High Sebring Middle Guidance and Advisement Weekly Grade Checks Where AVID Strikes, Excellence Happens Our students meet with the same teacher four days a week for 30 minutes. Two days are Covey days and the other are reserved for data chats. Each student conferences with the teacher about his/her grades, attendance, and tardies. Students track their grades on the attached form and complete a self-reflection after progress reports and report cards. When we made WICOR one of our goals for improvement this year, our focus became intense. From a World Café of WICOR professional development presented during pre-school week to walkthroughs that will include every teacher being observed at one time or another this year, our AVID site team is determined to spread the word. Every student is connected to a caring adult in the school. Students are tracking their own progress and setting quarter goals. Our failure rates are declining! In nine short weeks, we have observed classroom seating change from rows to groups of students, creating content discussions daily. Our AVID Coordinator, Principal, Assistant Principal, and content coaches are being summoned to classrooms daily to witness great WICOR strategies being utilized. Minds are opening, classrooms are inviting, and student knowledge is increasing across the board. Our focus is for our students to actually lift the weights in our classrooms, and they are starting to work-out on a regular basis.

5 Sebring High Lunch and Learns Lunch and Learns are informative, informal, and voluntary meetings held during lunch to provide an opportunity for colleagues to share some of their best practices as well as resources that would benefit educators in their classrooms. Lunch and Learns were held throughout different times last year and were very successful in sharing many AVID strategies to our faculty and staff. We often offered prizes (usually items teachers love!- stickers, expo markers, post-it notes, etc. and included some sort of dessert to sweeten the deal! We received extremely positive feedback about the various resources we provided and made it a fun and simple process for all involved. Teachers have gained insight as to new ways of work and are relying on one another for innovative ways to teach students. Lines of communication between teachers seems much more open creating a better learning environment for the teachers and the students. Hill Gustat Middle Weekly College Trivia The question is announced every morning and during the students lunch. On Friday, we announce a lucky winner at each grade level and share the answer. Example questions: What is the highest score a student can earn on the SAT? Name the different parts of the ACT PLUS? How do students qualify for academic scholarships? What are the 3 sections on the SAT? This is about building a culture however I am not sure of the long term impact it will have since this is our first year. I am sharing the questions with the other coordinators in our county, which is building community for all of us.

6 Lake Placid Middle Hardee Senior High Hardee Senior High DeSoto Middle DeSoto High World Tour Ongoing, consistent Professional Learning College Wear Wednesday and Walls that Talk ACT/SAT Guest Speaker Weekly Data Chats/Grade Summary Sheets/Data Walls As a replacement for a faculty meeting, teachers use part of their planning period to visit other teachers classes. The visits are part of our World Tour, and they complete a after visiting. The asks them 3 Cool Things that I witnessed on my trip, 2 Souvenirs (strategies, ideas, best practices) that I stuffed in my suitcase to use in my classroom, 1 thing that I want to explore more. AVID is discussed at every PD opportunity. The goal for our school is WICOR everywhere all the time. The consistency has given us the opportunity to all speak the same language. As a school, we wear college wear on Wednesdays. The junior high and senior high both do this, creating consistency for the students and the teachers. In addition to college wear we are intentional with what our walls are teaching when we are quiet. We use pennants, banners, college corners, graduation gowns, and signs made by students to pepper our walls. The students guidance counselor, Mrs. Bickett, visited the 8th grade students to discuss the importance of the ACT and SAT testing. The students were able to ask any question they wanted about these tests. On the first day of every week, every class/every period takes the first 5-10 minutes of class to show the students their current grades in the class (average is projected from live gradebook, and individual assignment grades are printed and posted on Data Walls), and then students graph their grades and discuss the previous week with a peer partner. They give feedback to each other and discuss successes or ways to improve. Teachers are learning from one another and walls are coming down in the classrooms. Collaboration is happening within classes as well as between classes and the students are the ultimate winners. Teachers, new and existing, all have the same frame of reference and understand the expectations of them in their classrooms. Students see college throughout the building and are starting to ask questions about the schools they see. The students have started asking questions and want to know more about college because they see it everywhere. The students learned not only about the different tests and the scores needed, but they learned about scholarships and the variety of ways that they can qualify for college. It was a learning experience for everyone Students taking ownership of their grades, participation in class, and holding each other accountable; Grades improving; More data discussions between teachers and students.

7 Hardee Senior High Hardee Senior High Hardee Senior High Hardee Junior and Senior High 9 th Grade Binders Community Service Projects Business Partnerships Vertical Feeder Articulation All 9th graders and AVID students are maintaining the 3- inch Binder as an organizational tool. This came to be because the junior high that feeds our school implemented binders schoolwide in Each year, we will roll up the grades. Thus, next year it will be 9th and 10th grade, the following year we will add 11th, and so on Until eventually there will be a school-wide binder system. Every AVID classroom decided on a community service project to implement during the first semester of the school year. Students will present information about their class initiative at a parent night that centers on the theme, Paying it Forward! Additionally, our Key Club students provide babysitting for parents in attendance at our parent nights so that they can concentrate on the information presented without distraction. We have connected with a Business Partner who funds a full page spread in the local newspaper every other week. Within that page, AVID activities are often highlighted with photos and short articles written by our AVID teachers about AVID happenings at HHS. Vertical articulation has taken place between Hardee Junior High and Hardee High on various occasions. Meetings have occurred between content area departments as well as the AVID site teams. As a result, we have established a series of field trips to colleges & universities to maximize students exposure to various options. Additionally, teachers from the high school and junior high are collaborating to vertically align their content areas. Students are learning to utilize one organizational tool in a consistent manner across their various courses. Parent turn-out at our parent events has increased. Feedback from parents with small children has been very positive they appreciate the opportunity to participate without distractions from their little ones. The community at large has a greater awareness of all the HHS happenings, including the AVID System that the school has implemented. The Positive PR also helps generate interest and financial donors. The opportunities for teachers from the different levels of schooling to get together and discuss instruction has created a much greater willingness to collaborate on their own and has taken away much of the finger pointing that can sometimes occur between the elementary, middle and high school levels. If you have any questions or want any more information on these fantastic ideas, please Christie McMullen, Project Coach, AVID Center cmcmullen@avid.org

8 Subject Content Classroom Observation Tool Teacher Date WICOR Walkthrough Grade al Techniques and Learning Strategies Writing to learn Inquiry Collaboration Organization Reading Focused Cornell notes w/questions in left margin & summary at end pre-writing activities/quick writes to develop thinking learning logs, summaries, reflections, interactive notebooks graphic organizers writing process AVID writing curriculum note taking Check all that apply academic task analyzed and expectations articulated information processed and connections made info synthesized into new understandings information evaluated; hypothesis made application of learning questions asked to seek clarification or additional information problem solving questions to selfregulate strong sense of mutual respect and support products created and/or problems solved together rigorous academic discourse challenge one another to think deeply about the task at hand focus on the content and build on each-others thoughts Socratic questioning or Seminar or Philosophical Chairs Jigsaw activities collaborative research room configuration think pair share, table talk, shoulder partners organized binders up-to-date planners for assignments, homework, in and out of school activities, and long-term projects tools to track progress and grades in core classes developed 4 or 6 year plans for HS courses graphic organizers pre-reading activities, KWL, vocabulary mapping mark the text: numbering, highlighting, underlining, circling (Interacting with Text) Cornell notes, SQ5R, concept mapping, reciprocal teaching (Interacting with Text) metacognitive discussions (Beyond the Text) summarize and reflect (Beyond the Text) Rigor: Applying (Level 3) Processing (Level 2) Gathering (Level 1) Description: Student Participation: Student Centered Teacher Centered Description: Environment: Motivational Posters Quotes Student generated work Academic Content Posters Maps, Tables, Charts Student generated content posters College/Career College SAT/ACT Information Graduation Requirements Pennants CTE Testing Information Data Walls Other Comments Questions Observer: